Snoozing or losing: Why some NFL coaches are rethinking their sleep habits

THE HIGH-ENERGY style of Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay is apparent from the moment he enters a room.

Everything from the pronounced pep in his step to his quick cadence in conversation suggests he is a man who does not easily tire. McVay even joked once that he desperately hoped his newborn son wouldn’t grow up to be as “wired” as his father, for whom sleep has often taken a back seat to work.

But in recent years, coaches such as McVay have begun to reevaluate the wisdom of working unsustainable hours. Unsurprisingly, arriving at the office in predawn hours and working until late in the evening (or not going home at all) takes a toll.

“I used to think it was cool to think you can go 18 hours,” McVay said. “You know what that is? That’s called being a dumbass.”

With NFL training camps opening this week, sleep patterns are about to be jolted. But recent interviews with multiple NFL head coaches revealed evolving viewpoints. The stereotype of coaches working shockingly long hours is gradually yielding to the realization that proper sleep can produce benefits from game-planning to decision-making on game days. Some coaches are beginning to subscribe to the same philosophy they preach to their players about gaining every possible edge.

“If we’re in a league where the parity is so tight, then we better make sure that we’re doing everything we can do as coaches to make sure our minds are thinking clearly,” Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said.

The introspection of coaches comes as numerous teams are employing sleep experts to help players maximize preparation and performance.

Among the areas most impacted by sleep deprivation are things like decision-making and critical thinking, according to a 2023 study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. One Stanford University study documented a 9% increase in shooting percentages among basketball players who increased their amount of sleep over a five-to-seven-week stretch.

Now, some coaches are starting to come to terms with their own sleep shortcomings.

“The demands on [coaches] are crucial,” said Peter Polos, a professor of sleep medicine at JFK University Medical Center in Edison, New Jersey. “One mistake could be a loss versus a victory … So, you have to have the mental acuity.”

But knowing this and acting on it are two different things. Some coaches admit to wrestling with finding ways to work fewer hours while also feeling adequately prepared. Some teams are implementing aggressive changes, like encouraging coaches to work part of the day from home. Others are cutting back on the length of staff meetings.

But old habits can die hard. Take the 38-year-old McVay, for example. Although he once was the NFL’s youngest head coach, he comes from a football family, and he took on some of the qualities of previous generations — including a tendency to work until you drop.

McVay’s grandfather, John, was an NFL head coach and general manager. The McVay family also has close ties to the Grudens, with Sean McVay serving for one season on Jon Gruden’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers staff as a junior assistant in 2008. Gruden famously used to set an alarm for 3:17 a.m. each day to ensure he got an early start.

But as today’s NFL coaches become more open-minded, embracing concepts like analytical data and sports science, some attitudes may be starting to change.

McVay said he now manages seven hours of sleep each night, which is what the American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends.

“Just look at the science behind a tired brain,” Carolina Panthers coach Dave Canales said. “They have all this research. When you talk about a 40-second play clock and the exhausted brain versus the rested brain, the research is astronomically different.”

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JAMES MAAS HAS long preached the gospel of sleep to anyone who will listen. Often, his audiences include professional sports teams, from the NFL to the NHL.

Maas, who established himself in the field during more than four decades as a professor at Cornell University, hears a common refrain after his presentations to athletes.

“Players say, ‘Wow, I never realized the effect of sleep on my situational awareness, my reaction time, my emotional state, my ability to process, to concentrate,” Maas said. “I never realized it was so critical.”

Maas often tells the story of a young NHL player he worked with (he doesn’t name his clients for confidentiality reasons) who was struggling in his first few games of a season and became frustrated.

“He was just awful,” Maas said. “But then we had a talk and he changed his sleeping schedule. Within a week, he had a hat trick and his coach said, ‘What the hell got into you?'”

The message is generally tailored to players. But occasionally, Maas said, the talks spark questions from coaches. At times, they’ve pulled him aside afterward to ask how their sleep habits might impact their own performance.

“I tell them, you better practice what you preach to the players,” he said. “You’re staying up ungodly hours reviewing film for the next opponent, and you’re missing things when you’re reviewing that film.”

Canales agreed, saying: “I do think that there are diminishing returns at a certain point.”

Maas’ pitch to coaches also touches on temperament.

Sleep “affects your emotions,” Canales said. “[With better sleep], you don’t have people panicking on the headset, screaming and yelling at each other and really taking things completely out of context and to a personal level.”

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FOR A SENSE of how precious sleep can be for coaches, consider the thought process of Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor on nights when he’s at the team facility late into the evening.

