7 NFL Coordinators Defining the Early 2024 Season So Far

We are only three weeks in, but the 2024 NFL season is already dishing out some wild results.

Before Week 1, it would have been hard to believe Minnesota Vikings would be 3-0 with Sam Darnold at quarterback while the Jaguars and Bengals would be searching for their first win after three attempts.

In some cases, the surprises around the season have to do with personnel.

Injuries and roster moves have already had an impact on the campaign.

In other cases, it's come down to coaching.

From offensive coordinators who are not giving their quarterback many answers to defensive coordinators who are putting together dominant defenses, these are the assistant coaches who are having a large impact on the 2024 season early on.

The Vikings are 3-0 with Sam Darnold playing quarterback.

Head coach Kevin O'Connell and the signal-caller deserve credit for that.

Darnold is just the latest passer who is salvaging his NFL career after a slow start.

But Brian Flores and the Vikings defense deserves a lot of shine too.

The 43-year-old has already established his reputation as an aggressive defensive play-caller.

From his time as head coach of the Miami Dolphins to his brief tenure with the Steelers, he has been known to send all kinds of blitzes.

Last season, Minnesota was the only team that blitzed on more than 50 percent of its plays.

This year, it is still among the most blitz-happy teams, but it's only blitzing on 39.3 percent of the plays.

One key to Flores' defense, as explained by Alec Lewis of The Athletic, is his ability to teach multiple positions to players.

It allows them to disguise their fronts and coverages at a high level, causing chaos and confusion for opposing offenses.

Veteran Shaquill Griffin had a hard time even explaining the scheme to reporters.

"How can I explain it?" he said.

"It's different.

It's so different.

I think Flo is crazy enough to run this type of scheme and make it work." The NFL is a copycat league, but Flores' teaching ability and creativity are going to be hard to emulate.

The defense is currently No.

1 in defensive DVOA and fresh off dominant performances against the 49ers and Texans.

The Seattle Seahawks are one of a few surprise teams that are 3-0 after the first three weeks.

Mike Macdonald and the defense deserve praise, but we're focused on coordinators here so we'll spotlight the guy changing the team's approach to offense.

Ryan Grubb entered the spotlight in college football last season with an explosive Washington offense that ended up making the National Championship Game with Michael Penix Jr.

throwing to Rome Odunze, Ja'Lynn Polk and Jalen McMillan.

The 48-year-old is quickly proving he's more than a college hotshot who happened to have a talented team last season.

Geno Smith is at the top of his game within the Seahawks offense, and they are ninth in scoring, eighth in yards per game and sixth in offensive DVOA .

The things he is doing on offense sound simple on paper, but they are the hallmarks of a good offensive coach.

He's making sure that his best players are getting looks.

DK Metcalf and Jaxon Smith-Njigba saw a combined 30 targets in Week 2 against the Patriots.

He's also giving his playmakers the freedom to read defenses and make plays on their own, which allows Metcalf to adjust his route based on whether he sees Cover 2 or Cover 4 as he runs his dig.

The result is an offense that is capable of putting up 300 yards passing in any given week.

In a year when passing stats are down early and some are even calling for two-high safeties to be banned , that's an impressive feat.

Grubb's approach to downfield passing has made the Seahawks the team to beat so far in the NFC West, and it won't be surprising to see others start to steal his concepts as the campaign wears on.

Kliff Kingsbury's offense has rendered a two-time Pro Bowler completely useless for the Washington Commanders over the last two weeks.

The good new for them is that the Pro Bowler is punter Tress Way.

He hasn't had to punt the ball over the last two weeks as the Commanders offense has put on ultra-efficient performances in wins against the Giants and Bengals.

Jayden Daniels has been exceptional in that time frame.

He leads the league in completion percentage at 80.3 percent, including a 21-of-23 performance in which he eviscerated the Cincinnati defense.

The interesting thing about Kingsbury's approach to Daniels and this offense is that he's slowly letting go of the safe, cautious approach.

His Air Raid background leans into a horizontal passing game that takes advantage of crossers and screens, but he also showed the ability to let the QB go out and push the ball downfield.

After barely opening up the passing game at all in the first two weeks, Kingsbury gave Daniels the green light.

According to Jared Dubin of CBS Sports, the rookie had his most accurate day throwing the ball with only 8.7 percent of his throws off-target while 17.4 percent of his passes were considered deep balls.

The Chicago Bears are proof that it isn't easy to just plug in a rookie quarterback and have a dynamic offense early in the season.

The credit for the Commanders' success should go to several factors, but Kingsbury has done a good job of adjusting to his signal-caller's talent to get to 2-1 this early.

There are several talented coordinators who are on a heater right now, but no one has made a better argument to be the assistant coach of the year than Klint Kubiak.

