Ranking head coaching vacancies: Which of these seven jobs is the most desirable?
A look at the seven NFL head coaching openings, ranked by roster strength, cap outlook and long-term upside
The 2025 NFL regular season is in the books, and change is already in the air. The offseason is a time of immense turnover, as players switch teams via free agency or trade, teams change their rosters by acquiring them through one of those avenues or in the draft, and plenty of clubs swap out their coaches as they look to improve from one year to the next.
We're here today to talk about the latter group of teams. As of Tuesday afternoon, seven NFL teams have fired their coaches. The Tennessee Titans and New York Giants fired Brian Callahan and Brian Daboll during the regular season. The Atlanta Falcons fired Raheem Morris on Sunday night. And on Monday, the Cleveland Browns fired Kevin Stefanski, the Las Vegas Raiders fired Pete Carroll and the Arizona Cardinals fired Jonathan Gannon. The Baltimore Ravens fired John Harbaugh after 18 seasons on Tuesday afternoon.
In the wake of all of those changes, let's rank the coaching vacancies in order of their desirability.
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1. Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are the only team this coaching cycle that can offer prospective candidates the opportunity to coach a multi-time NFL MVP quarterback in Lamar Jackson.
Plus, running back Derrick Henry showed no signs of slowing down in his age-31 season in 2025, rushing for 1,585 yards -- the second-most in the entire NFL. There are also a couple All-Pro building blocks on defense with linebacker Roquan Smith and safety Kyle Hamilton. Baltimore should make a playoff return in 2026 no matter who their head coach is provided they reinforce Jackson's offensive line as well as their defensive line. The Ravens do have some cap space to play with at the moment with $12.4 million in effective cap space, according to OverTheCap.com. Moving off of defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike's contract down the road following his neck injury could free up significant cap space in the coming years.
2. Falcons
There are a couple of things working against the Falcons here: First and most importantly, there is extreme uncertainty surrounding the quarterback situation. Michael Penix Jr. is coming off yet another knee injury. Kirk Cousins is probably not long for Atlanta given that the Falcons can save $22.5 million by cutting him (or $35 million by designating him as a post-June 1 release).
The Falcons also do not have a first-round pick in this year's draft after trading up for James Pearce Jr. in 2025 and are set to enter the offseason over the 2026 salary cap.
All that said, Atlanta has the most talent of any team with a head-coaching vacancy. Between Bijan Robinson and Drake London on offense, there is already a baseline level of star talent to build around. Kyle Pitts could be back. The offensive line is solid.
The defense slowed down after an incredibly hot start to the year but still finished the year 14th in EPA per play allowed. There is at least a foundation for success on that side of the ball, if you can land on the right defensive mind, whether as the head coach or coordinator. The Falcons also play in the NFC South, which is one of the worst divisions in football.
The Falcons are running this search in a strange way, though, with separate consulting firms leading the search for the coach and the general manager. Things could get weird if the GM doesn't have the chance to hire their preferred coach.
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3. Giants
The Giants won't have the No. 1 pick in the draft like it seemed they would a few weeks ago, but they do have a few things working in their favor.
The first is the young talent on offense, and specifically at quarterback with Jaxson Dart, who showed flashes during his rookie season that he can be a strong option for the Giants under center. Malik Nabers and Cam Skattebo are attractive as well, although they'll both be coming off of major injuries. And Andrew Thomas is an elite tackle.
Then there's the defense, which boasts one of the best fronts in the league -- or should, at least. So long as the Giants have Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns and Abdul Carter, they should be able to get after it up front. They need to improve on the second and third levels and they definitely need to get better against the run, but there's talent on this side of the ball.
A potential issue is the ownership and management situation, where John Mara is sadly in poor health and general manager Joe Schoen is set to return (and lead the coaching search) despite not exactly having distinguished himself in the role.
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4. Titans
Tennessee restructured its front office over the weekend such that Mike Borgonzi will oversee the 53-man roster and lead the coaching search while Chad Brinker will handle the other football operations responsibilities. The Titans had one of the worst rosters and coaching situations in the NFL this season, but they might be set up to make a jump next year.
Cam Ward's overall numbers don't look great, but there were so many flashes of high-level talent when you turn on the film. He was let down by a decrepit supporting cast and has a chance to be much better next year if the Titans improve the talent around him. And they'll have every chance to do so because Tennessee is set to enter the offseason with over $105 million in cap space and the No. 4 pick in the draft.
They're not necessarily a candidate to go worst-to-first like the Bears and Patriots did this year, but they definitely have a chance to be a lot better next season if they hit on the right coach and use their budget and draft capital wisely, like those teams did.
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5. Raiders
The Raiders are here for four reasons: Brock Bowers, Ashton Jeanty, the No. 1 pick in the draft and $100 million in cap room. (You could say five reasons and include Maxx Crosby, but there are already rumors swirling that the Raiders are finally willing to listen to trade offers for the star edge rusher, so he may not be long for Las Vegas.) There is just not much talent on this team outside of those players.
There is a loooong way to go before the Raiders can be remotely competitive, and it doesn't help that they play in the AFC West, which is one of the most competitive divisions in football. Like the Titans, though, they can take a jump next season if they hit on their coach and whichever quarterback they presumably draft with the No. 1 pick, and spend their free-agent money to upgrade the talent level on the roster.
One drawback here is the ownership situation, where Mark Davis seems to flail wildly from one plan to the next in quick succession. The Vegas job is not exactly stable, and doesn't come with a lot of job security, as evidenced by all the changes the Raiders have made over the last several years.
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6. Browns
The Browns have a good defense built around Myles Garrett, who is just an inhuman monster coming around the edge. They drafted a pair of star rookies in tight end Harold Fannin Jr. and linebacker Carson Schwesinger. They have multiple first-round picks in this year's draft thanks to last year's Travis Hunter trade.
What the Browns don't have is much other talent on offense (Quinshon Judkins will be coming off a dislocated ankle and fractured fibula), an answer at quarterback or any cap space to solve their various issues. Cleveland is set to begin the offseason more than $12 million over the cap, according to Over the Cap, and it still has the albatross of Deshaun Watson's contract weighing down its books in both 2026 and 2027, at least.
The Browns also have an ownership and management situation that is, shall we say, not all that desirable. The Haslam family has run one of the most unstable organizations in the league, and Andrew Berry hasn't exactly put together a great roster. (The combination of the Haslams and Berry was responsible for the disastrous Watson trade.)
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7. Cardinals
Arizona lost 14 of its final 15 games this season and looked incredibly listless in doing so. The Cardinals have an uncertain quarterback situation with Kyler Murray seemingly not long for the team, and they really have no viable path to solving that situation this offseason unless it becomes a three-quarterback draft or the Jets decide to pass on someone like Dante Moore (if he enters) or Fernando Mendoza at No. 2 overall.
Arizona is set to have only around $21 million in cap room (and only $9.8 million in effective cap space), per Over the Cap, so it's not like there are a lot of resources here to solve the various roster issues.
They do have players like Trey McBride, Michael Wilson, Paris Johnson Jr., Josh Sweat, Budda Baker, Garrett Williams, Walter Nolen and Will Johnson, but there are still a lot of holes here and not that much to build around.