“I’m not a guy that stays there until midnight,” he said. “But if I’ve ever slept in my office, it’s because at 10 o’clock I felt like instead of spending the 20 minutes driving home, I’d rather be sleeping.”

When the next day begins at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m., those are the kinds of choices you’re forced to make.

During the season, the longest hours come on the front end of the week during the game-planning process. It begins almost immediately after the previous game and has to be ready to go when players walk in on Wednesday morning.

“The game-planning is the most time that you put into it,” Indianapolis Colts coach Shane Steichen said. “But, then, not only that, after you’ve game planned for those hours, you have to put together the script for practice, you’ve got to do the [scout-team] cards for practice and then you’ve got to get ready for the next day.

“You’re going to meet again in the morning. So, that just adds up.”

Head coaches have oversight roles to perform that add to the workload. Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh once allowed ESPN to document his weekly schedule, revealing he had so many responsibilities he scheduled 15-minute blocks to call his wife, Ingrid.

During weeks when a team is facing an opponent with an unconventional style, things get ratcheted up. Teams that, for instance, feature exotic blitzes or employ unique offensive concepts might require significant adjustments that are time-consuming.

“It’s like, ‘Shoot, we’ve got to have an answer for this and this and this and this and this,” Steichen said. “That’s where sometimes it gets a little later.”

When a team is coming off a Sunday night or Monday night game, things really get compressed, Taylor said. He posited a scenario where his team might play a Sunday night road game, meaning the team charter wouldn’t land in Cincinnati until the wee hours Monday.

“That’s probably something no one else would think about other than [coaches],” Taylor said. “Then, Thursday morning, you’re like, ‘Why am I so tired?’ Well, I got back at 4 in the morning on Monday and now it’s starting to hit me.'”

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ATLANTA FALCONS COACH Raheem Morris said he learned some valuable lessons from the adaptations he made while working in the midst of the pandemic.

Specifically, the shift to virtual work made him think: Why can’t some elements of this become permanent?

So, during the past couple of seasons, when he was the Los Angeles Rams’ defensive coordinator, Morris implemented a new routine: He started leaving the office earlier and encouraged his defensive staff to do the same. If there was work left to be done, Morris finished it from home.

“There’s only so much work you do together,” he said. “So, you’ve got a process that you do with your team. And when that process is over with, then it usually becomes self-work. And that’s the stuff where you drive yourself crazy. So, drive yourself crazy at home.

“When you get everything rolling, you can get people efficiently working and be able to walk out of that office at 6, go eat dinner at home, and then after you finish, kids go to bed at 8, then you get back to work. That’s perfect. And then there’s nothing like logging off and taking a step [to your bedroom] and falling asleep.”

Like many coaches, Morris wakes up around 4 a.m., and his modified approach, which he plans to continue in Atlanta, allows for more work-life balance.

“It’s not like when we were in Tampa and you didn’t sleep until Friday,” he said of his tenure with the Buccaneers when he was a member of Gruden’s staff. “You couldn’t wait for an away game just so you could get on the plane and sleep. It’s just a big difference. It’s so much better.”

Similarly, Canales is implementing a hybrid work model in Carolina.

On Mondays, he plans to be out the door by 5 p.m. His in-season routine is to flip on “Monday Night Football” later that evening in his home office, where his kids will often hang out while doing homework as their dad watches film. On Thursdays, the goal is to have everyone home by 7 p.m. On Fridays, the target is 3 p.m. Working efficiently is what will make it all work, Canales said.

“I think we have the best work schedule in the NFL,” he said. “As far as the horror stories you may hear, that’s not what’s going to happen in Carolina.”

In Arizona, Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon hasn’t gone as far. But he has set an expectation that his coaches must be rested to ensure they perform well in the most important aspects of their duties.

“I basically mandate you better be on when you’re with the players,” Gannon said. “That’s the time that matters most. And if that means you’re getting out of here an hour earlier, then that’s what it means.”

For the coaches who are prioritizing more sleep, accomplishing the goal usually traces back to working smarter, not harder. To drive home the point, Morris recalled a story he once heard told by motivational speaker Simon Sinek.

It was the tale of two lumberjacks. They started and finished work at the same time every day, but one would disappear for an hour in the middle of the day, and yet was able to pile up more wood.

Perplexed, the lumberjack who worked all day asked the other how he was able to do it.

“He told him, ‘I go home and sharpen my ax,'” Morris said. “So, it’s kind of like that. You go home and sharpen your ax and you get into a nice process.”