Matt LaFleur is bizarrely left off a list he absolutely deserved to rank high on, and the omission is tough to justify

From all 32 head coaches in the NFL, Green Bay Packers' Matt LaFleur is third in career win percentage. And it's not a small sample size madness either. With six seasons of track record, LaFleur had success and playoff appearances with two completely different versions of the Packers—an older one, led by Aaron Rodgers, and the transition from a young roster with Jordan Love at quarterback.

Earlier this week, PFF's Dalton Wasserman put together a list of the top 10 returning NFL head coaches entering 2025, and LaFleur was weirdly snubbed.

The list has only returning coaches, so the seven head coaches hired in 2025 are not on it. That means LaFleur didn't make the top 10 of 25 possible names. The list has Andy Reid, Sean Payton, Sean McVay, John Harbaugh, Mike Tomlin, Jim Harbaugh, Kyle Shanahan, Nick Sirianni, Dan Campbell, and Kevin Stefanski.

There are obvious excellent coaches all over the list, and each one has a strong case to be on it. Five of them have won the Super Bowl already, which LaFleur hasn't. At the same time, it's hard to justify why the Packers' coach wouldn't be there.

He's made the playoffs in five of his six seasons, including two NFCCG appearances. The Packers were in the top 10 in offensive weighted DVOA in all six seasons, including seasons where the offense were "down"—2022, Rodgers' final season, and last year, with Jordan Love handling multiple injuries and so many mistakes from the receivers.

Dan Campbell has been successful with the Detroit Lions over the past two years, but the team was bad before they promoted Ben Johnson to offensive coordinator. The roster is much better now, but that probably says more about GM Brad Holmes. Campbell is a great leader, there's no doubt about it, but LaFleur has gone through a roster transition that Campbell hasn't yet.

Mike Tomlin and Sean Payton have won Super Bowls, but that happened in the 2000s. Mike McCarthy has won a championship more recently. While they both give a sense of consistency to their teams, LaFleur has achieved better results than them year after year since he took over.

Kevin Stefanski was named the coach of the year twice, in 2020 and 2023, but that's mostly because the Cleveland Browns surpassed expectations. Last year, the team was 3-14, and Stefanski has a 40-44 (.476) record as a head coach. The Browns made the playoffs twice in his five seasons.

So yes, Stefanski is a good coach, and ultimately the roster talent dictates who will or won't succeed as a coach. But Matt LaFleur has proved time and time again how he consistently maximizes his team.