NFL head coach hirings are skewing offensive.
Of the 32 NFL head coaches in 2019, 20 of them will have offensive backgrounds and only 12 will come from the defensive side of the ball. That comes from TheBigLead.com and assumes that the Bengals will hire Rams quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor and the Dolphins will hire Patriots linebackers coach Brian Flores.
In the past, there was always close to an even split between offensive and defensive head coaches. From 2002 to 2016 there were always between 14 and 17 coaches whose background was in offense. In 2017 that number hit 18 for the first time, in 2018 it remained at 18, and in 2019 the number will hit an all-time high of 20 offensive head coaches.
The reason for the offensive trend is that a lot of new offensive coaches have had success recently. That includes Eagles coach Doug Pederson, Rams coach Sean McVay, Bears coach Matt Nagy, Colts coach Frank Reich and Chargers coach Anthony Lynn. The owners who have seen the success those coaches have had want to emulate it.
But like a pendulum, football always swings the other way eventually. Soon NFL owners will want a smart defensive coach who can figure out how to stop those hot new offenses. Defensive coaches will have their day, even if that day does not come for another year.