The annual NFL coaching shakeup is underway with eight teams now searching for new head coaches.
The Ravens parting ways with John Harbaugh after 18 years, 180 wins and a Super Bowl championship was noteworthy but not entirely surprising as that potential had been buzzed about for weeks.
The Dolphins waiting until Thursday — three days after the last of the other firings — to can Mike McDaniel was mildly surprising because of the timing, but even after a strong second half it’s understandable Miami would be ready for a full reset.
If anything, the biggest surprises might be the coaches who survived the hot seat — for now, at least.
The Bengals are sticking with Zac Taylor despite missing the playoffs for the third straight year and the Buccaneers seem to be riding with Todd Bowles after a second-half collapse this season, while the Packers apparently are still at least mulling a decision on Matt LaFleur despite his 76-40-1 record after a first-round playoff loss to the Bears on Saturday.
But for now, there are eight head coaching positions open around the league — the Browns, Cardinals, Dolphins, Falcons, Giants, Raiders, Ravens and Titans — so let’s rank them in terms of what are the most desirable jobs.
1. Baltimore Ravens
This is an easy top choice.
The Ravens are built to win now and have a two-time MVP quarterback in place in Lamar Jackson.
While moving on from Harbaugh, the winningest coach in franchise history, was a bold move, it’s not as if the Ravens have a reputation for impatience or rash decisions. Quite the opposite. Owner Steve Bisciotti became the majority owner of the franchise in 2004 (after earlier buying a 49% stake in in 2000), and in all that time he’s had just two head coaches — Brian Billick and Harbaugh.
That kind of stability and the Ravens’ leadership structure should be very attractive to top coaching targets, let alone a roster that underachieved this year in narrowly missing the playoffs but is nonetheless setup with a strong foundation for 2026.
The Ravens have so far announced completed interviews with Broncos defensive coordinator (and former head coach there) Vance Joseph, Broncos pass game coordinator and QBs coach Davis Webb, Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, recently-fired former Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski and Chiefs OC and former Bears head coach Matt Nagy.
2. New York Giants
The opposite of the Ravens’ stability would be the Giants’ instability since Tom Coughlin left town.
The Giants have rotated through four failed coaching hires since then, with Ben McAdoo, Pat Shurmur and Joe Judge — all questionable hires to begin with — lasting just two seasons each while Brian Daboll got into his fourth season before getting fired.
So why is New York so high on this list?
Because the Giants have a ton of young talent in place at key spots with first-round QB Jaxson Dart (2,272 passing yards, 15 TDs and 5 INTs, 487 rushing yards and 9 TDs) showing plenty of potential in his rookie season, star WR Malik Nabers (109 receptions for 1,204 yards and 7 TDs as a rookie in 2024) due back at some point in 2026 after an early season-ending knee injury, ditto for fan-favorite RB Cam Skattebo, star edge rusher Brian Burns (16.5 sacks, 22 tackles for loss) under contract, and still hope for young edge rushers Kayvon Thibodeaux (11.5 sacks in his last full season in 2023, under contract for 2026) and 2025 first-round pick Abdul Carter (4 sacks as a rookie).
It’s also New York. Being the coach to revive the Giants would bring as much upside for a coach’s stature as any job around the league.
The Giants are expected to be among the strong suitors for Harbaugh, but they’re also casting a wide net in their search.
3. Atlanta Falcons
Let’s be clear — the Falcons greatly underachieved in 2025, at least until turning back to veteran QB Kirk Cousins and winning five of their final seven games (including the last four).
The point in mentioning that is to say that if Atlanta figures out the quarterback situation, the talent on the rest of the roster is in place to compete at a high level right away.
Of course, that’s a big “if.”
Indications are that Atlanta plans to move on from Cousins this spring after restructuring his deal to adjust the salary cap hit, but with the departures of the general manager (Terry Fontenot) and coach (Raheem Morris) who drafted QB Michael Penix Jr. in the first round two years ago, it remains to be seen where he stands with the franchise.
Frankly, Penix hasn’t been great and now is rehabbing from a torn ACL that ended his second season.
A new GM and head coach shouldn’t feel beholden to justifying the high first-round pick spent on Penix. Let him continue to compete for the job, but bring in a capable veteran quarterback who can be more than just a secondary option.
Get that position stabilized and build around star young RB Bijan Robinson and WR Drake London — among the best in the league at their positions — as well as a solid defensive foundation, and the Falcons could be ready for immediate takeoff with the right coach.
Atlanta, which just named its former MVP QB Matt Ryan as its president of football, has announced it completed interviews so far with Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver, Kubiak, Seahawks DC Aden Durde and Stefanski.
4. Tennessee Titans
It’s too soon to say whether the Titans hit on the No. 1 overall pick last year with QB Cam Ward, and that’s not necessarily a critique of Ward.
He was fine this season with 3,169 passing yards, 15 TDs and 7 INTs (plus 2 rushing TDs), considering he played behind one of the worst offensive lines in the league, took an NFL-high 55 sacks (tied with Geno Smith) and head coach Brian Callahan was fired after six games.
