It’s only November, but the coaching carousel in the NFL has already begun spinning.
The New York Giants became the second team to fire their head coach during the 2025 NFL season, dismissing Brian Daboll 10 games into his fourth season. They joined the Tennessee Titans, who fired Brian Callahan in October, as the only teams with a head coach vacancy.
Surely, there will be more head coach openings between now and the first week following the regular season. But how many jobs will open? Seven teams made changes at head coach last offseason, and eight teams swapped head coaches in the prior offseason.
Still, even if the coaching carousel is smaller this year, having the right head coach in place can alter a franchise. Just ask the New England Patriots, who are 8-2 entering Week 11 in Mike Vrabel’s first year at the helm after two consecutive four-win seasons.
So, is there a Vrabel-like candidate waiting to get hired as a head coach this offseason? Which coordinators might be the next Ben Johnson and make the leap to head coach this offseason? Will Bill Belichick receive head coach interest this offseason?
We asked executives and staffers around the league those questions and their thoughts on the coaching carousel for this offseason.
***
Top Coordinators Who Will Stand Out
Greg Auman: Look for successful coordinators on the opposite side of their head coaches, which gives you Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula and Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. Hafley is 46 and has head coaching experience from Boston College, and Kubiak and Shula aren’t even 40 yet and come with coaching pedigree.
Are we ready for a British NFL head coach? Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde, born in England but an NFL assistant since 2018, could get a look if Seattle continues to impress. He’s in his first year as a coordinator, so it could be that he draws a few interviews but is ultimately more ready for a head coaching job a year from now.
Do comeback coaching stories like Josh McDaniels (Patriots offensive coordinator), Brian Flores (Vikings defense coordinator) or Vance Joseph (Broncos defensive coordinator) get another shot as a head coach, or are they just seen now as good coordinators? There should be fewer head coaching openings than in recent years, so competition for these jobs will be all the more fierce, especially if any coaches outside the current NFL – a wide spectrum from Jon Gruden to Lane Kiffin – fill any of the vacancies.
Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has helped Drake Maye become an MVP candidate this season. Is that good enough for teams to consider him for head coach vacancies after failed stints with the Broncos and Raiders? (Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
***
Don’t Expect Big Splash From College Ranks
Ralph Vacchiano: When the NFL’s head-coach hiring cycle begins, expect to hear a lot of college coaches mentioned as potential candidates. But if history is any indication, none of them are likely to be asked to make the jump to the pros.
“The media brings up college guys way more than people around the NFL do,” one former NFL general manager told me. “It’s too big of a risk, and it rarely works out.
“The exception is if you get a ‘college guy’ with NFL experience — a Jim Harbaugh or Pete Carroll, guys like that. They understood the NFL and had experience running a pro team. That’s important because it’s a lot different trying to lead a bunch of kids than it is trying to lead grown men.”
So while names like Dan Lanning (Oregon), Marcus Freeman (Notre Dame), Lincoln Riley (USC) or Steve Sarkisian (Texas) will get thrown around publicly, they all remain longshots to be lured to the NFL. Same for Lane Kiffin (Ole Miss), who at least has experience as an NFL head coach with the Raiders in 2007-08.
“But it was a terrible experience,” the former general manager said. “Plus, no one’s going to out-bid LSU, Florida or even Ole Miss for him.”
Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin has been a popular name in the college football head coach cycle. But could he return to the NFL nearly 20 years after his stint as the Raiders’ head coach? (Photo by Jason Clark/Getty Images)
Much more alluring to NFL teams are former college head coaches who have already made the jump to the NFL, which shows they can both run a team and can handle the challenges of a professional locker room. Two examples that could draw interest this cycle are David Shaw, the long-time Stanford coach who’s back in the NFL as the passing game coordinator for the Detroit Lions, and Jeff Hafley, the former Boston College coach now serving as the defensive coordinator in Green Bay.
“Don’t discount the importance of leading a team, even in college,” the former general manager said. “That matters. And if they can show they can handle NFL players too, that’s huge. Players are more likely trust them, and [owners] will see them as less of a risk.”
***
Who’s This Year’s Vrabel?