There's a good argument to be made that he's the single biggest addition for the Saints this season.

For more than a decade, the New Orleans offense was mostly a manifestation of Sean Payton's vision.

Even after he left, the offense was still run by longtime assistant Pete Carmichael Jr.

The result was a stale offense that had a hard time replacing Drew Brees or developing an identity outside of Payton's influence.

Things have changed in New Orleans with the arrival of Kubiak, and the results speak for themselves.

The Saints are one of the hottest teams in the NFC, and it's thanks to an offense that is fourth in offensive DVOA and second in scoring offense.

The unit was disappointing in a 15-12 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, but Kubiak is still showing what can be done when new ideas, energy and execution come to an offense.

Derek Carr is on an early pace to have his most efficient season.

He's currently second in the league in total QBR at 81.1.

His current career high is 64.3 in 2020.

Kubiak has brought a play-action-heavy approach which isn't surprising given his upbringing as Gary Kubiak's son and his experience with the 49ers last season.

The 37-year-old has also done wonders for the Saints' ground game.

They are second in the league in EPA gained per rush , and Alvin Kamara is fourth in the league in rushing yards.

Many, including this writer , had written off the New Orleans offense as an unexciting replay of last year's group.

Kubiak has been the difference-maker.

If there was any question about whether Jesse Minter could make the leap from college to the pros, it should be put to rest by now.

The Chargers are coming off a 20-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, but there are few faults to be found in the Los Angeles defense.

Last year, then-head coach Brandon Staley and his staff had a similar roster.

The Chargers faced a tight cap situation that didn't really allow them to improve the roster, so most of the improvement can be chalked up to development and coaching.

Jim Harbaugh will get a lot of credit for that, but Minter has this defense playing at an elite level.

The 41-year-old has the secondary playing much better than his predecessor did, and it is currently ranked seventh in EPA allowed per dropback (h/t Football Insights ) while playing one of the most varied set of coverages in the league.

They major in Cover 2 and Cover 3, but those two coverages still make up just over 50 percent of their calls.

Minter's ability to mix up the calls to disguise coverages has the Chargers playing good defense despite a pressure rate (14.4 percent) that ranks 29th in the league.

There is an argument to be made that Los Angeles' success on defense has been aided by the teams they have played.

The Raiders, Panthers and Steelers aren't exactly a murderer's row of killer offenses.

We'll see what Minter can really do with his group when they host the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend.

Until then, he is acquitting himself well as an NFL coordinator.

Not all of the coordinators who are defining the 2024 season are doing it for great reasons.

The Jacksonville Jaguars are the second-most surprising 0-3 team this far into the season (the Bengals are No.

1).

The coaching staff has to take some of the blame for the terrible start.

Coaching and play-calling really come to light when looking at third downs and the red zone.

When the field is condensed or the play has to work to keep the chains moving, there is no margin for error.

The Jaguars have been putrid in both areas.

Jacksonville has converted just 21.9 percent of their third downs thus far, which ranks 30th in the league.

Doug Pederson alluded to the need for the coaching to change after the Week 2 loss to the Browns.

"It just has to be an awareness, just a sense of urgency by everybody, the entire football team really when we head into these games," he told reporters .

"But I think we can maybe mix some things up and just a little more attention to detail and practice as we go each week." Whether Taylor would call the offense was a topic of debate before the season.

What that play-calling process looks like is still in the air, but something needs to change if the Jaguars are to get involved in the AFC South this year.

From a leaguewide perspective, Jacksonville is a shining example that handing your franchise quarterback a brand new contract doesn't solve everything.

In fairness, Mike Zimmer came into the 2024 season with one of the most difficult jobs in the NFL.

Dan Quinn was beloved by players and got elite results out of a talented group before heading to Washington to take a head coaching job and also took some of the important depth pieces that made the Dallas defense good.

Zimmer was left with a group that suffered serious losses in free agency and an additional difference-maker to injury (Sam Williams) and had a different coaching style.

As one opposing NFL coach told The Athletic's Mike Sando , the coaching style can become a real issue: "Everything was positive all the time with Quinn.

Now, it feels like everything is negative.

He is coming into a place that has been so successful on defense that the last coordinator got a head-coaching job.

The new guy comes in and tries to change things, and the players sometimes say, 'Wait a minute, we won 12 games last year.' This can become a tailspin." Zimmer has a difficult job ahead of him.

So far, it's not going well.

The Cowboys rank 28th in defensive DVOA and 30th in scoring defense after allowing the Saints to score 44 and the Ravens to put up 28.

Dallas is leading the league in pressure rate (41.1 percent).

It's also giving up a whopping 5.4 yards per carry.

If Zimmer doesn't find a way to bring some balance to the defensive front and compete in the NFC East, then he could be looking for a new job at the end of the year..

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