At Least 9 Playoff Teams From The 2023 NFL Season Enter This Year With New Play-Callers

Kyle Shanahan's decision to bring in an outsider to run San Francisco 49ers defense backfired last season when previously dominant unit took a step back in 2023 under Steve Wilks.

Niners still ended up making it to Super Bowl but lost to Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City Chiefs when San Francisco gave up four straight scoring drives to finish a 25-22 overtime loss.

That led to an immediate change with Shanahan firing Wilks after just one season and promoting Nick Sorensen , who had spent previous two seasons as an assistant in San Francisco and kws style of defense that fits Niners roster.

“It helps that he kws system and has been around it,” All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner said. “We just have to get better at fundamentals and technique of what we do as well as implementing some tweaks in re as well, because we have been running same thing for a long time. Teams kw what we’re running. We’re t afraid of that. But re do have to be some tweaks in re to make sure that we are switching things up a little bit, and I think Nick is going to do an amazing job.”

49ers are one of at least nine teams that made playoffs last season and will have a new play-caller on offense, defense or both in 2024.

Eagles switched both coordinators for a second straight season but this time because of poor performance and t because y were getting head coaching jobs. Vic Fangio will take over defense and Kellen Moore is set to call offense after spending previous five seasons as a coordinator for Cowboys and Chargers.

or new play-callers for teams that made postseason in 2023 are offensive coordinators Liam Coen in Tampa Bay and Arthur Smith in Pittsburgh; and defensive coordinators Jeff Hafley in Green Bay, Mike Zimmer in Dallas, Zach Orr in Baltimore, Anthony Weaver in Miami, and Chris Shula for Los Angeles Rams.

Buffalo has a new defensive coordinator after promoting Bobby Babich from linebackers coach but head coach Sean McDermott hasn't said wher he will cede calling defense to Babich.

Cleveland also has a new offensive coordinator with Ken Dorsey replacing Alex Van Pelt but head coach Kevin Stefanski is expected to remain play-caller.

Here's a closer look at some of new play-callers for playoff teams who might have biggest impacts on 2024 season:

Sorensen is a former NFL safety who has been well-schooled in this scheme after having started his coaching career on Pete Carroll's staff in Seattle. Sorensen spent past two seasons in San Francisco, where he specialized in pass cover and slot defenders, and also ran team's weekly “Ball” meetings that stress creating takeaways and limiting turvers.

While he has never called plays at any level, Sorensen has earned trust of stars like Warner and Nick Bosa, and can get some help from new defensive assistant Brandon Staley, who oversaw top defense in NFL for Rams in 2020 in his only year as a coordinator.

Eagles offense got stale last season after Shane Steichen left to become head coach in Indianapolis and Brian Johnson took over with heavy influence from head coach Nick Sirianni.

Moore should get more free rein after having run offenses that finished in top 10 in several metrics in his three seasons with a healthy Dak Prescott at QB.

Eagles ran least pre-snap motion in NFL last season and were near bottom in play-action rate. Both of those should increase considerably under Moore, which could make life easier on quarterback Jalen Hurts.

Hafley is bringing in big changes for a defense that hadn't performed up to its talent level past three seasons under Joe Barry. former head coach at Boston College is switching to a four-man front in hopes of fortifying a run defense that got gashed far too often in recent years.

He inherits a roster that has seven former first-round picks, including edge rusher Rashan Gary, and that added talented safety Xavier McKinney in free ncy from New York Giants.

Cowboys had a top 10 scoring defense past three seasons with Dan Quinn calling plays, leading to him getting a new job as head coach in Washington.

But Dallas got exposed in a wild-card loss to Green Bay when Packers scored six TDs on first seven drives.

Zimmer has a long history of running strong defenses as a coordinator in Dallas nearly two decades ago, in Cincinnati and n as a head coach in Minnesota. He inherits a skilled unit led by Micah Parsons and aggressive cornerbacks DaRon Bland and Trevon Diggs.

Smith struggled as a head coach in Atlanta but following a successful run as coordinator in Tennessee, where he helped revive Ryan Tannehill's career.

Smith will try to do something similar in Pittsburgh with eir Russell Wilson or Justin Fields. He also should bring more pre-snap motion and play-action passing than Steelers employed under Matt Canada. That should take pressure off whoever wins quarterback battle.

While many of or new play-callers are looking to tweak or improve ir systems, main task for Orr is maintaining high level of play Mike Macdonald generated for defense that allowed fewest points in league last season.

Macdonald's scheme that relies heavily on disguised covers to fool quarterbacks and simulated pressures that stress QB without using too many pass rushers is so coveted that four teams hired defensive play-callers this offseason that came from Baltimore system.

32-year-old Orr is a former linebacker who spent past two seasons as inside linebackers coach. He inherits many of pieces that made Macdonald's defense so successful, including All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton, All-Pro linebacker Roquan Smith and second-team All-Pro defensive tackle Justin Madubuike.