The coaching carousel this offseason is spinning faster than usual: more than half of next season’s play-callers will be new. Of 17 coordinator slots, 15 play-calling roles are up for grabs, and among the hires are three first-time NFL play-callers — two of whom are former quarterbacks. Fantasy analyst Joel Smith breaks down what to expect when these novice play-callers take over an offense.
Sean Mannion — Philadelphia Eagles
Just a couple of years after lingering on a practice squad, Sean Mannion has risen to become an offensive coordinator and play-caller for one of the league’s most talented units. A 2015 third-round pick who spent his career mainly as a backup and learned under Sean McVay in Los Angeles, Mannion moved into coaching in Green Bay as an offensive assistant and became the Packers’ quarterbacks coach in 2025. He helped groom Jordan Love and had a hand in the late-season surge from Malik Willis.
Mannion comes from the LaFleur/Shanahan/McVay coaching tree, a line that emphasizes motion and creative run-pass balance. That could show up in Philadelphia: the Packers leaned heavily on motion and inventive passing schemes over the past few seasons, while the Eagles were 28th in motion in 2025 after being more active in 2024. Given that context, Mannion is likely to inject more pre-snap movement and creativity into an Eagles offense that has been relatively static — which should help Saquon Barkley’s workload, open cleaner opportunities for Jalen Hurts, and potentially revitalize AJ Brown, whose role stagnated in 2025 when he was used extensively on the outside in a less dynamic system.
Declan Doyle — Baltimore Ravens
At just 29, Declan Doyle may be the youngest play-caller in the NFL. Unlike some other rookies in the role, he already served as Chicago’s offensive coordinator last season as part of Ben Johnson’s staff. Johnson and Doyle’s approach leaned heavily on play-action — Caleb Williams used play-action on roughly 34% of his throws, second only to Sean McVay’s Rams — so a key question is how well Lamar Jackson fits into that scheme.
Jackson has historically been elite on play-action passes, leading the league in fantasy points per snap on those plays even in a down 2025 season. Baltimore’s roster and tendencies in 2025 looked reasonably compatible with the play-action-heavy profile Doyle helped run in Chicago, but Doyle’s relative youth and first-time status as an NFL play-caller still make this a developmental hire that carries risk and upside in equal measure.
David Blough — Washington Commanders
The biggest unknown among the new play-callers may be David Blough, another former quarterback who spent just a couple of seasons coaching QBs before being promoted internally. Working alongside Kliff Kingsbury, Blough inherits an offense with an unconventional identity: Kingsbury’s system often stacks star receivers on one side, operates no-huddle far more than most teams, and rarely works from under center — traits more commonly seen in college waivers than the NFL.
Washington showed flashes and produced fantasy-friendly results when Jaden Daniels was healthy in 2024, but the offense also had clear weaknesses. Blough faces a tough assignment building something new rather than following a well-trodden template; pairing a young coach with a young quarterback increases the challenge and uncertainty.
Fan Take:
This wave of rookie play-callers matters because it could reshape offensive identities across the league — more motion, more play-action specialists, and fresh creative wrinkles are likely. For fans, that means new watchables, evolving fantasy values, and a real chance for fast risers to flip the competitive balance if their ideas take hold.
