It should come as no surprise that the likes of Carroll (68), Belichick (67), Reid (61) and John Harbaugh (57) stand at or near the top of the pantheon of NFL head coaches. Carroll has won a championship and consistently ensures that seemingly underpowered Seattle rosters make the playoffs. Belichick has won six Super Bowls over two decades. Reid has been a head coach for 21 years and made the playoffs in 15 of them, and finally won the big one this year. Harbaugh has produced just one losing season in 12 years with the Ravens, including a championship win in 2012 and led them to the best record in the NFL with a vastly different scheme in 2019. However, none - with the exception of Mike Tomlin - of the established coaches in the league found success early in their careers. Belichick found success at 47 years of age, whilst Pete Carroll was employed at 42 by the New York Jets - and was fired at the end of the season. John Harbaugh was 48 years old when the Ravens hired him back in 2008. The media loves hot, new coaches with their ‘revolutionary’ ideas. However, it isn’t like the NFL is a top-secret, classified organisation - new tactics and schemes are publicly available to any of the millions watching on Sundays, from fans to rival staff. Despite this, the aforementioned coaches consistently reach the playoffs over their tenured careers. This is because the older generation of coaches are armed with experience - often the most important trait of all - and so are better than their younger colleagues at switching schemes and adapting to the new environment that might present itself ahead of any given season. Coaching in the NFL, like any sport, is essentially a microcosm of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution - it is survival of the fittest.

For me, Harbaugh is the peak example of this. In a single offseason, the Ravens went from being a passing offense that was lacking under Joe Flacco to the dynamic run-game spearheaded by the greatest mobile quarterback the game has ever seen. In 2019, Baltimore ran the pistol formation more than every other team in the rest of the league combined. This is not a scheme that Harbaugh invented, mind you. It was his ability to make it his own and mould the identity of the Ravens that deserves plaudits.

The older, vastly experienced coaches showcase effective skills that enable them to maintain relevance in the ever-changing arena of sport. These coaches adapt to the nature of the league and are strong communicators of their ideals. A Washington Post article ahead of the 2018 season stated that a great mindset shift occured amongst NFL front offices when hiring coaches: thanks to the success of McVay, franchises are embracing and investing in innovative offensive schemes - and they are backing young minds to implement them.