Are Vance Joseph, Brian Flores & Steve Spagnuolo OVERRATED or ELITE in Defensive Play-Caller Tiers?

Locked On NFL Scouting with the Draft Dudes - Daily podcast covering NFL and College Football scouting

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4.6 • 968 Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2026

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

NFL defensive masterminds take center stage as Mike McDonald, Vic Fangio, and Vance Joseph headline the rankings for best play callers entering 2026. Are these coordinators the secret weapon for a Super Bowl-caliber defense? Joe Marino and Kyle Crabbs tier all 32 NFL defensive play callers, sparking debate over Steve Spagnuolo’s Hall of Fame credentials and the evolving legacies of Brian Flores, Robert Saleh, and emerging names like Anthony Campanile and Jesse Minter. The discussion dives into team-specific dynamics—from the Denver Broncos’ defensive resurgence under Vance Joseph to the Kansas City Chiefs’ consistency under Spagnuolo. Listener intrigue ramps up as the hosts question Jonathan Gannon’s struggles with the Arizona Cardinals and project breakout potential for Denard Wilson with the New York Giants. With sharp takes on defensive schemes, coaching trees, and critical injuries, this episode unlocks insight on which teams are poised for dominance and which have reason for concern.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Who are the best defensive play callers in the NFL?
0:04.6	We're going to tear them all right now.
0:11.8	You are locked on NFL scouting with the draft dudes,
0:16.6	your daily podcast for NFL and college football scouting,
0:20.6	part of the locked on podcast network
0:22.8	your team every day what's better than this it's guys being dudes i'm joe marino he's kyle crabs
0:33.1	on today's episode we are tearing all of the defensive play callers in the NFL entering 2026.
0:41.4	Kyle, happy Friday to you.
0:42.9	Happy Friday to you as well.
0:45.6	Thank you very much.
0:46.4	This is, uh, feels like the end of the Odyssey here and see you and me.
0:51.3	This is about 10 weeks of this.
0:53.9	This is kind of our last one right for
0:56.8	categorization purposes i think so right and then we can start next week really no i was trying
1:04.0	to just go right through that because i know this is a big movie that i'm not going to see
1:09.1	mythology horses i yeah you didn't have to read anything related to that throughout big movie that I'm not going to see. It's mythology, horses.
1:11.3	It's not for me.
1:12.3	You didn't have to read anything related to that throughout your education back in
1:16.1	the day or anything like that?
1:17.4	No, never, never.
1:19.1	So I've been hearing all about it.
1:21.5	I'm sure it's long.
	...

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