5 NFL head coaches who experience a glow up in 2020

Assuming Bill O’Brien doesn’t count, though he probably should if we’re being totally honest about it, the Bill Belichick coaching tree seems to finally have a fruitful branch stemming off it. Brian Flores took a Miami Dolphins that should have won zero games and ended up putting five W’s in the win column. Their reward for not tanking was drafting Tua Tagovailoa at No. 5 overall.

Add in Tom Brady leaving the AFC East for the Florida Gulf Coast and the division is wide open. Seemingly any of the four teams in the division can contend for a division title, even Flores’ rebuilding Dolphins. Besides netting Tagovailoa, the biggest reason we can get behind Flores in year two as a head coach is he seems like he’s actually able to replicate what worked for Belichick.

Flores has a no-nonsense approach to rebuilding this once chaotic football franchise. The defensive-minded head coach places a great importance on having great players in the back-end of his defense. He goes after high-character guys in the draft and in free agency, players who are about playing winning football in a winning culture. Flores is well aware of what he’s doing.

Miami could win the AFC East for the first time since 2008, but the Dolphins are more likely to contend for an AFC Wild Card spot this fall. Will the Dolphins be one of the seven best teams in the AFC this year? If they could win five games last year, who is to say the Dolphins aren’t capable of winning nine or 10 to force their way into the playoff conversation. Flores is the big key here.