The 2026 NFL Coaching Cycle: Grading New Hires and the Best Choices to Fill the Final Openings
The 2025 NFL season is down to Super Bowl LX in less than two weeks, and the coaching matchup is actually a great lesson for the rest of the league as there were 10 head coach positions to fill for 2026, tied for the second most in the 32-team era.
We can definitely conclude that the 2025 season was the end of an era as some of the longest-tenured coaches such as Mike Tomlin (19 years in Pittsburgh), John Harbaugh (18 years in Baltimore), and Sean McDermott (9 years in Buffalo) are no longer with their teams.
If you read any of our articles about NFL coaches in the last few years, then you know asking for change in Pittsburgh has been a long time coming. Our 2025 season previews for the Ravens and Bills both talked about the Five-Year Rule, which has stood for 75 years now.
The Five-Year Rule: No team has won its first Super Bowl by starting the same quarterback for the same coach for more than five seasons. With McDermott and Harbaugh out, the clock resets for Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen with their new coaches.
But just look at this year’s Super Bowl matchup. It’s Year 1 together for the duos of Mike Vrabel-Drake Maye (Patriots) and Mike Macdonald-Sam Darnold (Seahawks). It’s also notable because in 2023, just two seasons ago, these teams were coached by legends like Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll.
Both teams let go of those legends in 2024, and now just two seasons later, they are in the Super Bowl again with Vrabel and Macdonald. Based on the way Belichick and Carroll have fared at North Carolina and Raiders (Carroll fired after one year), it was the right move. Coaching is a young person’s game.
But make note of another important piece of the success for the Patriots and Seahawks this year. Mike Macdonald was a flashy new hire in 2024 of a first-time coach and defensive guru from Baltimore. But for his second season, he improved the offensive coordinator position by bringing in Klint Kubiak from the Saints, and things have really taken off on that side of the ball with a career year from Darnold and Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Then with Vrabel, he’s a retread who took a year off after the Titans fired him. In getting a second shot, he made a smart hire of making Josh McDaniels his offensive coordinator. McDaniels may be a poor head coach, but his resume as an OC is practically unrivaled.
That’s two defensive coaches in the Super Bowl, but they may not be here if not for the smart hire they made to run their offenses. That’s important. That’s the kind of detail we’re going it look into below as we grade the new head coaching hires for 2026 and give our thoughts on who the teams with a vacancy should be targeting.
Table of Contents
Grading the 2026 NFL Coach Hires
In the next section, we’re going to grade the six coaches who have already been hired for the 2026 season.
New York Giants: John Harbaugh (Ex-Ravens Coach)
It’ll take some time to adjust to John Harbaugh no longer coaching in the AFC North with Baltimore. He’ll go down as the most successful coach who was primarily a special teams coordinator before getting the top job, and he only had his third losing season in 18 years this season (8-9). It’s also worth noting all three of his losing seasons saw him lose his starting quarterback for an extended period of time.
But even the 2025 season that doomed Harbaugh in Baltimore is a good example of why he’s so hard to judge as a head coach. Is it really the coach’s fault when Derrick Henry fumbles in the fourth quarter in Buffalo in Week 1 while the team has the lead and can run out the clock? Is it his fault Lamar gets injured during the New England game and they blow an 11-point lead, or that the rookie kicker misses a game-winning field goal in Pittsburgh to end the season/
That’s the annual problem with Harbaugh. His players always seem to make some big mistake in a season-deciding game, and they lose a close game. It’s happened almost every year, and the one year they caught their breaks (2012 playoffs), they won the Super Bowl.
But there’s no doubt some concern with the way Harbaugh’s Ravens would blow more double-digit leads in the second half than any other team during the Jackson era. That’s not the greatest endorsement for hiring him with the Giants, a team that blew several double-digit second-half leads in 2025.
Another reason not to love the Harbaugh hire is he’s going to turn 64 in September, so he might not be the long-term answer here. The Giants also could have gone with an offensive coach to mentor young Jaxson Dart, who showed a lot of promise but needs some work this offseason to improve his game.
With Harbaugh in town, it sounds like he might be bringing offensive coordinator Todd Monken with him. This could be a good thing for the Giants as Monken had success with Georgia and the Ravens. He helped Lamar Jackson to some incredible numbers in 2024, he’ll make use of Cam Skattebo in the backfield, he’ll let Dart’s mobility enhance the offense, and he has a great wideout returning in Malik Nabers.
