Fansided

Ranking the best NFL head coaches heading into the 2019 season

By Brad Weiss

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - FEBRUARY 03: Head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots looks on prior to Super Bowl LIII against the Los Angeles Rams at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on February 03, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - FEBRUARY 03: Head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots looks on prior to Super Bowl LIII against the Los Angeles Rams at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on February 03, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /
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Packers
GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN – JANUARY 09: (L-R) General manager Brian Gutekunst, head coach Matt LaFleur and President and CEO Mark Murphy of the Green Bay Packers speak to the media during a press conference introducing Matt LaFleur as head coach at Lambeau Field on January 09, 2019 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images) /

. . . Matt LaFleur. 30. team. 49

It certainly pays to be close to the Shanahans, as it has helped Matt LaFleur tremendously in getting to where he is today. Not to say Matt is not an incredibly hard worker, and deserves this opportunity with the Green Bay Packers, but it is hard to say he is where he is without the help of Mike and Kyle Shanahan during his NFL career.

The 39-year old LaFleur has had to work his way up the ranks to get where he is today, as he enters his first season as an NFL head coach. After coaching at the college level, LaFleur got his first taste of the NFL as a quality control coach with the Houston Texans, where he first met Kyle Shanahan.

When Kyle’s father, Mike, got the Washington Redskins head coaching job, LaFleur was hired to join the Redskins staff as the quarterback’s coach. After a brief stint back in college in 2014 with Notre Dame, LaFleur came back to team with Kyle Shanahan with the Atlanta Falcons, where he helped lead Matt Ryan to an MVP season and the Super Bowl.

In 2017, LaFleur joined Sean McVay and the Los Angeles Rams as their offensive coordinator, a move he parlayed into getting the same job with the Tennessee Titans in 2018, but also a promotion as he got to call the offensive plays. In 2019, he gets his first chance in the big seat, and based on the people he has worked with in the past, you have to think he is prepared for his big opportunity.

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