Current Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has been selected as the 2026 Paul “Dr. Z” Zimmerman Award recipient by the Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA).
Fangio is the 28th recipient of the Dr. Z Award, which was instituted by the PFWA in 2014.
The Dr. Z Award is given for lifetime achievement as an assistant coach in the NFL. The award is named for Zimmerman, who covered the NFL for 29 years as Sports Illustrated’s lead pro football writer. His impact on the writing and football industries was profound. Zimmerman is widely considered one of the best football writers of all time, and his 1970 “A Thinking Man’s Guide to Pro Football” and revised 1984 “The New Thinking Man’s Guide to Pro Football” are textbooks to this day for young football writers trying to learn the game and trying to learn to write about the game. He started to cover the NFL in 1966, and he started at Sports Illustrated in 1979. Zimmerman stayed at SI until his writing career was cut short by a series of strokes in November 2008. He served as PFWA president during the 1982 season.
Other 2026 finalists for the Dr. Z Award were retired offensive position coach/coordinator Terry Robiskie and the late defensive line coach John Teerlinck.
Fangio completed his second season as the Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator and his 39th NFL season overall in 2025 as one of the most respected defensive minds in the league. He has mentored five Pro Football Hall of Famers — Kevin Greene, Rickey Jackson, Ray Lewis, Sam Mills and Patrick Willis — and was selected as the PFWA NFL Assistant Coach of the Year in 2018. After four years at the high school level and one season as a graduate assistant at North Carolina, Fangio broke into pro football as the defensive assistant for the USFL’s Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars (1984-85). He entered the NFL ranks as the linebackers coach with New Orleans (1986-94), where he tutored the famed “Dome Patrol”. He was the defensive coordinator for Carolina (1995-98) and served in that same role for Indianapolis (1999-2001) and Houston (2002-05). Fangio worked as special assistant to the head coach/defensive assistant for Baltimore (2006-08) and the Ravens’ linebackers coach (2009). He spent the 2010 season in college as Stanford’s defensive coordinator, before returning to the NFL as DC for San Francisco (2011-14) and Chicago (2015-18). Fangio was Denver’s head coach from 2019-21, where he called the defensive plays for the Broncos during those three seasons. After one season as a consultant for Philadelphia (2022), he returned to the sidelines as Miami’s defensive coordinator in 2023. He went back to the Eagles as DC in 2024, and his top-ranked defensive unit paved the way for Philadelphia’s Super Bowl LIX triumph. Fangio has coached in two Super Bowls (XLVII with San Francisco and LIX with Philadelphia).
PAUL “DR. Z” ZIMMERMAN AWARD WINNERS (For lifetime achievement as an assistant coach in the NFL): 2014 – Jim Johnson, Howard Mudd, Fritz Shurmur and Ernie Zampese; 2015 – Dick LeBeau, Tom Moore and Dante Scarnecchia; 2016 – Monte Kiffin and Wade Phillips; 2017 – Bud Carson; 2018 – Joe Bugel and Emmitt Thomas; 2019 – Gunther Cunningham and Mike Westhoff; 2020 – Bill Arnsparger and Romeo Crennel; 2021 – Rod Marinelli and Bobby Turner; 2022 – Leslie Frazier and Greg Knapp; 2023 – Don “Wink” Martindale, Bobb McKittrick and John Mitchell; 2024 – Bill Callahan and Steve Spagnuolo; 2025 – Richie Petitbon and Jeff Stoutland; 2026 – Vic Fangio