AFC East:
Buffalo Bills: The Bills didn’t make any major changes to their coaching staff or front office. Their general manager is still Brandon Beane, who joined in 2017 after spending the period from 1998-2016 with the Panthers, his last role being assistant general manager (2015-2016). They’re bringing back Sean McDermott as head coach, Brian Daboll as offensive coordinator, and Leslie Frazier as defensive coordinator. McDermott has been in place for three seasons (since 2017), while Daboll and Frazier joined in 2018. McDermott came from the Panthers, where he served as defensive coordinator from 2011-2016, and was with the Eagles for eleven years prior to that, finishing his time there as defensive coordinator (2009-2010).
Miami Dolphins: The Dolphins have had the same general manager, Chris Grier, since 2016; previously, he was director of college scouting there from 2007-2015. As far as coaching goes, former Patriots defensive coordinator Brian Flores returns for his second season as head coach. The team is making a change at offensive coordinator this year, with Chan Gailey, who held the same role with the Jets from 2015-2016, and they will bring back defensive coordinator Josh Boyer, who came with Flores from New England, where he served as cornerbacks coach.
New England Patriots: Bill Belichick returns for his twenty-first season as both head coach and general manager, while Josh McDaniels will be entering his ninth consecutive year as offensive coordinator, not including the four years he spent in that role from 2005-2008. Co-defensive coordinators are Steve Belichick and Jerod Mayo, although the younger Belichick will be the one calling the plays.
New York Jets: General manager for the Jets is Joe Douglas, who joined the team in 2019 after spending the period from 2016-2019 as Vice President of Player Personnel with the Eagles; he also worked with the Bears in 2015, and as a scout with the Ravens from 2000-2014. Their coaching staff is the same as last year: Adam Gase returns as head coach and also calls the plays offensively, while Gregg Williams returns as defensive coordinator. Gase was previously head coach of the Dolphins from 2016-2018 after coordinating the offenses of the Broncos (2013-2014) and Bears (2015), while Williams most recently coordinated the defenses of the Rams (2014-2016) and Browns (2017-2018).
AFC North:
Baltimore Ravens: Eric DeCosta has spent his entire front-office career with the Ravens, beginning in 1996. He waited patiently behind Ozzie Newsome, and in 2019 took over as the team’s general manager. The coaching staff returns all of the major figures: John Harbaugh is back for his thirteenth season as head coach, Greg Roman reprises his role as offensive coordinator, and Don Martingale will be entering his third year at defensive coordinator after coaching the linebackers from 2012-2017.
Cincinnati Bengals: Since 1991, Mike Brown has been both owner and general manager of the Bengals, after spending the period from 1968, the team’s founding, to 1990 as assistant general manager while his father owned the team. Despite finishing with the league’s worst record last year, the Bengals decided to retain the coaching staff they installed last year: Zac Taylor, previously Rams quarterbacks coach, is head coach and calls the plays offensively, while Lou Anarumo coordinates the defense. He has a background as a defensive backs coach dating back to 1990, when he coached at the college level.
Cleveland Browns: The Browns are one of four teams to make major front-office changes. Previous general manager John Dorsey is out after three seasons, and he has been replaced by Andrew Berry, who served as Browns VP of player personnel from 2016-2018 before spending 2019 as VP of operations with the Eagles. The coaching staff is all-new as well. Kevin Stefanski last served as Vikings offensive coordinator but is now head coach, and former Bengals quarterbacks coach Alex Van Pelt is listed as the offensive coordinator, although it’s not clear who will actually call plays. 49ers passing game coordinator Joe Woods has been hired as defensive coordinator.
Pittsburgh Steelers: The Steelers have kept the same general manager since 2010, Kevin Colbert, who was previously director of football operations there from 2000 onward. Everything is the same on the coaching staff as well: Mike Tomlin enters his fourteenth year as head coach, while offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner has been in place for two years. Defensive coordinator Keith Butler has spent the past four years in that role.
