Some NFL coaches are better than others when deciding when to throw the challenge flag.
Mike McDaniel has struggled during his time as the Miami Dolphins head coach. While he survived the hot seat for now, after keeping pace with the Buffalo Bills on Thursday Night Football, McDaniel has other things to worry about.
When challenging calls on the field, he has the worst among active head coaches who have coached three or more NFL games, and the third-worst rate of any coach with 10+ challenges since 2022.
McDaniel has mustered a 28-26 record while he’s been at the helm for four seasons in Miami, and has undoubtedly lost games because of ill-advised challenges. His lack of success challenging calls is another factor in his struggles as a head coach because, if you look at the history of which coaches have the best success rate for challenging calls, the elite coaches are at the top.
Here’s a look at which coaches have challenged the most plays, which have had the most and least success doing so, and where McDaniel stacks among his peers.
| Coach | Record | Success rate |
| Brian Callahan | 3/4 | 75% |
| Brian Daboll | 10/14 | 71.40% |
| Johnathon Gannon | 3/5 | 60% |
| Nick Sirriani | 10/17 | 58.80% |
| Kevin O’Connell | 12/21 | 57.10% |
| Kyle Shanahan | 24/44 | 54.50% |
| Mike Vrabel | 14/27 | 51.90% |
| Kevin Stefanski | 10/20 | 50% |
| Zac Taylor | 10/20 | 50% |
| Dave Canales | 1/2 | 50% |
| Sean McVay | 19/40 | 47.50% |
| Todd Bowles | 13/28 | 46.50% |
| Pete Carroll | 51/112 | 45.50% |
| Andy Reid | 37/82 | 45.10% |
| Dan Campbell | 9/20 | 45% |
| Shane Steichen | 3/7 | 42.90% |
| Mike Tomlin | 41/96 | 42.70% |
| Matt LaFleur | 19/45 | 42.20% |
| Jon Harbaugh | 55/131 | 42.00% |
| Dan Quinn | 12/29 | 41.40% |
| Sean Payton | 6/15 | 40% |
| Raheem Morris | 14/36 | 38.90% |
| Jim Harbaugh | 12/38 | 31.50% |
| Sean McDermott | 11/38 | 29% |
| Demeco Ryans | 2/7 | 28.60% |
| Mike McDaniel | 4/19 | 21.10% |
| Liam Coen | 0/1 | 0% |
| Mike Macdonald | 0/1 | 0% |
| Ben Johnson | 0/1 | 0% |
| Aaron Glenn | 0/0 | N/A |
| Kellen Moore | 0/0 | N/A |
| Brian Schottenheimer | 0/0 | N/A |
Sean Payton leads the way with 136 calls challenged, while Pete Carroll is right behind him with 112. They each have a decent success rate, with Payton going 60 of 136 (44.1%) over 16 seasons in New Orleans and two in Denver; and Carroll going 51 of 112 (45.5%) over 14 seasons with Seattle. (Carroll has yet to challenge a call in two games with Las Vegas).
Other medium-term coaches who have accumulated a wealth of challenges include Kyle Shanahan with 44 calls challenged and Sean McVay with 40. Shanahan has an impressive success rate of 24 of 44 (54.5%), while McVay has gone 19 of 40 (47.5%).
The most successful coaches when it comes to challenging (a minimum of 10 challenges) calls are the New York Giants’ head coach Brian Daboll (10 of 14), Philadelphia Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni (10 of 17), and Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell (12 of 21).
On the other hand, the Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott is 11 of 38 (28.9%) on calls challenged. And Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans is 2 of 7 (28.6%)
But nobody has been as consistently bad at challenging calls as McDaniel. Over his 54 games in Miami, he’s 4 of 19 (21.1%).
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