Harbaugh could also help get more out a talented defense with pieces like Abdul Carter, Brian Burns, and Dexter Lawrence in place. Bringing some of that AFC North toughness to the NFC East could also be beneficial to this team as they deal with the Cowboys, Commanders, and Eagles.
I think Harbaugh is likely past his prime, but a fresh start after 18 years in the other conference could revitalize him and lead to a quick turnaround in 2026 as long as Dart develops and stays healthy. With a 6-12 record when Lamar Jackson was injured, Harbaugh better hope Dart takes better care of himself and stays out of that blue tent.
Or invest in a better backup quarterback this time.
2026 Coaching Hire Grade: 4/5 Stars
Atlanta Falcons: Kevin Stefanski (Ex-Browns Coach)
The Falcons have not made the playoffs since the 2017 season, so a second year of falling short was enough for the team to part ways with Raheem Morris in a division you only needed eight wins to win.
Enter Kevin Stefanski, the two-time Coach of the Year winner in Cleveland where things soured after six seasons. But he had two 11-win seasons there, he helped Baker Mayfield to a great season in 2020, and his offense generally worked with every quarterback except Deshaun Watson and rookie Shedeur Sanders. The latter’s rabid fanbase led to personal attacks of Stefanski’s character that were unfounded, so he’s probably happy to be out of the Dog Pound and in Atlanta.
I think this is a really strong hire of a retread offensive coach who can maximize the offensive talent the team has spent premium draft picks on in recent years. If Michael Penix Jr. is too injured to start 2026, they can turn to Kirk Cousins, who had success in Minnesota with Stefanski as his OC, so there’s a connection there. If not, then he can help develop Penix as a passer to go with Bijan Robinson and Drake London.
The Falcons drafted some young pass rushers last year, so they can build up the talent on that side of the ball while getting better offensive coaching. It’s a division where you might only need 8-9 wins on an imbalanced team to win the division and host a playoff game, so that should be very enticing for Stefanski after usually dealing with a tougher AFC North.
While Stefanski only won 44.6% of his games in Cleveland, you might as well 10 percentage points to that number since it’s Cleveland. Not saying Stefanski 2.0 is going to look like Bill Belichick in New England, but he’s in a good spot to have immediate success in the NFC South.
2026 Coaching Hire Grade: 4.5/5 Stars
Miami Dolphins: Jeff Hafley (Packers Defensive Coordinator)
You have to give someone credit for being crazy enough to take the Miami job after Mike McDaniel was let go after four years. It’s not a desirable job as your ceiling might be the third-best team in the AFC East after the Bills and Patriots, and your team hasn’t won a playoff game since the 2000 season. You probably don’t have a long-term quarterback as Tua Tagovailoa was benched last year, and Tyreek Hill may never play another down for you.
Oh, there’s also no defensive stalwart on your defense like Hafley had with Micah Parsons coming to Green Bay in 2025. But once Parsons went down with a torn ACL in Denver, Hafley’s defense didn’t look like anything special, and the Packers never won another game, including a blown 21-3 lead in the playoffs in Chicago.
Green Bay’s defense had some decent numbers in Hafley’s two years on the job, though it didn’t improve as much as you expected after the Parsons trade. He also didn’t necessarily leave on a high note with the losing streak, the blown 15-point lead in the fourth quarter of the playoffs, and he was also just 12-22 in ACC play as the head coach at Boston College in 2020-23.
It’s not a very inspiring hire, and I’d almost say the Dolphins would be better off letting McDaniel try one more season with a quarterback who isn’t Tua. Hafley’s resume just doesn’t scream defensive guru, and he doesn’t have the pieces in place for early success. It’d be very surprising if he was the coach to end Miami’s playoff drought, especially with the challenges he’s going to face in the AFC East.
2026 Coaching Hire Grade: 2/5 Stars
Pittsburgh Steelers: Mike McCarthy (Ex-Cowboys Coach)
One statistic the Pittsburgh Steelers are most proud of is that they only had three head coaches since 1969: Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, and Mike Tomlin. But after a ninth-straight season without a playoff win, Tomlin finally stepped down this year and doesn’t plan to coach in 2026, if ever again.
The Steelers never had a losing season under Tomlin, though his message had grown stale, and the team’s constant embarrassment in playoff losses was more than enough to get rid of him and give someone else a shot.