Ralph Vacchiano: Last year, Mike Vrabel was clearly the prize of the offseason coaching carousel, even though he always seemed to be ticketed for New England.
There doesn’t seem to be a Mike Vrabel-like candidate this year.
“I think the searches will be all over the map,” an executive from a team that is not expected to be looking for a new head coach told me. “If we were searching I’m not sure I’d have a favorite right now. There are probably a dozen guys and they’re all mostly the same.”
Among the coaches expected to be the most in-demand this offseason, based on conversations with multiple NFL sources, are Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores and Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley.
Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka might be getting an open audition to be consired for the team’s head coach vacancy. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
What’s notable is all of them, except for Kafka, have been a head coach in either the NFL or college before, although Kafka is serving as the Giants’ interim head coach for the rest of the 2025 season. But while the executive said “Experience matters — or at least it should,” not every team will be looking for someone who’s done it before.
“If you grab a ‘hot assistant’ who has never led a full team before, it’s a crapshoot,” the executive said. “Of course it can work. It’s worked a lot. But you never know how a guy can handle the whole thing until he’s sitting in that big chair.”
***
Don’t Overlook Mike McCarthy
Ralph Vacchiano: There is a Super Bowl-winning former NFL head coach who will be on the market this offseason, who could be very attractive to a team that thinks it’s ready to win.
Well, yes, there’s Bill Belichick. But Mike McCarthy is available, too.
The 62-year-old former Packers and Cowboys coach did interview with the Saints and Bears last season, but did not appear to be a finalist for either job before he pulled himself out of contention. There were rumors that he didn’t interview well — a tag that dogged him back in 2020, too, when he interviewed with the New York Giants, before he ended up with the Cowboys.
Super Bowl-winning head coach Mike McCarthy is spending the 2025 season on the sideline after getting fired by the Cowboys last offseason. (Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images)
But it’s hard to compete with his résumé. He’s got a 174-112-2 record over 18 seasons, with 11 seasons of double-digit wins and 12 trips to the playoffs. And it’s not like he’s been out of the league a while. He was still coaching the Cowboys in 2024.
“[McCarthy] won 12 games, three years in a row in Dallas. And his offenses are always hard to stop,” one NFC executive told me. “I don’t care what issues anyone thinks there are with him, you can’t match that kind of success.”
“He’s a little old in a league that trends young,” another executive told me. “But he knows how to win. If you’re looking for a coach, I don’t know why you wouldn’t at least bring him in [for an interviews] and pick his brain.”
***
Don’t Overlook Candidates Not on Elite Teams
Eric D. Williams: A senior NFL personnel executive familiar with the head coaching hiring process cautioned teams from bringing on a trendy offensive or defensive coordinator without taking a deeper dive on that person’s ability to lead a team.
“Just remember this: Just because you are a coordinator on a good team does not make you a strong head coaching candidate,” the senior personnel executive told me. “The coordinator job and the head coaching job are two completely different jobs and skill sets.”
According to the senior personnel executive, head coaching candidates to watch for in the next head coaching cycle include Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde, Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken and Dolphins offensive coordinator Frank Smith.
“It’s the most difficult decision in sports,” the personnel executive told me. “You examine the body of work and who they have learned from. You get information from non-agenda co-workers, conduct the interview and cross your fingers.”
Other league sources I spoke with also said not to rule out former head coaches now performing well in their new jobs, like 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores and Commanders run game coordinator Anthony Lynn.
***
Could Belichick Get Another Look?
Eric D. Williams: Another league source told me teams would be wise to consider the return of the most successful coach in NFL history back to the league: North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick.
“If I were running a team, I would want to hire Belichick for a three-to-five-year run,” the source told me.
Bill Belichick has only had one head coach interview since he parted ways with the Patriots in 2024 and has struggled at UNC, but could he return to the NFL? (Photo by Gregory Fisher/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
And what about Belichick’s struggles at North Carolina?
“I don’t think it applies much to the NFL and they will probably finish 6-6 or 7-5 in the regular season,” the source told me. “It’s not like it’s a good roster. He can coach as well as ever if he has the players.”
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.
Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on X at @eric_d_williams.
Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.
About the Author
