I couldn’t let the 2025 offseason slip away without revisiting an annual topic: NFL coaching sizes and how the Pittsburgh Steelers’ staff stacks up to the other 31 teams. In the previous three years I’ve examined, Pittsburgh has finished last or close to last. Is this year any different? Pittsburgh didn’t make the coaching overhaul it did a year ago, but how has the rest of the league been moving and shaking? Are there any league-wide trends worth noting?

And most importantly: Does any of this matter? Is there a correlation between coaching staff size and team success?

Let’s start with the size of each team’s coaching staff heading into 2025. I broke it down into offensive, defensive, and special teams coaches. Those numbers are one short of the total. Add in the head coach to make the numbers match.

I only included coaches with listed on-field roles and responsibilities noted by the team website. Data analysts, for example, were not included. While critical to the team, I didn’t include the strength & conditioning staff, either. Art Rooney II would disagree with some of these numbers and point to “unofficial” coaches not listed. Last year, the team had Ryan Shazier as an assistant. But because every team has a Ryan Shazier or two, I only counted the ones listed by the team in order to keep things uniform.

Here are the results.

Team
Total Coaches
Off. Coaches
Def. Coaches
ST Coaches

Miami Dolphins
27
13
11
2

Minnesota Vikings
27
14
10
2

Atlanta Falcons
26
13
10
2

Las Vegas Raiders
26
13
9
3

San Francisco 49ers
26
12
10
3

Denver Broncos
25
12
9
3

Houston Texans
25
12
9
3

Jacksonville Jaguars
25
12
10
2

Tennessee Titans
25
12
10
2

Washington Commanders
25
12
10
2

Green Bay Packers
25
12
9
3

Seattle Seahawks
25
12
10
2

New Orleans Saints
25
12
10
2

Indianapolis Colts
24
10
10
3

Los Angeles Chargers
24
11
10
2

Philadelphia Eagles
24
10
10
3

Detroit Lions
24
12
9
3

Tampa Bay Buccaneers
24
13
8
2

Carolina Panthers
24
10
11
2

Baltimore Ravens
23
10
9
3

Kansas City Chiefs
23
11
9
2

New England Patriots
23
10
10
2

New York Jets
23
11
9
2

Dallas Cowboys
23
11
9
2

Chicago Bears
23
11
9
2

New York Giants
23
10
10
2

Los Angeles Rams
23
12
8
2

Cleveland Browns
22
11
8
2

Buffalo Bills
22
10
9
2

Cincinnati Bengals
21
10
8
2

Arizona Cardinals
21
10
8
2

Pittsburgh Steelers
19
10
7
1

Once again, the Steelers rank last. It’s the second-straight season Pittsburgh has finished at the bottom. In 2022 and 2023, the New England Patriots ranked last, but after Bill Belichick left, the team added several more coaches.

Pittsburgh’s the only team in the NFL with under 20 coaches. Their 10 offensive coaches aren’t out of the norm, but the Steelers are last with only seven defensive coaches, though head coach Mike Tomlin has a deep defensive background. Pittsburgh remains the only team with one titled special-teams coach, Danny Smith. Undoubtedly, he receives help, but every other team has at least a dedicated assistant.

The Miami Dolphins continue to have the NFL’s largest coaching staff. They ranked first last year with 27 and held steady in 2025, tying the Minnesota Vikings as the league’s top mark.

Below are the year-over-year trends across the NFL.

Year
Total Coaches
Offensive Coaches
Defensive Coaches
ST Coaches

2022
21.7
9.8
8.4
2.3

2023
23.0
10.8
8.8
2.3

2024
23.7
11.4
9.0
2.3

2025
23.9
11.4
9.3
2.3

For the first time since we began examining the data, there wasn’t an increase in offensive coaches. That number remained flat at 11.4. As did special teams, which has been remarkably consistent at 2.3 in all four years. Granted, it’s a much smaller sample size with less variation. Defensive coaches continue to increase, rising from 9.0 in 2024 to 9.3 in 2025. That slightly increased the overall average of coaches on staff from 23.7 last year to 23.9 this season. Pittsburgh is five coaches below the average.

Overall, this was the smallest increase in coaching size since we began studying trends.

But does it matter? Does a larger coaching staff make for a better team? There’s no exact way to judge it. But here’s the win-loss percentage for the teams with 25-plus coaches last year versus the ones with 22 or fewer.

25 or More: 96-108 (.471) – 33.3-percent playoff rate
22 or Fewer: 75-61 (.552) – 50-percent playoff rate

On that limited scope, a bigger coaching staff didn’t lead to more wins or increased playoff success. Teams with 25-plus coaches were sub-.500 compared to the .552 win rate of teams with 22 or fewer. Half of those teams, including the Steelers, made the playoffs. Last year, the data didn’t show either to have an advantage, and my main conclusion in my now four years of study is that there isn’t a strong correlation between the two.