# Colin Cowherd: On The Herd, Cowherd ranked the NFL's top 10 head coach/quarterback duos (plus three honorable mentions), putting Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford first by a substantial margin, Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes second, and Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert third.

**Claimed:** Aug 18, 2026
**Pundit:** Colin Cowherd — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/pundits/colin-cowherd
**Outlet:** Fox Sports — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/outlets/fox-sports
**How it reached us:** published in writing
**Original:** https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/2026-nfl-top-10-quarterback-head-coach-combinations-which-duo-holds-title

One checkable claim, graded on its own against what actually happened.

Nothing to score yet: this grades once the result is in.

> Number one to me, and it's a pretty substantial margin, McVay and Stafford.

*(their words, quoted for attribution)*

## The claims

- **FOX Sports analyst Colin Cowherd provided his list of the top 10 head coach and quarterback combinations across the league... "I put Shanahan and Purdy at 10"... "Number one to me, and it's a pretty substantial margin, McVay and Stafford."**
  - Kind: Head Coach Rankings
  - Verdict: not settled yet

## More head coach rankings

The same kind of call, about other players and teams.

- Jesse Holley: Jesse picked the 49ers to beat Seattle (expecting Sam Darnold to revert to form), the Texans over New England, and the Rams over the Bears. He also called Oregon's tight end a first-round player and ranked the Giants' new head coach as the best in the NFC East ahead of Quinn and Schottenheimer. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/ac1244ea-9b1b-4b60-b3e6-f7beb62adf4c (scored 25)
- Gregg Rosenthal: In a snake-draft-style ranking of the NFL's returning head coaches, Rosenthal made the even-numbered selections, taking Sean McVay second overall, Kevin O'Connell fourth, John Harbaugh sixth and on down to Raheem Morris at 26. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/f1dd8036-757c-4f3e-9089-2429df99c92a (scored 62.2)
- JP Acosta: Acosta made the odd-numbered picks in the head-coach draft, naming Andy Reid the best coach in the NFL, Dan Campbell third, Kyle Shanahan fifth, and continuing down to Brian Daboll at 25. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/c84ddac3-964c-40fe-a238-31130b5f9e4f (scored 51.92)
- Ollie Connolly: Connolly ranked his Coach of the Year top five with Kyle Shanahan first, Mike Vrabel second, Mike McDonald third, Liam Cohen fourth and Ben Johnson fifth, naming Shanahan his winner. He also predicted the Broncos would blow out the Chiefs on Christmas night. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/c07e055c-4ff1-47bf-9062-548b240402ae (scored 75)
- John Middlekauff: In a mid-July podcast, Middlecoff reacted to the Garrett Wilson extension and Jauan Jennings' contract unhappiness, predicting Jennings is San Francisco's clear No. 1 receiver and will top 80 catches; he also expects the Browns to keep Quinshon Judkins on the roster, ranks Mahomes as the top quarterback, calls Dak a top-12 QB, backs Bo Nix as a top-15 starter, says the Bears should win 10 games but must be ranked behind Denver, and would take Dan Campbell over Nick Sirianni. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/32b8564c-773f-4dcf-94bf-654d342ddcec (scored 0)
- Ralph Vacchiano: Vacchiano ranks the seven NFL head coaches he believes are on the hottest seats entering Week 1 of 2026, with Dan Quinn most at risk and Nick Sirianni least. He also expects the Jets to take a quarterback early in the 2027 draft and start another rebuild with a new coach. — https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/opinions/91b611f2-a9fc-429a-89b3-0a136cd9a2aa (not settled)

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Accuracy is 0-100 against what actually happened. The naive guess is what a strategy requiring no knowledge would have scored on the same call — the difference is the skill, and it is what the MissedTakes Score averages.

Full method: https://missedtakes.thegoodapps.co/methodology

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