There are only 32 of them in the world; head-coaching candidates will always feel a level of urgency to land one of the NFL’s openings.
But those vacancies are hardly created equal. Candidates must factor ownership, front-office stability, roster construction and potential job security while prioritizing which jobs are the ones to target. And the premium candidates, like John Harbaugh in this cycle and Ben Johnson over the previous two, can afford to be much more selective.
There have been 10 head coaching vacancies this offseason, though the New York Giants (Harbaugh), Atlanta Falcons (Kevin Stefanski), Miami Dolphins (Jeff Hafley) and Tennessee Titans (Robert Saleh) have already made their hires. The Buffalo Bills joined the mix Monday when they fired Sean McDermott.
This has already been an interesting hiring cycle based on sheer volume, but also because of the proven winners who have been let go. And since the 2025 cycle was stacked with premium candidates, there’s a little more ambiguity at the top of the pecking order this year. The mountain of interview requests, due in part to the recent rule restrictions about interview timelines, has further flooded the market.
The Athletic asked a panel of 10 coaches and high-ranking team executives to rank the head-coaching vacancies by job attractiveness. (None of the voters are employed by a team with a vacancy.) A first-place vote was worth 10 points, a second-place vote worth nine points, etc.
We included the four teams who have already made their hire in order to get a feel for the full landscape.
1. Buffalo Bills (96 points, 7 first-place votes)
McDermott led the Bills to the playoffs in eight of his nine seasons, including five AFC East titles, which made his firing a surprise. Quarterback Josh Allen turns 30 in May, so the Bills have the most dominant player at the position for quite a while longer, and they immediately had the most attractive opening because of him.
“Not even close,” a former head coach said when picking the Bills as the top vacancy.
The Bills also got two second-place votes and a third-place vote, so they were high on every ballot.
Last year, Mike Vrabel said he wanted the New England Patriots job so badly because of the opportunity to work with quarterback Drake Maye, but the assessment of Maye still required quite a bit of projection at the time. Allen, the reigning MVP, requires no such imagination. Premium candidates should be tripping over themselves to get an interview with the Bills, though people around the league have wondered if offensive coordinator Joe Brady and former Bills OC and Giants head coach Brian Daboll might have an inside track due to familiarity with the organization and the QB.
The roster needs work, as everyone witnessed in the playoffs. And firing McDermott was a clear declaration Bills ownership has a Super Bowl standard while Allen is in his prime. That’s a healthy expectation for any coach, but it’s fair for candidates to wonder how quickly the clock will start ticking on their own job security if there’s any sort of regression.
No matter, the pollsters said: Take Allen and figure out the rest later.
2. Baltimore Ravens (88 points, 2 first-place votes)
The Ravens are looking for their fourth coach in franchise history after Harbaugh’s 18-year run.
“Best overall organization,” a coach said of the teams with vacancies.
Quarterback Lamar Jackson is a two-time MVP who turned 29 this month, so the Ravens are set at the most important position. Jackson’s game still isn’t for everyone, and injuries have knocked him out for multiple games in three of the past five years. While it can be dangerous to overthink things with Jackson, it’s still important for the head coach to be on the same wavelength as the franchise quarterback.
The Ravens have as much stability with the front office and ownership as any organization in the NFL. A coach can expect a consistently quality roster with a good salary cap situation and a high degree of professionalism on the personnel side.
“Baltimore is the model of stability,” a team executive said.
In this poll, the Ravens got two first-place votes, five second-place votes, two third-place votes and a fourth-place vote.
3. New York Giants (81 points, 1 first-place vote)
The Giants already landed the marquee coach of the cycle in Harbaugh, so they won’t care about finishing third in the voting here.
They have a potential franchise quarterback in Jaxson Dart, a game-breaking receiver in Malik Nabers and an improving offensive line along with other attractive pieces. The roster still needs work, and it has to be tailored to Harbaugh’s liking, which will take time.
Coaching candidates have been on alert for meddling ownership for years with the Giants, and it’s been viewed as a roadblock to stability. It’s hard to fathom how an organization with two Super Bowls since 2007 has only been to the playoffs three other times during the same stretch.
“It’s a traditional big-time franchise that’s won Super Bowls,” an executive said. “If you get the right people in there, it gives you stability.”
Harbaugh’s resume is impressive enough to demand appropriate assurances from ownership. The head coach might have enough authority to make this a fruitful marriage, which could make him uniquely qualified for the job.
The Giants received one first-place vote, two second-place votes, five third-place votes, one fourth- and one fifth-place vote.
4. Atlanta Falcons (63 points)
Falcons owner Arthur Blank vowed to make an organizational reset, and he changed the entire power structure in the building. That’s an important first step because it was desperately needed, but it remains to be seen if the process will work.
Case in point: Blank hired former quarterback Matt Ryan as the new president of football. While Ryan has a good reputation around the league, that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s qualified to oversee a new general manager and head coach for an organization that hasn’t made the playoffs in eight years.
The Falcons might have nailed the coaching hire with Stefanski, though. The two-time Coach of the Year did about as well as anyone could have reasonably expected over six seasons with the Cleveland Browns, who abruptly dropped Deshaun Watson in his lap while ridding Stefanski of draft capital and ransacking the team’s cap space. It will be fascinating to see how he fares in a new setup.
The Falcons have work to do. They used four consecutive top-eight picks on offensive players from 2021-24, and running back Bijan Robinson and wide receiver Drake London are the only sure things out of the spree. Tight end Kyle Pitts is scheduled for free agency, and quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was struggling before suffering his third torn ACL.
They also just used two first-round picks on pass rushers Jalon Walker and James Pearce. While the pair ignited the Falcons’ best pass rush in decades, Pearce was taken off draft boards due to off-field concerns. Those questions didn’t disappear just because he had 10.5 sacks.
The Falcons are also still in the process of hiring a general manager.
Atlanta received one second-place vote, four fourth-place votes, two fifth-place votes, two sixth-place votes and one seventh-place vote.
5. Pittsburgh Steelers (62 points)
The Steelers have had three coaches since 1969. No pressure on the next guy.
Mike Tomlin stepped down after 19 seasons, so the Steelers are in a rare transitional phase. They haven’t won a playoff game since the 2016 postseason and have five wild-card losses in the last six seasons, so it wouldn’t be too surprising to see them push a little harder on the reset button this offseason.
The Steelers don’t have a long-term answer at quarterback, and last week owner Art Rooney II insinuated that Aaron Rodgers’ Pittsburgh tenure is likely over. They’ve been diligently working the draft circuit to no avail, and it won’t be much easier this year with the No. 21 pick.
The Steelers are well off when it comes to cap space, but four of their eight highest cap hits in 2026 are tied into players in their 30s. The next coach will have stability and enough talent to be competitive if they can find a quarterback, but the Steelers have to get the next young core in place.
The Steelers had two third-place votes, one fourth-place vote, five fifth-place votes, one sixth-place vote and one seventh-place vote.
6. Tennessee Titans (49 points)
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder with the Titans.
It’s not hard to find coaches and executives who are still skeptical of Cam Ward’s long-term potential, but the No. 1 pick of the 2025 draft absolutely has his fans in the league. Ward would be a heck of a player to inherit and refine for a coach with a plan for his development.
The Titans believed in Robert Saleh’s plan, hiring the San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator and former New York Jets head coach to lead the program into its next era. But that won’t be easy.
General manager Mike Borgonzi, who was hired last year, has a ton of work to do with the roster because it’s been reshaped by too many different visions with all the Titans’ turnover over the past few years. They’ll be on their third head coach since 2023, and Borgonzi is the third GM since 2022.
Ownership’s firing of Vrabel — who has the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game — turned off people around the league. Coaching candidates have been concerned about the power structure at the top levels of the organization.
Job security is a major question, too. Brian Callahan was fired after a 4-19 record through a season and a half. He worked with two general managers. One was Ran Carthon, who was 9-25 from 2023-24. He worked with two head coaches.
How long will the cycle last? And if Titans ownership shows enough discipline to remain committed to one plan, how long will it take to construct the roster through a uniformed vision?
The Titans had three fourth-place votes, one fifth-place vote, one sixth-place vote, two seventh-place votes and three eighth-place votes.
7. Miami Dolphins (39 points, 1 last-place vote)
The Dolphins hired Hafley, the Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator, nabbing one of the top candidates of the cycle. The Packers believed before the season Hafley would be a head coach this year, so it’s hardly a surprise new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan tapped into his Green Bay roots for the hire.
The issue here, though, is the Dolphins must balance a teardown with a rebuild. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s future is in flux after a late-season benching, but the Dolphins owe him $54 million guaranteed in 2026. If they cut him, they’ll essentially be trying to re-build the roster with one hand tied behind their back due to the cap ramifications. And from there, wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who suffered a gruesome knee injury in Week 4, headlines a list of potential cap casualties.
The Dolphins haven’t won a playoff game since 2000 — only one of their six postseason losses during that stretch was by less than 17 points — which predates owner Stephen Ross’ 2009 arrival.
The Dolphins had four sixth-place votes, three seventh-place votes, two eighth-place votes and a last-place vote.
8. Cleveland Browns (36 points, 1 last-place vote)
The Browns have the sixth and 24th picks of April’s draft, with an opportunity to build upon a strong 2025 draft class, so the roster appears to be heading in a better direction. But quarterback Deshaun Watson’s contract will clog up the books through at least 2027, depending upon the Browns’ course of action.
Pass rusher Myles Garrett, the best defensive player in the league, has voiced his frustrations over the Browns’ four losing seasons in five years. The new coach will need full buy-in from Garrett to solidify the locker room.
The Browns have issues throughout the roster. They also don’t have a quarterback, and they don’t have an ideal path toward finding one this offseason. That might work in their favor if they can better position themselves in the 2027 draft, which has an exciting group of QB prospects, but that will require even more patience.
The Browns got one fifth-place vote, two sixth-place votes, two seventh-place votes, three eighth-place votes, one ninth-place vote and one last-place vote.
9. Las Vegas Raiders (21 points, 2 last-place votes)
Since owner Mark Davis took over in 2011, the Raiders’ 94 regular-season wins are the fifth-fewest in the NFL, and they’re one of three teams without a playoff victory during that span.
The first coach Davis hired, Hue Jackson, was one-and-done. The last coach Davis hired, Pete Carroll, was one-and-done. The two coaches before Carroll didn’t make it through two seasons. The coach before that, Jon Gruden, was fired midway through his fourth season after a league investigation uncovered racist, misogynistic and homophobic language in emails he’d sent.
The roster is in complete disarray. While they have the No. 1 pick and the right of first refusal on University of Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the Raiders need to surround him with help to give him a chance. Otherwise, they’ll become another cautionary tale of a team that failed its quarterback.
The Raiders fired Carroll because they needed a united front on a patient rebuild, among other reasons. General manager John Spytek should have a longer runway than his predecessors — one-and-done Tom Telesco and two-year GM Dave Ziegler — due to his close connection with minority owner Tom Brady. If Brady can usher in a more deliberate approach with the rebuild, the Raiders might have a chance to turn it around.
But until coaching candidates see that patience in action, they’ll be skeptical.
The Raiders got one seventh-place vote, one eighth-place vote, six ninth-place votes and two last-place votes.
10. Arizona Cardinals (15 points, 6 last-place votes)
Owner Michael Bidwill has come under heavy criticism, and the Cardinals have gotten routinely crushed by players with the NFLPA report cards.
General manager Monti Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon created momentum with a deliberate approach during their first two seasons together, but Gannon was fired after it all crashed down this season.
Quarterback Kyler Murray is owed $36.8 million guaranteed in 2026; the Cardinals could absorb that if they preferred to release him. Considering the lack of QB options on the market, though, the Cardinals could still conceivably ride it out for one more year with Murray.
Arizona hasn’t won a playoff game in 10 years. It has had a winning record just once in the past decade.
The Cardinals got one eighth-place vote, three ninth-place votes and six last-place votes.