AFC South:
Houston Texans: The Texans adopted a committee approach to the general manager position last year, but now they have officially named head coach Bill O’Brien as the general manager as well. O’Brien also calls the plays offensively; this will be his second straight season doing so. On the defensive side of the ball, Anthony Weaver has been promoted from defensive line coach, replacing Romeo Crennel, who’s staying with the team in his assistant head coach capacity, a title he’s held since 2017.
Indianapolis Colts: The Colts hired Chris Ballard to be their general manager in 2017 after he spent the seasons from 2013-2016 in different director roles with the Chiefs. This will be the third season for head coach Frank Reich, as well as offensive coordinator Nick Sirianni and defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus. Reich coordinated the Chargers’ offense from 2014-2015, then did the same for the Eagles from 2016-2017. He worked with Sirianni in San Diego previously, while Eberflus was brought in from Dallas, where he coached linebackers from 2011-2017.
Jacksonville Jaguars: After spending the seasons from 2008-2012 in director-level roles with the Falcons, Dave Caldwell as named Jacksonville’s general manager in 2013, although for the past three seasons Tom Coughlin had been executive VP of football operations; he’s been fired, so Caldwell will take over. Head coach Doug Marrone returns for a fourth year, while the team has brought in a new offensive coordinator, Jay Gruden, after his tenure as Redskins head coach ended. Todd Wash has been coordinating the defense for four years already, so he’s actually been in place longer than Marrone.
Tennessee Titans: Jon Robinson was director of college scouting with the Patriots from 2009-2013 and then director of player personnel in Tampa Bay from 2013-2015 before taking over as Titans GM in 2016. This will be the third season at head coach for Mike Vrabel, while Arthur Smith enters his second year as offensive coordinator after working in various roles with Tennessee since the 2011 season. No defensive coordinator has been named thus far, and it’s possible Vrabel will call the defense himself. The team’s past defensive coordinator, Dean Pees, retired after two years in that role.
AFC West:
Denver Broncos: The front office in Denver has been run by John Elway since 2011, when he was named general manager and executive VP of football operations. Vic Fangio will return for his second season as head coach; although the team has a new offensive coordinator, former Giants head coach Pat Shurmur, they will return Ed Donatell at defensive coordinator. Fangio previously coordinated the defenses of the 49ers (2011-2014) and Bears (2015-2018), while Shurmur coordinated for the Eagles and Vikings from 2013-2017 after an unsuccessful tenure as Browns head coach (2011-2012). Donatell worked with Fangio in both San Francisco and Chicago as defensive backs coach.
Kansas City Chiefs: In 2017, the Chiefs promoted Brett Veach from co-director of player personnel to general manager, head coach Andy Reid having signed off on him. Despite receiving some interest as a head-coaching candidate earlier this offseason, offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy will return for his third year with the team, while Steve Spagnuolo reprises his role as defensive coordinator; this will be his second year in that capacity, although he has been coordinating defenses for quite some time, most notably winning a ring with the Giants in 2008.
Las Vegas Raiders: Despite not having any front-office experience, television analyst and former player Mike Mayock was named general manager in 2019. The coaching staff had been installed a year before that, with Jon Gruden running the show as head coach and having significant input into personnel decisions as well. Offensive coordinator is Greg Olson, and defensive coordinator is Paul Guenther. Olson has worked pretty much everywhere, having served as offensive coordinator for five other teams, most recently the Raiders (2013-2014) and Jaguars (2015-2016), while Guenther was a long-time Bengals assistant who worked his way up to the defensive coordinator role there and served in that capacity from 2014-2017.
Los Angeles Chargers: Tom Telesco is one of the longest-tenured general managers in football, having replaced A.J. Smith back in 2013. This will be head coach Anthony Lynn’s fourth season in that capacity, while quarterbacks coach Shane Steichen has been promoted to offensive coordinator. Gus Bradley will be entering his third year as defensive coordinator. Steichen replaces outgoing offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, who was fired in mid-season after originally being hired back in 2016.
DRAFTEXAMINER 