After looking through every team’s coaching staff as of March 2021, I found that Adam and Mike and Nate and Pete are among 111 NFL coaches who are related biologically or through marriage to current or former NFL coaches, out of a total of 792 coaches employed by NFL teams. That’s 14 percent of all coaches. (I hand-counted this total based on my own research parameters: coaches listed on team website and anyone with the coaching assistant title. The NFL’s official coach count is 822: They count all coaching contracts submitted to the league office, which includes all interns who may not be listed on a staff website.) Mike Zimmer and Pete Carroll are two of five head coaches entering this season who oversaw a relative they hired onto their staff. Belichick has sons Steve and Brian as his outside linebackers and safeties coach; Jon Gruden had his son Deuce, whose first NFL job was on uncle Jay Gruden’s Washington staff, as his assistant strength coach in Las Vegas; and Ron Rivera has his nephew Vincent on staff as a defensive quality control coach.
Vegas led the league in father-son combos on the same staff this season, with four: the Grudens, the Cables, the Smiths, and the Miluses. Las Vegas also leads the league with nine coaches related to a current or former coach on staff, followed by Denver and New England with eight, and the Washington Football Team, whose head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator are related to a current or former NFL coach. The Steelers are the only NFL team without a single coach listed who is related to a current or former NFL coach, though general manager Kevin Colbert has his son on staff, and Dan Rooney Jr. is the team’s player personnel coordinator.
Overall, the league averages 3.4 coaches per team who are related to a current or former NFL coach, and the percentage of coaches at the supervisory levels—the ones with hiring power—is even higher. Eleven of 32 head coaches are related to a current or former NFL coach. There are 24 coordinators who are related to current or former coaches, almost a full quarter of them.