But the Steelers had a real opportunity here to hire another young, first-time coach like they did the last three times. Someone with real staying power who would be given a long leash as the team has to find a franchise quarterback to really compete for anything.
Maybe the Steelers would even break the mold and go with a young offensive mind like Nate Scheelhaase, the Rams assistant they reportedly interviewed for the job. Someone who coached under Sean McVay.
Instead, they’re going with 62-year-old Mike McCarthy, because apparently this team is still trying to win the Super Bowl it lost 15 years ago to McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers.
I’m not even sure if McCarthy and Rodgers are on the best terms after some thought the quarterback successfully got McCarthy’s “stale offense” fired in Green Bay in the 2018 season. If this is their way of luring back the quarterback for his age-43 season, I’m not sure it’s going to work.
But this is a pretty uninspiring hire that also speaks to the fact that the Steelers are not a very attractive job right now. Most of their stars are over 30, they don’t have a long-term quarterback, they compete in a deep and tough division/conference, and they don’t have a high draft pick in 2026 ready to turn things around quickly.
At the same time, McCarthy is a safe pick for a team that thinks it can still compete for “non-losing seasons” and wild-card playoff losses. At least McCarthy has a more recent playoff win (2022 season) than Tomlin, and he has a better playoff record (11-11 vs. 8-12).
McCarthy has had five losing seasons in 18 years, though his quarterback was significantly injured in three of them, and he just lost a ton of close games in 2008 (6-10) and 2018 before he was fired.
But he is an offensive coach, so if the Steelers’ future at quarterback involves trying to resurrect the career of players like Joe Flacco, Jameis Winston, Anthony Richardson, or some other option that’s not Rodgers like Mason Rudolph or young Will Howard, then McCarthy isn’t a bad choice to get offensive competency.
This is McCarthy’s third team after the Packers and Cowboys, and he was winning 12 games every year in Dallas just a few years ago. There is some precedent for a coach having his best run on his third NFL team as Pete Carroll in Seattle is proof of that working. Of course, Carroll had a hugely successful stint at USC before that happened.
McCarthy was chilling on the couch for the last year, but he does satisfy the idea of getting a “Pittsburgh guy” for the job. McCarthy grew up in the area and actually went to a high school a few blocks from me. He knows the passion Pittsburgh fans have for the Steelers, and he’s unlikely to bomb too hard as he was a coach who was pulling out miracle wins with Matt Flynn and Brett Hundley in Green Bay in years where Rodgers was injured.
This will be the toughest job of his career, and it’s hard to say the expectations should be high. Steelers fans will just be happy to see someone new take over even if it means another old coach named Mike who hasn’t been to a Super Bowl since XLV in Texas a decade and a half ago.
2026 Coaching Hire Grade: 3/5 Stars
Tennessee Titans: Robert Saleh (49ers Defensive Coordinator)
If only Matt LaFleur was let go in Green Bay, then all of Aaron Rodgers’ coaches would be on the move this year. But Robert Saleh is getting another job after spending a quality year as the defensive coordinator of the 49ers, a job that helped him get the Jets job in the first place. Saleh did a respectable job without his two best defenders (Nick Bosa and Fred Warner) for much of the season.
Now he gets a second shot at the head coach job in Tennessee. But is he the right choice to help a young Cam Ward at quarterback? We know Saleh failed in New York because they could never give him a quarterback, then when they did, Rodgers tore his Achilles and allegedly helped get him fired after a 2-3 start in 2024. Saleh seemed to squeeze out more wins than he should have with the Jets, but he needs a quarterback.
In Tennessee’s situation, the team played a brutal schedule in 2025, so with the right coach to get Cam Ward on track, this team could be a quick turnaround success story in 2026.
Reportedly, Saleh impressed the Titans with his plans for getting offensive assistants to help Ward develop, including long-term plans on what to do if that offensive coordinator leaves after a couple of years for a promotion, which is a big concern now. Saleh has connections with the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree in San Francisco.
We don’t know yet who the offensive coordinator is going to be for the Titans in 2026. It would be quite the steal if Saleh could convince someone who doesn’t get a head coaching job like Klint Kubiak (Seahawks) or Nate Scheelhaase (Rams) to take this job, mentor Ward, then go on to a head coaching job in 2027. But we don’t know who he got yet, so it’s hard to give him a good grade as just Saleh alone is not a huge difference maker.
