We do it every year, and so with league meetings underway in Phoenix it's time to dissect the NFL head coaches class photo of 2026.
This document is equal parts amusing and historic. It's the only time all year that these 32 men are in the same room (figuratively speaking), and it's the only time ever that these 32 men are together at once. As we all know, the NFL head coaching roster of 2026 was different than 2025, and it'll be different again in 2027.
And it's also just funny how these 32 men, with the highest-profile jobs in all of football, turn into 2nd graders when you ask them to look at the camera and say cheese. Although we'll have more on that later.
Some observations:
1. I count 30 of the 32 present and accounted for. Missing: the LA Rams' Sean McVay, and Cleveland's Todd Monken. A bummer that the rookie Monken missed out on his first class photo.
2. Speaking of McVay -- this is not a new observation, but today's NFL head coach is handsomer than ever. Up until, say, 15 years ago the median NFL head coach looked like Andy Reid. He spent 22 hours a day grinding tape -- and that's in the offseason -- and so of course there was no time for the gym or the salon. Time spent at the gym was time better spent breaking down Philadelphia's third down blitz packages.
Nowadays, everyone wants their own wunderkind. He doesn't just come with an expansive playbook that will leave the opposing defensive coordinator guessing, he's got a perfectly-trimmed beard and abs.
3. Whole lot of blue in this photo.
4. Who knew Joe Brady was that big? He looks like a tight end in between Mike LaFleur and Kevin Stefanski.
5. McVay (40) and Kyle Shanahan (46), heading into their tenth years respectively in LA and San Francisco, are among the elder statesmen of the group. In fact, Reid is the only coach who's been in his current job longer than those two. The median NFL head coach was hired in 2024 -- Mike Macdonald in Seattle, Jim Harbaugh in LA, Dan Quinn in Washington, and Dave Canales in Carolina.
6. The high in Phoenix was 94 today, but the only front-rower smart enough to wear shorts? Denver's Sean Payton.
And for good measure, though far less entertaining, is the GM class of 2026 photo.
All photos via Mike Garafolo on Twitter.