There’s certainly enough potential with Ward to be excited about and build around, especially after seeing the immediate impact the right coaching hire made on former No. 1 overall picks Caleb Williams in Chicago and Trevor Lawrence in Jacksonville this year.
There is clearly a big rebuild still to be done here after back-to-back 3-14 seasons in Tennessee, but the Titans have the No. 4 overall pick in the draft and a full spate of picks overall.
Here’s a look at who the Titans have interviewed so far …
5. Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins are in a state of quarterback flux, which is not a desirable situation to step into necessarily, but that’s the case for all the remaining open jobs on this list.
Miami is surely moving on from QB Tua Tagovailoa after benching the former first-round pick late in this season, but Quinn Ewers isn’t necessarily the answer either. Expect Miami to be among the most aggressive teams on the QB free agency market.
The Dolphins have the No. 11 overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft and five picks in the first three rounds overall. That’s a great opportunity for new general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan and the next head coach to add impact talent to a roster that nonetheless won seven games this season despite losing star WR Tyreke Hill to an early season-ending injury and benching their starting QB.
RB De’Von Achane is a dynamic talent and asset around which to build a retooled offense.
The Dolphins are also supposed to be a major player for Harbaugh. So far, the team has only announced a completed interview with Kubiak, but various reports have the team interested in potentially talking to Rams DC Chris Shula (grandson of legendary Dolphins coach Don Shula), 49ers DC Robert Saleh and Stefanski.
6. Arizona Cardinals
To be honest, the Cardinals get the sixth spot here purely because they don’t carry the deep-seated stigma of the Browns or Raiders.
Again, there is a major question at quarterback to address for the next head coach. Former No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray missed most of this season with a foot injury, and there was mounting speculation that the team could be ready to move in a different direction.
That’s not a given, though, with Murray still under contract and the very real possibility he remains better than what the team could replace him with in free agency, unless Arizona wants to roll it back with journeyman Jacoby Brissett.
The next head coach should certainly have a voice in that discussion.
Arizona has some nice offensive pieces with elite tight end Trey McBride (126 receptions for 1,239 yards and 11 TDs this season), emerging young WR Michael Wilson (78-1,006-7 overall but 96.9 yards per game over the final eight games) and former first-round WR Marvin Harrison Jr. (41-608-4) still having untapped potential.
The defense needs major fixing, though, after finishing bottom-six in the league in both yards and points allowed.
The Cardinals have the No. 3 overall pick in the upcoming draft and a full assortment of picks overall.
Here’s a look at some of the coaching targets for the team.
7. Cleveland Browns
The Browns might actually have a hard time doing better than the coach they just fired.
Kevin Stefanski won NFL Coach of the Year twice in his six seasons in Cleveland, led the Browns to their first winning season in 13 years, first playoff appearance in 18 years and first playoff win in 26 years in 2020 and got the team back to the postseason in 2023.
The Browns have a very good defense — at least until NFL sack leader Myles Garrett asks for a trade out of town — but not much of a foundation on the other side of the ball.
(We’ll leave the ever-divisive Shedeur Sanders debates for another time, but at the very least it can be said that Sanders has plenty still to prove if he is going to be the answer at QB).
Cleveland is also saddled with one more expensive year of the disastrous Deshaun Watson contract before it can truly turn the page on one of the worst trades in NFL history.
What should be enticing to a new coach is that the Browns have the No. 6 overall pick in the 2026 draft, plus Jacksonville’s first-round pick and 10 picks overall.
Cleveland has announced completed interviews with their own OC Tommy Rees, their own DC and former Lions HC Jim Schwartz, Bengals OC Dan Pitcher, Durde and Ravens OC Todd Monken with reports the team also wants to talk to Chargers DC Jesse Minter and recently-fired Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel.
8. Las Vegas Raiders
It’s hard to imagine any coach with options would pick the Raiders job.
The organization hasn’t had a head coach last more than three and a half seasons since Jon Gruden’s first tenure 1998-2001. Think about that!
No patience, no commitment and very little success in two-plus decades.
Since Gruden left for Tampa Bay and immediately won a Super Bowl there the next year, the Raiders have tried to replace him with:
Bill Callahan (fired after two seasons, despite reaching the Super Bowl in his first year), Norv Turner (fired after two seasons), Art Shell (fired after one season in his celebrated return to the franchise), Lane Kiffin (fired four games into his second season), Tom Cable (finished that season as interim head coach and lasted two more seasons before being fired), Hue Jackson (fired after one season), Dennis Allen (fired four games into his third season), Jack Del Rio (fired after three seasons, including a 12-4 finish his second year that was the team’s first winning record in 14 years), Gruden Part 2 (resigned five games into his fourth season after offensive emails scandal), Josh McDaniels (fired midway through second season), Antonio Pierce (lasted 9 games as interim head coach and one full season before being fired) and coaching legend Pete Carroll (fired after one season).
That’s a simply preposterous run of coaching hires, fires and futility.
The Raiders do have the No. 1 overall pick this year (needing to find a franchise quarterback), six picks within the first four rounds and 10 picks overall.
But they’re still the Raiders.
Here was their initial list of scheduled interviews (while they’re reportedly talking to Rams OC Mike LaFleur and Rams passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase.)
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