The New York Giants are bringing in Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy to lead their own offense in the wake of losing Todd Monken to the Cleveland Browns head coaching job.
That was a head-scratching development considering the other quality options available, but it's fair to say most Giants fans are worried Nagy was selected for one reason only: Patrick Mahomes.
Nagy has been working with Mahomes since 2022, in which time the Chiefs appeared in three Super Bowls and won two of them. That's a pretty bright spot on his resume, but how much of that success was Nagy's making, and how much of it was purely Mahomes' talent?
Matt Nagy may have been hired for Patrick Mahomes' success
Prior to returning to Kansas City (Nagy was the team's OC from 2016-17), Nagy led the Chicago Bears to mixed success. The team went 34-31 (.523) and made two playoff appearances (winning the NFC North in his first campaign).
However, his development of quarterback Justin Fields was pitiful at best. The 2021 first-round selection only lasted three seasons before being kicked to the curb and never reached 3,000 yards in a year. Should Jaxson Dart be worried his growth will be stunted under a Nagy-led offense?
"[Matt Nagy's] development of young quarterbacks have been awful."@mspears96 is not confident in Giants' new OC Matt Nagy based on how he developed Mitchell Trubisky and Justin Fields 😳 pic.twitter.com/k2FuAqqs1k
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) February 3, 2026
The only bright spot for Nagy recently has been Kansas City's dynasty. Mahomes was directly responsible for many of the Chiefs' wins, but when you look at his numbers under Nagy's direction, he's actually seen a downtrend.
Outside of the 2022 season, Nagy's first back in Kansas City, Mahomes has failed to reach 30 touchdown passes and topped 4,000 yards only once. In the four previous campaigns, those benchmarks were easily hit all but once (26 TDs in 2019).
There may be some rose-colored glasses being worn by John Harbaugh, having been bested by the Chiefs all three times they met during Nagy's tenure. Only time will tell if he'll get burned by the decision.
Nagy isn't the only coach to have their success on the sidelines largely owed to the talents of their star quarterbacks. This past season, it was no more apparent for these bench bosses — four more overrated coaches carried by their QBs.
Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals
Joe Burrow is the Cincinnati offense. Even with Joe Flacco under center and a healthy pairing of Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, the Bengals couldn't string together a pair of wins. It was slightly shocking to see Zac Taylor still have a job after the disappointing 2025 campaign the team had with Burrow sidelined with injury most of the year. He clearly isn't the genius everyone thought he was and the cracks are starting to show.
Brian Schottenheimer, Dallas Cowboys
It may have been only his first season at the helm after Mike McCarthy left but Schottenheimer had the benefit of a high-flying offense led by Dak Prescott and still couldn't find the postseason. Dallas had its first pair of 1,000-yard receivers since 2019 in George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb but lost nine games. We already know Prescott is a proven commodity and when you remove him from the equation, things will get a lot worse than just nine losses.
Nick Sirianni, Jalen Hurts
Even Philadelphia fans will agree Sirianni doesn't deserve the talents of Jalen Hurts. Super Bowl LIX was won on the back of the 27-year-old and the title defense was severely lacking in a consistent approach from the sidelines. The Eagles only won the NFC East again because the rest of the division stunk and Hurts rebounded from his individually poor 2024 (comparatively). We haven't even touched Sirianni's touchy relationship with top receiver A.J. Brown. If Hurts weren't the quarterback in Philadelphia, Brown would've sparked an exodus of talent yesterday.
Todd Bowles, Baker Mayfield
Another head coach that surprisingly kept his job this offseason, Bowles probably has Mayfield to thank for that. The latter was leading an MVP-like campaign for the first half of the season before the entire team started to fall off. Tampa Bay missed the playoffs and Bowles in-game decision making is partly to blame. Too many times was Mayfield called on to launch a comeback bid. Sometimes he was successful and other times he just made fantasy managers happy in a loss. Bowles wouldn't have lasted as long as he has without Mayfield under center.