You don’t need to squint to see it anymore. The fingerprints of Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan are smeared across every play sheet in the NFL. From Miami to Minnesota to wherever Jacksonville thinks it’s going – this isn’t just a coaching tree. It’s a takeover. The roots run back to Washington. McVay. Shanahan. Matt LaFleur. Three future head coaches are sitting in a crumbling franchise, quietly reshaping the future of offensive football. 

Fast-forward to Super Bowl LVI, and three of the four conference finalists ran systems born from that very room. It wasn’t a coincidence. It was confirmation. Now, in 2025, the scheme has evolved. The tree has branched. And now, three coaches – each a direct product of this lineage – enter seasons that could define not just their careers, but the next phase of the system’s dominance.

Mike McDaniel – Innovation meets the January wall

Mike McDaniel has the resume of a Shanahan lifer and the mind of a football eccentric. In Miami, he turned speed into symphony. In 2023, his Dolphins led the league in passing yards and handed Denver a historic 70-point beating. But for all the motion, misdirection, and highlight tape throws, there’s one box he hasn’t checked: a playoff win.

The excuses are thinning. Tua Tagovailoa’s healthy. The core is intact. And with Vic Fangio gone, the scheme wars shift into Phase 2: resilience. The Dolphins don’t just need to be clever – they need to be cold-blooded in January. Can McDaniel evolve from scheme savant to situational killer? This isn’t about fireworks anymore. It’s about whether Miami’s illusion of complexity can survive when defenses stop biting.

Kevin O’Connell – The QB whisperer gets his blank slate

Kevin O’Connell has had time. Three years in Minnesota to build out McVay’s offense, to blend bootlegs and option routes into something sustainable. He got results with Kirk Cousins. Now, he has the reset with quarterback J.J. McCarthy.

Here’s where the coaching tree is put to the test. If this system truly elevates quarterbacks—if timing and spacing can compensate for inexperience—then McCarthy would have flourished. However, he missed the entire 2024 season due to a knee injury that occurred prior to the start of the season. Now the Vikings will learn the hard way that not every schematic fix travels well. O’Connell isn’t flashy. But he’s precise. And in a league where play-callers are judged by how quickly their rookie QBs get off training wheels, 2025 will show whether he’s building a program or just borrowing from McVay’s playbook.

Liam Coen – The culture architect in Duval

Liam Coen wasn’t just hired to fix the Jaguars’ offense. He was hired to fix their identity. And according to voices inside the building, he already has. The former Rams OC returns to the NFL with a mandate: elevate Trevor Lawrence and stabilize a franchise that keeps tripping over its own expectations. 

The X’s and O’s matter – Coen will rely on play-action, intermediate throws, and route layering – but the real win might be the tone he’s set. Players are speaking up. Coaches aren’t tiptoeing around quarterbacks. And for the first time in a while, Jacksonville feels less like a silo of dysfunction and more like a football team. The scheme is proven. The question is whether Coen can fast-track its credibility in a locker room that’s seen too many philosophies crash and burn.

What started as a shared philosophy between two young coordinators has become the NFL’s dominant offensive blueprint. But the league adjusts. The pressure mounts. And systems – no matter how elegant – eventually need results. McDaniel, O’Connell, and Coen aren’t just carrying the torch. They’re being asked to reshape it. 2025 is their litmus test. The next step in the wide zone’s evolution isn’t just conceptual—it’s personal.