Lions' Aaron Glenn, Cowboys' John Fassel Among Top Coordinators in NFLPA Survey

Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator Frank Smith and Dallas Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel were named the top coaches at their respective positions in a survey of players conducted by the NFL Players Association.

NFLPA president J.C. Tretter told Dan Graziano of ESPN that more than 1,700 players participated in the survey, which is part of a larger project to garner the opinions of players across the league.

"We got really great participation in last year's report card survey, but we wanted to think about what other areas matter to guys day-to-day," Tretter said. "So, the idea of evaluating the coordinators was brought up. They're a major factor in your day-to-day life as a player, and we wanted to make sure players had a voice in promoting the good ones."

Tretter said the NFLPA released its list of top coordinators now to potentially help influence this year's head-coaching hiring process.

Here are the top five coordinators at every position according to the voting:

Offensive Coordinators

1. Frank Smith, Miami Dolphins
2. Thomas Brown, Carolina Panthers
3. Brian Schottenheimer, Dallas Cowboys
4. Brian Callahan, Cincinnati Bengals
5. Kellen Moore, Los Angeles Chargers

Defensive Coordinators

1. Aaron Glenn, Detroit Lions
2. Steve Wilks, San Francisco 49ers
3. Dan Quinn, Dallas Cowboys
4. Brian Flores, Minnesota Vikings
5. Raheem Morris, Los Angeles Rams

Special Teams Coordinators

1. John Fassel, Dallas Cowboys
2. Chris Tabor, Carolina Panthers 
3. Matt Daniels, Minnesota Vikings
4. Dave Fipp, Detroit Lions
5. Darren Rizzi, New Orleans Saints

Some of the names topping the list may open some eyes. For instance, Smith is the Dolphins' offensive coordinator by title but does not call the plays; head coach Mike McDaniel handles that duty. Brian Schottenheimer and Brian Callahan likewise do not call plays for their respective teams.

Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who is considered arguably the hottest name in assistant coaching circles, is also nowhere to be found among the players' offensive favorites.

The Carolina Panthers, who boast the NFL's worst record, wound up with two coaches (offensive coordinator Thomas Brown and special teams coordinator/interim head coach Chris Tabor) making the list.

This survey could provide strong evidence that on-field success as a coordinator does not necessarily lead to full-scale buy-in among players. Teams could perhaps look at this survey and bump up some coaches who might not have gotten consideration for head-coaching gigs based on their unit's production alone.