Tag: Openings

It’s a good time to be Ben Johnson. The Lions’ offensive coordinator has the Detroit offense thriving as Jared Goff & Co. push toward a Super Bowl. In between drawing up leak variations in which Goff and Jahmyr Gibbs pretend to slip to fool defenders, Johnson might be giving some thought to the variety of head coaching jobs likely to be thrown his way this offseason.

Of course, Johnson can take only one job. With three teams having already fired their coaches and more presumably expected after Week 18, not every franchise can land its preferred candidate (and some teams might prefer somebody else to the Detroit wunderkind). Which job should Johnson and his peers prefer? Which jobs would be most desirable? Least desirable?

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Let’s take a look at that very topic and run through the various actual and potential coaching openings across the NFL. Though there’s usually a surprise opening that pops up — like the Titans after 2022 and the Seahawks after last season — I’ve tried to focus on opportunities with teams that have been rumored to be considering a coaching change.

Keep in mind, though, this isn’t an argument in favor of any of these particular coaches being fired. There are teams such as the Dolphins and Titans, where I’d argue it would be foolish or premature to move on from the existing option. These rankings are taking the extremely aggressive assumption that these nine jobs will all come open over the next couple of weeks.

I’ll start with the least appealing job and finish with the most appealing one and describe what might be exciting or underwhelming about each:

Jump to a team:
Bears | Dolphins | Giants
Jaguars | Jets | Patriots
Raiders | Saints | Titans

Pros: Ownership, division
Cons: Roster, salary cap

The Saints are roughly where the Raiders were in 2011, when they were holding on for dear life with the league’s worst cap situation in the hopes of being competitive. That team had an excuse: They were attempting to win another Super Bowl for Al Davis while the legendary owner was still alive, which was made more difficult by some of the key decisions Davis was making, including hiring Hue Jackson to be the new coach.

The Saints don’t have that excuse or really any reason to operate the way they have over the past few years now that Drew Brees and Sean Payton have both left town. This season has continued the slide down the drain for New Orleans, which followed the firing of longtime Payton assistant Pete Carmichael during the offseason by dismissing coach Dennis Allen in midyear. Darren Rizzi has gone 3-3 as the interim coach, but this organization desperately needs to accept that the glory days aren’t coming back until it gets a fresh start.