But maybe getting away from the Jets and getting another shot with a team in a winnable division is going to do wonders for him.
2026 Coaching Hire Grade: 3/5 Stars
Baltimore Ravens: Jesse Minter (Chargers Defensive Coordinator)
It’s not too surprising the Ravens went with Jesse Minter, the closest thing to a 42-year-old version of John Harbaugh. Minter was a defensive assistant for the Ravens in 2017-20 before joining Jim Harbaugh at Michigan as his coordinator where they won a national championship together, then followed Jim to the Chargers where they gave Justin Herbert a defense (but not much on offense in the playoffs).
Minter can get results on the defensive side, though is he as good of a candidate as Mike Macdonald was two years ago when he left the Ravens? Probably not. He’ll also have to find a new offensive coordinator with Todd Monken expected to join Harbaugh with the Giants.
Taking a job where Lamar Jackson is your quarterback is one of the most attractive in the league, and the Ravens have long been one of the top teams at the draft and general player personnel decisions.
But we’ll see if Minter can make his mark with a team that’s a little in flux with Derrick Henry not getting any younger and Lamar not getting any faster. It would have been a fun experiment, but I actually think Sean McDermott would have been a better choice for the Ravens:
- He knows how to beat the Chiefs in the regular season, which could help with playoff seeding and not facing them in Arrowhead in January.
- He knows how to get takeaways with his defense, something the Ravens just never seem to do in big games anymore (two takeaways in eight playoff starts for Lamar Jackson’s defense).
- Like Harbaugh, he’s a defensive coach and seems to run a tight ship in the locker room.
Instead, it’s the younger Minter, a Harbaugh in training, who will try to get the Ravens back on track and into a Super Bowl with Jackson at quarterback.
2026 Coaching Grade Hire: 3.5/5 Stars
Predicting the Other NFL Coach Hires in 2026
In the last section, we’ll go over the four remaining job openings for head coaches in 2026 with ideas of who the teams might be targeting.
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills should be the most attractive job opening left for a team that has a superstar quarterback (Josh Allen), a new stadium, and they’ve been in the playoffs every year since 2019.
However, you listen to that crazy press conference last week where they threw Sean McDermott’s coaching staff under the bus for drafting wide receiver Keon Coleman in 2024, then you see the disastrous PR job of handling McDermott’s firing, and you have to question if you really want to work here.
But the lure of Allen should have coaches interested (Philip Rivers even interviewed), and I see zero problem with the quarterback having input in the hiring decision. He has earned that right in the organization as they’re only going to go as far as he can.
It is a little nuts that it took a playoff loss in Denver where McDermott was probably the least culpable as the game that got him fired, but here we are. However, one move I would not advise is promoting offensive coordinator Joe Brady to head coach. Promotions rarely work, and to be honest, Brady has dragged this offense down.
Allen was better in 2020-23 than he was in 2024-25 when they tried to build more around the run, short passes, YAC plays, and thinking they could eliminate turnovers despite the fact turnover regression comes for everyone. Even then, the Bills turned the ball over five times in the playoffs and that’s on top of 12 other turnovers in their five losses in the regular season. Brady is not the guy for Buffalo, if any NFL team.
If they’re going to go that route, then go back a few years ago when Josh Allen was at his best and most consistent in the 2020 regular season and 2021 playoffs. Bring back Brian Daboll as the head coach. Yeah, things didn’t go very well in New York after those close wins to start the 2022 season, but he rarely had a good quarterback or healthy wide receivers.
You put Daboll in Buffalo, and he’s got the quarterback position solved, and that always makes things easier. The Bills could always go with someone fresh like Nate Scheelhaase or Klint Kubiak from the McVay and Shanahan trees, but I feel like it’s going to be an offensive coach with experience that Allen approves of, and that’s Daboll.
Best 2026 Head Coach Prediction: Brian Daboll, Ex-Giants Coach
Las Vegas Raiders
For a team coming off a terrible year, the Raiders are a more attractive job than the Browns or Cardinals. At least you’re getting the No. 1 pick in the draft, and that could be Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who can play with Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers with a coach who knows what he’s doing on that side of the ball.
