Ranking potential NFL head coach openings by quarterback situations: Ravens, Bengals jobs would rule supreme
Having Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson to lean on would be a good start for any new coach
By
Jared Dubin
•
6 min read
With the 2025 NFL season winding down, we know that the next few weeks and months are going to be a time of massive change.
During the offseason, players are going to change teams -- whether via free agency or trade or even the NFL Draft. Where those players end up is going to have a significant impact on what happens in 2026.
But as we have seen this season, there is something that can have just as big an impact as new players: a new coach. And there are plenty of coaching jobs that could become available this offseason, which means there could be plenty of opportunities for new coaches to provide a springboard to success for their new franchises.
There are already two jobs open: the New York Giants and the Tennessee Titans. But we've identified as many as 10 jobs that could potentially open up depending on what happens over the next few weeks, so we wanted to separate those jobs into buckets and then rank them based on the desirability of those jobs. In the space below, that's what we'll do.
The tiers of jobs are going to be determined by one of the most important things to consider when it comes to a head coaching position: the quarterback situation. We're separating them into the following categories: Established Star Quarterbacks, Young Quarterbacks With Upside and Questionable Quarterback Situations.
So, without further ado, here are our rankings of the potential job openings this offseason.
Established Star Quarterbacks
If these jobs actually come open, they will be the two best jobs on the market, and in this order. Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow are established stars who, when healthy, are routinely in the MVP conversation. The chance to coach one of those players is the kind of thing any head coaching candidate could only dream of.
We have the Ravens ahead of the Bengals on the list for two reasons: depth of roster talent, and ownership/management. Despite their disappointing season, the Ravens do have more talent on their roster than do the Bengals, who still need to remake almost their entire defense in order to be truly competitive for a playoff spot. The Ravens have the requisite talent on both sides of the ball -- they have just underperformed relative to that talent this season. Injuries (especially to Jackson) account for some of that, but they've alo been a disappointment when healthy.
The real advantage the Ravens have here is that they have one of the best and most stable ownership and management groups in the NFL. Steve Bisciotti hires well and lets his charges run their department with little interference. Eric DeCosta and the rest of the front office routinely draft well and hit on the margins with low-cost free agents and buy-low trades. The Bengals' ownership group is widely considered one of the stingiest in the league and while the front office has little turnover, that's true largely because the ownership group lacks the will and/or ambition to do things differently.
Young Quarterbacks With Upside
- New York Giants
- Tennessee Titans
Both of these teams have generally messy ownership situations where they seem to swing wildly from vine to vine with no real plan, so the quality of the quarterback and roster around him has to win the day here.
Whatever you think of Cam Ward and Jaxson Dart, there is no denying that the Giants have more talent on their roster than do the Titans. Between Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns, Abdul Carter and more on defense, and Dart, Cam Skattebo, Andrew Thomas, Wan'Dale Robinson and more on offense, there is simply more available to a new coach than there would be in Tennessee, where you have Ward, Jeffery Simmons, T'Vondre Sweat and not that much else on either side of the ball.
The Giants will also have a higher draft pick than the Titans so long as they lose to the Cowboys on Sunday. The Titans, however, are set to have over $100 million in cap space, per Over the Cap, and could perhaps use it as well as teams like the Patriots and Bears did last offseason in order to propel themselves forward, along with their new coach. The Giants are currently set to have only around $15 million in cap room, but they can obviously create more with releases, extensions and restructures.
Questionable Quarterback Futures
Let's go through the quarterback situations here first: Baker Mayfield is under contract for only one more season, and hasn't been as good this year under a new offensive coordinator as he was under Liam Coen last year. Tua Tagovailoa is not long for Miami. Kyler Murray is seemingly not long for Arizona. The Browns seem extremely likely to be in the mix for a quarterback in either free agency or, especially, the draft. The Falcons have Michael Penix Jr. coming off his third career ACL tear and Kirk Cousins probably being released off of his massive contract. And the Raiders seem exceedingly likely to cut ties with Geno Smith after his disastrous first season in Las Vegas.
We know that the Buccaneers do have a high ceiling offensively when Mayfield is at his best. If an offensive-minded head coach can tap into that, maintain some of what Todd Bowles has done defensively and find someone to improve the pass defense, the Bucs job is a really good one. The Dolphins under Mike McDaniel have shown over the latter portion of the season that they're not nearly as terrible as they looked early on. With De'Von Achane and Jaylen Waddle, there is the foundation of an explosive offense. If you can land on the right quarterback to succeed Tua Tagovailoa, there is something there.
The Falcons, like the Dolphins, have played better toward the end of the season. They have Bijan Robinson and Drake London and maybe Kyle Pitts on offense. They have a solid enough offensive line. They have some talent on defense. What they don't have is a first-round pick this year, or any degree of cap space. They have stable ownership, though, which is nice. The Cardinals have shown they can throw the ball with even Jacoby Brissett under center -- provided they're already down by a bunch of points, at least. They can't run the ball and their defense has collapsed under the weight of injuries, but between Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson, Paris Johnson, Josh Sweat, Budda Baker, Will Johnson, Walter Nolen and more, there are pillars to build around on both sides of the ball.
The Browns have a quarterback situation that is very up in the air because it doesn't seem like either of the rookies they drafted this year is the future but they're not going to have the top pick in the draft, where they could have their choice of whom to select. They have some young players to build around and they have Myles Garrett, but there are also major questions when it comes to ownership and potentially the front office, though it seems like Andrew Berry and Co. will be sticking around. The Raiders will likely have the No. 1 pick but they have one of the most barren talent stables in the NFL and arguably the least stable ownership situation in the league, regardless of the fact that Tom Brady has recently signed onto it.
