With the Arizona Cardinals hiring Mike LaFleur on Sunday, plus reports of the Las Vegas Raiders closing in on Klint Kubiak, all 10 NFL head coaching vacancies in the 2026 hiring cycle seem to have been filled.
The 10 openings during this cycle tied a record for the most in NFL history. Yet of all the hires made this past month, only one was a minority: former New York Jets coach Robert Saleh. The son of Lebanese immigrants, Saleh is now the head coach of the Tennessee Titans.
There are now three Black head coaches in the NFL: Todd Bowles of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, DeMeco Ryans of the Houston Texans and Aaron Glenn of the New York Jets. That is just one more than in 2002, the season before the league instituted the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to hold an in-person interview with at least two external head-coaching candidates who are minorities and/or women. In 2017, there were seven Black NFL head coaches entering the season and eight minority coaches.
Two Black coaches have landed offensive coordinator positions so far this cycle. One was Eric Bieniemy, who returned in January to the post he previously held with the Kansas City Chiefs. The other was Mike McDaniel, who identifies as biracial. McDaniel is now the OC for the Los Angeles Chargers after being fired as head coach of the Miami Dolphins. There have been five Black coaches hired for defensive coordinator openings: Raheem Morris (San Francisco 49ers), Christian Parker (Dallas Cowboys), Dennard Wilson (New York Giants), Patrick Graham (Pittsburgh Steelers) and Daronte Jones (Washington Commanders).
After five consecutive NFL seasons with three Black coaches, minority hires increased during the 2024 cycle. The New England Patriots’ Jerod Mayo, the Las Vegas Raiders’ Antonio Pierce and the Atlanta Falcons’ Morris were hired, bringing the total of Black head coaches to six. The Carolina Panthers’ hiring of Dave Canales, who is of Mexican descent, brought the league to a record nine head coaches of color.
Of those four minority hires heading into the 2024 season, only Canales remains in a head coaching position. Mayo and Pierce were fired after the 2024 season, and Morris was fired in January. Longtime Steelers coach Mike Tomlin also stepped down after Pittsburgh’s season.
Here’s a look at each of the head coaching hires made during this cycle, including the expected hiring of Kubiak:
Arizona Cardinals: Mike LaFleur
Atlanta Falcons: Kevin Stefanski
Baltimore Ravens: Jesse Minter
Buffalo Bills: Joe Brady
Cleveland Browns: Todd Monken
Las Vegas Raiders: Klint Kubiak
Miami Dolphins: Jeff Hafley
New York Giants: John Harbaugh
Pittsburgh Steelers: Mike McCarthy
Tennessee Titans: Robert Saleh