That’s why I think the Raiders should go offense. Sure, a maverick who is suing the NFL like Brian Flores would be a pick that the late Al Davis would love, but I think the right call is Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. He’s done an incredible job with Sam Darnold this year, getting Jaxon Smith-Njigba open in a variety of ways, and he comes from that Kubiak/Shanahan tree that just factually improves quarterback play and makes their lives easier.
He’d be in a loaded AFC West where the Chiefs are far from dead, but if Kubiak is a fan of Mendoza, then I think Mark Davis, Tom Brady, and whoever need to get together and make this happen sometime in the next two weeks.
At least make it official before Darnold implodes on the biggest stage in sports and they score 7 points. But Kubiak would be my pick for Vegas.
Best 2026 Head Coach Prediction: Klint Kubiak, Seahawks Offensive Coordinator
Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals are not in a great position as it doesn’t look like Kyler Murray has much time left with the team. They fired Jonathan Gannon after three uneventful years where he was terrible in close games. He’s stuck in a division with a record three 12-win teams this year. It’s a tough job to take.
But I think if they wanted to go the offensive route, you could bring in Mike McDaniel (ex-Dolphins) as someone who could possibly resurrect the career of Murray with these great weapons they have that seemed to do better with Jacoby Brissett at quarterback. McDaniel could help with that and the running game.
However, it feels like the Cardinals might just play it safe and steal defensive coordinator Vance Joseph from the Broncos. He served as Arizona’s defensive coordinator in 2019-22, so he knows Murray and the front office already. He’s done a great job in Denver, and you can’t blame Denver’s defense for Sunday’s AFC Championship Game loss. They gave up 10 points, including a 12-yard touchdown drive.
In the NFC West, you better be able to play defense to contend with those teams. The Cardinals have weapons but need more guidance on defense. Joseph was just 11-21 as Denver’s coach but had more success in a coordinator role upon returning to the team. Maybe he’s ready for a second try at the head job too.
Best 2026 Head Coach Prediction: Vance Joseph, Broncos Defensive Coordinator
Cleveland Browns
The Browns are reportedly having a hard time in their coaching search. It’s not an attractive spot as they usually finish last in the AFC North, they don’t seem to have a quarterback who is a viable starter on the roster, and Shedeur Sanders’ fans can be insane to deal with.
Ideally, you’d bring in some offensive-minded coach to try to get something out of that quarterback room while keeping the defense intact. But if you’re not going to get one of the top candidates like Kubiak, then I could see Cleveland doing the very safe thing and promoting defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz to head coach. He was the head coach of the Lions over a decade ago and made the playoffs once.
At least you know your franchise player, Myles Garrett, will be happy about the move even if history shows it’s almost always a bad choice for long-term success. You know it’s bad when Jason Garrett (Cowboys) is one of the most successful in-house promotions ever.
But if no one is going to pick up Sean McDermott right now, unless he wants to take a gap year, maybe the Browns can try to convince him to come here. He helped end a playoff drought that was far longer in his first year in Buffalo in 2017.
Best 2026 Head Coach Prediction: Jim Schwartz, Browns Defensive Coordinator (Promotion)
Related Articles:
- 2025 AFC Championship Game Preview: Bizarro AFC Leads to Drake Maye vs. Jarrett Stidham
- 2025 NFC Championship Game Preview: Rams vs. Seahawks Is Super Bowl LX Two Weeks Early
- Scott’s Seven NFL Picks: 2025 Divisional Round
- 2025 AFC Divisional Round Preview: Is This Finally the Year for Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills?
- 2025 NFC Divisional Round Preview: The Greatness of the NFC West on Full Display
- Scott’s Seven NFL Picks: 2025 Wild Card Weekend
- 2025 AFC Wild Card Preview: Without the Chiefs and Ravens, Things Feel Wide Open This Year
- 2025 NFC Wild Card Preview: Are We Sleeping on the Philadelphia Eagles Repeating?
- 2025 NFL Fraud Alert Rating: Should We Trust the Bears and Patriots in the Playoffs?
- 2025 Final NFL Quarterback Rankings: Matthew Stafford Is the MVP
- 2025 NFL Predictions: Who Makes It to Super Bowl LX?
- 2025 NFL Award Nominees and Best Bets: Can We Get a Good and Logical MVP Race?
- Philadelphia Eagles 2025 NFL Season Preview and Picks: Did Philly Crush One Great Dynasty to Start Its Own?
- Kansas City Chiefs 2025 NFL Season Preview and Picks: Time to Reinvent the Offense Again
