The 2019 NFL Coaches' Class Photo Features Matching Grudens And A Smiling Bill Belichick

Twenty-six head coaches showed up for the class photo at this week’s NFL meetings in Phoenix. Look at all those bright, squinting faces! ( Here’s the hi-res version.) This year’s absences: Bruce Arians, Pete Carroll, Sean Payton, Mike Tomlin, Adam Gase, and Sean McVay, who said he didn’t mean to miss picture day.

The class of 2019 picture was not without its mild controversy. On Monday, Cardinals flack Mark Dalton tweeted a photo in which Skins coach Jay Gruden, all the way to the right in the first row, looks like he’s reliving all the things he’s had to do to please his boss Dan Snyder. As Gruden explained on Tuesday, he was actually looking down on purpose because the sun was so bright, and was planning to look up when someone gave him a signal. The photo we received has Jay looking less despondent. Also, he said “teat,” but that was unrelated.

While Jay and his brother Jon wore cute matching getups, new Browns coach Freddie Kitchens (the guy in the hat) looks like a fan who won a terrible contest. Mike Vrabel is looking like a bulked-up Tomsula. Also, Bill Belichick showed up for the first time in a few years and even smiled. Of course, no other coach could hold a candle to Andy Reid, sitting front and center in his ultimate lounge gear. That style apparently translates to his very limited online life: