With a little over a week till Super Bowl LX, the NFL’s coaching carousel is still spinning. Eight teams—a full quarter of the league—have hired a new head coach in the past two weeks, and two openings remain. This isn’t just a game of coaching musical chairs, but an offseason that could reshape the hierarchy of the NFL.
Let’s empty the notebook on this hiring cycle, get into what we’ve learned about the teams that have made hires, and take a look at the remaining open jobs.
Joe Brady before a game against the Cleveland Browns on December 21, 2025
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Buffalo Bills: Joe Brady
The Bills have an MVP-caliber quarterback and are regularly in the playoffs, so new head coach Joe Brady absolutely had to take the promotion from offensive coordinator to head coach when it was offered to him. But this job seems to come with headaches that the general football-viewing public didn’t understand—at least not until last week’s press conference with team owner Terry Pegula and GM Brandon Beane.
Brady has to be aware of the challenges that come with this job and working for Pegula and Beane, who was promoted to president of football operations in the wake of McDermott’s firing last week.
Wow. #Bills owner Terry Pegula says the coaching staff pushed to draft WR Keon Coleman and that was never GM Brandon Beane’s top choice in that situation.
“That was Brandon being a team player. … He’s taken heat over it. I’m here to tell you the true story.”
Wowza. I’ve never… pic.twitter.com/mimTgT9zc9
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 21, 2026
The offense can’t take a step back at all under Brady. He also has to nail his defensive coordinator hire by bringing in someone who can make the most of a unit that needs fresh talent, and he’ll face stiff competition to land one of the top candidates, like Jim Schwartz (still under contract with the Browns, but it’s complicated), Jim Leonhard (Broncos defensive passing game coordinator coach), Anthony Weaver (former Dolphins coordinator), or Raheem Morris (former Falcons head coach). If Brady strikes out on that side of the ball, it would be a bad start to his head coaching tenure.
And this isn’t a team that’s flush with cash and ready to make major roster changes. Because of subpar drafting and player development, the Bills have had to max out their cap space in recent years to acquire veterans in free agency, and this offseason, Buffalo will have to restructure several contracts to come up with just enough cap space to bolster the roster.
Beane has consolidated more power since McDermott was fired, so there’s little to suggest that he’d bear any responsibility if Brady, like McDermott, fails to get this team over the hump. As long as Josh Allen is under center, a Super Bowl is totally within the range of outcomes for Buffalo over the next three years. But the current environment of this franchise has me feeling pretty cold about Brady’s chances to thrive.
Jesse Minter is introduced as the Ravens’ head coach during a news conference on January 29
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Baltimore Ravens: Jesse Minter
Minter was the best young, defensive-minded candidate on the market, and he knows this organization since he’d previously worked under John Harbaugh. By picking Minter, Baltimore won’t have to change much of its decades-old organizational identity, which is built on physicality and playing tough defense.
But that doesn’t mean Minter is facing less pressure to deliver a championship than Brady is in Buffalo. John Harbaugh got fired because Baltimore missed the playoffs, but simply getting the Ravens back into the postseason won’t be enough for Minter to establish his bona fides with the team. Like Brady, he’s taking over a team with an MVP-caliber quarterback in Lamar Jackson, and he’ll need to hire an offensive coordinator to guide the next phase of Jackson’s career. Minter’s team does have an advantage Brady’s does not: several Pro Bowl–level players on defense.
Still, Minter, along with GM Eric DeCosta, will need to address the defensive roster. That unit is talented but is missing playmakers at each level. Baltimore’s safeties and linebackers are well above league average, but the team needs better players at cornerback and along the defensive line. That is similar to the situation that Minter was able to coach around as the defensive coordinator for the Chargers.
Playing in the AFC North, where two other teams are also starting over with new head coaches, should help Minter’s chances to be successful right away. So long as Baltimore stays healthy and gets better play from its defense, that could be enough to land the Ravens back in contention for the division title and possibly a Super Bowl.
Kevin Stefanski and president of football operations Matt Ryan speak to the media after Stefanski is introduced as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons on January 27
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Atlanta Falcons: Kevin Stefanski
Stefanski is the right hire for this team, especially since it’s playing in the wide-open NFC South. On a basic level, Atlanta needed a coach with a better grasp of modern offense who could build a scheme for playmakers like Bijan Robinson and receiver Drake London. Stefanski has crafted competent offenses with worse pieces at receiver and running back before, so I’m confident that he’ll be successful scheming up opportunities for his best players.
He’s also made things work with quarterbacks with limited athletic traits before—so whether an aging Kirk Cousins; Michael Penix Jr., who’ll be coming off an ACL surgery; or an unanticipated third option is under center in 2026, I think we’ll see a more cohesive approach than we did under Atlanta’s last regime and coordinator Zac Robinson. Stefanski’s offense is close enough to the Shanahan/McVay style that it could give Falcons fans flashbacks to the good days in 2016 and 2017.
He’s also keeping defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, who’s coming off an impressive year of designing this defense, which frustrated good offensive opponents like the Bills and Rams in 2025. Another year of development for young players like Xavier Watts, Jalon Walker, and Billy Bowman might lead to a major breakthrough for the entire unit. If the defense takes a step forward and Stefanski’s offense is at least above league average, there’s no reason why Atlanta can’t be in the playoffs next season.
If there’s one reason for concern, it’s that Stefanski had a couple of down seasons before Cleveland fired him earlier this month. He’s proved that he can be a good coach, but it’s been awhile since he’s made his team a contender. Fans should demand quick proof of concept.
Robert Saleh before the NFL divisional playoff game between the 49ers and Seahawks
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Tennessee Titans: Robert Saleh
Like Stefanski, the new Titans head coach looks like a solid hire who fits an archetype that worked for his new team before. Tennessee’s best years in franchise history have come under defensive-minded head coaches who were paired with competent coordinators, be it Jeff Fisher and Mike Heimerdinger in the 2000s or Mike Vrabel and Arthur Smith in 2019-20.
Assuming that Saleh has enough sway over the roster to add the defensive players he wants, I trust that he can quickly make Tennessee competitive on that side of the ball. It helps that he can build around Jeffery Simmons, who is one of the best defensive linemen in football. Saleh squeezed a lot out of San Francisco’s MASH unit this season, and the depth chart in Tennessee is probably in a better spot than the one he was just coaching.
Still, Saleh has two obstacles to overcome in Tennessee—and both were major contributors to his undoing as head coach of the Jets. The first is the ownership and the front office structure in Tennessee, the latter of which has been reworked just about every year since former GM Jon Robinson was fired in 2022. Current GM Mike Borgonzi is running the operation, but he’s flanked by assistant GM Dave Ziegler—and both of them report to president of football operations Chad Brinker. There are a lot of loud and powerful voices in the building under team owner Amy Adams Strunk, and she’s been known to be a reactive decision-maker when things don’t go well. I’m nervous about how much say Saleh will have over this team if he doesn’t win immediately.
Second, I hope he was right about his decision to hire Brian Daboll as his offensive coordinator. Daboll, who was fired last fall from his job as the head coach of the Giants, will now be the one in charge of developing last year’s no. 1 pick, QB Cam Ward. The best-case scenario here is that Daboll gets a strong year of play out of Ward and parlays that into a head coaching gig in 2027, but if he fails—and Ward doesn’t improve, or worse, he regresses—Saleh might be forced to move on. Saleh had OC turnover on his Jets staff, and the Jets’ offensive failures and quarterback issues largely doomed his tenure there.
Saleh’s time in Tennessee will be a test of how much power and influence he can wield in a bad organization, and it will reflect on whether he learned the right lessons from his time with the Jets. (We’ll also get more frequent matchups between him and Jaguars head coach Liam Coen, which should create fireworks.)
John Harbaugh after the Ravens’ loss to the Steelers on January 4
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New York Giants: John Harbaugh
The shadows of Bill Parcells and Tom Coughlin hang over this franchise, and history would suggest that if this team has the right personality at head coach, championships should follow. Hiring Harbaugh gives the Giants a man who fits that CEO mold. He doesn’t have to learn on the job or recalibrate to deal with the pressure of New York media or competing against the rest of the NFC East.
Harbaugh has already flexed a bit of his power coming in the door. He reportedly answers directly to team ownership, not GM Joe Schoen, and he’ll have power over roster decisions. If he brings some of the roster-building know-how he learned from Ozzie Newsome and Eric DeCosta in Baltimore, Giants fans should feel a little more comfortable about the immediate future of this team.
But at 63, he’s the oldest coach hired this cycle (he’s got just over a year on Mike McCarthy), and I have questions about how he’ll put together his staff and how quickly he can orchestrate a rebuild in New York. His approach grew stale in Baltimore, and it’s a leap of faith to expect that he’ll immediately connect with his new locker room, particularly one with as many young players as the Giants have. He’s also not able to bring Todd Monken along with him as his offensive coordinator (which we’ll cover shortly). This shakes up what could have been a great situation for quarterback Jaxson Dart and leaves us wondering what’ll become of the Giants offense in the near future.
I don’t think that the Giants are at risk of bottoming out like Las Vegas did under former head coach Pete Carroll in 2025, but it’s well within the realm of possibility that things won’t progress as quickly as New York might hope.
Todd Monken before the Ravens’ game against the Patriots on December 21, 2025
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Cleveland Browns: Todd Monken
Don’t trust anyone who projects Cleveland’s future with any sort of certainty.
Monken has a lengthy and accomplished career as an offensive assistant coach, but this is his first time as an NFL head coach. He’s about to turn 60, so there’s a question of how long a runway Cleveland should give him to figure out this new role. He’s inheriting a team with arguably the worst quarterback situation in the league, and he doesn’t have any clear foundational offensive pieces to build around.
What makes me most nervous, though, isn’t what Monken will do with the offense, no matter who the quarterback is. I need to see his plan for hiring a defensive coordinator. There were reports in the wake of Monken’s hiring that Jim Schwartz didn’t take kindly to Cleveland passing him over for head coach. Even though he remains under contract, he does not plan to return to Cleveland, where he had a lot of success in recent years. Without Schwartz’s scheming, there’s a chance that this defense will take a significant step backward, and the last thing the franchise needs is for its defense to head in the same direction as its offense.
Too many factors are up in the air for me to feel confident about Monken’s situation right now. Add in the fact that GM and executive vice president of football operations Andrew Berry has a rough track record with adding players in the draft, and it seems like Monken is doomed to be the next good coach to go nowhere in Cleveland.
Miami Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan, owner Steve M. Ross, and new head coach Jeff Hafley during an introductory news conference on January 22
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Miami Dolphins: Jeff Hafley
Honestly, who the hell knows how this will go.
Let’s lay out the positives for Hafley. He’s coming in with GM Jon-Eric Sullivan from Green Bay, and it’s always good news when a new head coach is on the same page and contractual timeline as the person overseeing the roster. Hafley has proved that he is a good defensive play caller and did a better job of developing talent on that side of the ball than his predecessors did in Green Bay under head coach Matt LaFleur.
Miami seems like it is preparing to do a major reset of its roster, including at quarterback, and low expectations could buy Hafley some time. This team is probably looking at a few rough years to turn things around, and that might get in the way of us evaluating Hafley fairly.
Mike McCarthy waves to the crowd during a game between the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions on September 7, 2025
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Pittsburgh Steelers: Mike McCarthy
Yuck. Not just because it’s unclear whether McCarthy knows how to run a modern offense or because the Steelers surely can’t find a way to squeeze another 10-win season out of this aging roster without Mike Tomlin pulling the strings.
My biggest problem with this hire is how uninspired Pittsburgh’s process was. I haven’t heard a single reasonable justification for the Steelers hiring McCarthy, other than that he’s a Pittsburgh native. In their first chance in nearly two decades to pick a head coach, they picked the 62-year-old with a Yinzer accent rather than finding a fresh voice who could move an old-school franchise forward.
It’s hard to see much upside here. There’s nothing about McCarthy’s time in Dallas or Green Bay that suggests he has a particular vision for how to build a roster. In both of his previous stops, his teams racked up a lot of regular-season wins but consistently folded in the playoffs—just like Tomlin’s teams did recently. And if this team brings back 42-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers for a 2010s Green Bay reunion, I’ll be all the way out.
Notable Coordinator Hires
Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel runs off the field at halftime against the New England Patriots on January 4
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Mike McDaniel, Los Angeles Chargers Offensive Coordinator
This is probably the sexiest, most intriguing non–head coaching hire in this cycle, and every Chargers fan should be fired up about it. McDaniel is one of the best play callers in the league, and during his time as an assistant in San Francisco and as the head coach in Miami, he was responsible for designing some of the league’s most dangerous rushing attacks. Having a talented quarterback like Justin Herbert should supercharge McDaniel’s timing-based passing game, and his scheme should help get Los Angeles’s young receivers open downfield.
This was an intriguing move for Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh. He was willing to move on from offensive coordinator Greg Roman and replace him with someone outside Harbaugh’s usual network. If Harbaugh is willing to exhaust all efforts to improve this offensive system, we could see a major step forward from this team in 2026.
Drew Petzing prepares for the Jacksonville Jaguars game on November 23, 2025
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Drew Petzing, Detroit Lions Offensive Coordinator
This move went under the radar. But I’d caution Lions fans who might not be excited about Petzing’s arrival not to use Arizona’s offensive failures as a direct reflection of his play calling ability. He specializes in the run game, and I trust that it’ll be highly effective in Detroit. Petzing uses gap-scheme runs (like power and counter) and has shown a strong understanding of how to get his best receivers the ball in the dropback passing game. Arizona tight end Trey McBride developed into the best in the league in Petzing’s time as play caller, and that’s a good sign for Lions playmakers Sam LaPorta and Amon-Ra St. Brown.
That Petzing was able to design an offense that could move the ball with quarterback Jacoby Brissett under center and an offensive line as bad as Arizona’s should be enough to make Detroit fans buy in. Don’t be surprised if those fans come around to loving Petzing this season.
Chicago Bears running backs coach Eric Bieniemy looks on from the sideline against the Minnesota Vikings on November 16, 2025
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Eric Bieniemy, Kansas City Chiefs Offensive Coordinator
All I can glean from Kansas City bringing back Bieniemy is that this offense probably won’t change a bit. It’s still head coach Andy Reid’s show, and he’s likely to run the same kind of offense and hope that quarterback Patrick Mahomes can save the day once he’s back and healthy.
Reid is one of the defining coaches of a generation and has been more likely to win Super Bowls than miss the playoffs this decade, but while Bieniemy is well liked and was part of Reid’s most successful Chiefs teams, I understand if any Chiefs fan is growing concerned about the future.
Notable Open Jobs
Las Vegas Raiders: Head Coach
This job seems likely to go to Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. Raiders minority owner Tom Brady, who is heavily involved in this coaching search, was effusive in his praise of Kubiak’s offense and his success with quarterback Sam Darnold while on the call for the NFC championship game for Fox.
Perhaps Broncos quarterbacks coach Davis Webb still factors into the Raiders’ search, but things have been so quiet on the Raiders front that it makes me believe this team is locked in on Kubiak, who cannot be hired until after the Super Bowl, and is confident enough in its chances to wait to bring him in.
Arizona Cardinals: Head Coach
Uh … does anyone out there want this job?!
As this process dragged on, it seemed like the man for the gig was Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur. He traveled to Arizona and spent extensive time with the Cardinals but returned to Los Angeles without an agreement to be the next head coach.
“They had Mike LaFleur in for 2 days and it started to feel like there was momentum toward that potentially getting done. He did leave without a deal.”@MikeGarafolo with an update on the Arizona Cardinals meeting with LaFleur. pic.twitter.com/ustVqNZDLE
— PHNX Cardinals (@PHNX_Cardinals) January 28, 2026
Maybe it’s nothing but extra deliberation time for LaFleur, but there’s part of me that wants to believe he is comfortable with returning to L.A. because the team plans to take one last shot at a Super Bowl with quarterback Matthew Stafford.
It could be that the Cardinals are holding out hope that they could land Kubiak, too, as they plan to conduct a second interview this week. But if this team strikes out on both, it’ll clearly be a message that this is the least desirable head coaching job in football.
Diante Lee
Diante Lee joined The Ringer as an NFL writer and podcaster in 2024. Before that, he served as a staff writer at The Athletic, covering the NFL and college football. He currently coaches at the high school level in his hometown of San Diego.
