NFL Coach Power Rankings: Where Jay Gruden fits in among the 32 coaches
It’s not exactly fair to judge any head coach on their previous experience with the Cleveland Browns. But on Shurmur’s resume, the biggest gig he held was as the head coach of the Browns. In two seasons at the helm, Shurmur led the team to a 9-23 record, which is actually fairly solid considering how devoid of talent the Browns roster actually was.
For the two seasons that Shurmur was in charge of the Browns, their quarterbacks were Colt McCoy and Brandon Weeden. Both were good college quarterbacks, but they struggled as starters with the Browns. Since then, McCoy has become a very good backup with the Redskins while Weeden is buried on the Houston Texans’ depth chart.
Because of the presence of these two and the lack of overall offensive weaponry, it’s no surprise that Shurmur’s offenses finished in the bottom 10 of the league each season. So, he deserves a bit of slack for that, but it still isn’t exactly an inspiring look at what he might offer as a head coach.
That said, the past five seasons have seen Shurmur serve as a quality offensive coordinator for both the Eagles and the Vikings. With the Eagles, Shurmur helped to coordinate Chip Kelly’s up-tempo offense. That led to some high rankings, but the numbers were a bit inflated because of the team’s penchant for quick drives and the fact that their defense was porous as well. Still, Nick Foles had a 27-2 TD-INT ration one year under Shurmur, so that speaks volumes about his ability as a quarterback mentor.
For the past two seasons, Shurmur has worked with the Vikings and did an incredible job of helping Case Keenum to become a quality NFL starter after years of floundering when given the opportunity. That work is what helped Shurmur to land another coaching job, and he even considered bringing Keenum with him. Instead, Shurmur landed in New York and will take on a reclamation project.
On paper, the Giants have a talented roster. They suffered a lot of injuries last season, and that is part of what caused them to go 3-13. However, the biggest offensive weakness for the team comes at quarterback, where Eli Manning has badly regressed in recent seasons. Shurmur’s job will be to coach him up and get him back to being at least solid. He has a good chance to do that, especially if he can help Manning to revamp his downfield ability.
Because of this upside, Shurmur ranks near the top of the new coaching candidates. The one question mark is his previous coaching stint, but again, that was with the Browns so take it with a grain of salt. If Shurmur can improve the Giants offense and get them back towards the .500 mark, he will probably vault up this list in the near future.