The on-field results haven’t always turned into wins on Sundays, but Indianapolis Colts’ head coach Shane Steichen was voted one of the NFL’s top play callers by his peers.
Ted Nguyen of The Athletic recently spoke to several defensive coordinators and defensive assistants from around the NFL and asked them to rank their top 10 play callers from around the NFL. Nguyen then compiled those rankings into one list, and coming in at No. 10 was Steichen.
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“I think he’s caused more panic timeouts by defenses and opposing head coaches than almost anybody. He’s stolen more plays than a lot of people have,” an AFC defensive coach told Nguyen.
Nguyen added that from a play-design standpoint, Steichen is “one of the more creative coaches in the league.”
In addition to that, Nguyen wrote that “some coaches believe that the Colts offense would be one of the best if (Steichen) had just good quarterback play.”
The quarterback play from the Colts has been very up and down during Steichen’s first two seasons. As the head coach and play caller, that ultimately falls on his shoulders.
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However, the other side of that coin is that even with the sporadic play, Steichen has had the Colts on the cusp of the playoffs each year and has managed a .500 record.
This includes helping Gardner Minshew, a backup for most of his NFL career, make a Pro Bowl during his one season with the Colts.
A large part of naming Daniel Jones the Colts’ starting quarterback was the consistency he can provide. Because with consistency at that position, Steichen knows what to expect, and can orchestrate the offense around that–hopefully leading to that elusive on-field success the Colts have been craving.
This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: 2025 NFL season: Colts’ Shane Steichen voted top play caller by peers