NFL Head Coaching Carousel
With the regular season coming to a close and the playoffs on deck, the teams who won’t be participating in the postseason have already begun to look ahead and evaluate how they can improve their situation for next year and beyond.
The 2022-2023 NFL season has been a great example of just how quickly things can turn around for a franchise and how big of a role coaching has in said turnaround.
First year head coaches Brian Daboll and Kevin O’Connell took their teams from the couch to the playoffs in the span of a year, with Daboll taking over a team with very low expectations and cementing himself as a candidate for Coach of the Year.
Doug Pederson, in his inaugural season as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, took his team from worst to first and is now set to host a home playoff game less than a year after selecting first overall in the draft.
As things stand today, five head coaching vacancies are open around the league. Those being the Panthers, Broncos, Cardinals, Texans and Colts with some others potentially coming open in the near future.
The Panthers fired Matt Rhule early in the season and traded star running back Christian McCaffrey shortly after.
However, interim head coach Steve Wilks took over and went 6-6, keeping his team in the playoff hunt up until the very final weeks.
Many thought he had the inside edge for the job, but rumors are circulating around a more offensive minded coach being the target with the Panthers desperately searching for a quarterback and needing the right person to develop him.
Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen seem to be the frontrunners after phenomenal seasons from each of their offenses.
For the Broncos, they just completed one of their most disappointing seasons in the franchise's recent history.
In his first year with the team, Russell Wilson looked like a shell of his former self and head coach Nathaniel Hackett couldn’t even make it through his entire first season with the team before being fired.
While they hired a first time head coach in the last cycle, Denver is expected to target a more experienced coach to lead this team.
Dan Quinn is a name to look out for, as he almost got the job last year and has connections with Russell Wilson from their time in Seattle.
However, the Broncos could be the team to bring either Sean Payton or Jim Harbaugh back to the NFL, as they have already had discussions with both and have even discussed the parameters of a Payton trade with the New Orleans Saints.
The Jeff Saturday experiment in Indianapolis was rocky to say the least.
The franchise icon went just 1-7 in his tenure and even blew the biggest lead in NFL history after going up 33-0 against the Vikings.
While he is still in the running for the job, Harbaugh is also expected to garner interest from his former team along with the formerly mentioned Ben Johnson and Shane Steichen as well as Broncos defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero.
The Cardinals and Texans abruptly fired Kliff Kingsbury and Lovie Smith, respectively, after they completed their final games of the season.
Arizona is an interesting spot to look at for Sean Payton and might even be the favorites to land him.
Payton is said to be a fan of Kyler Murray’s skillset and Kyler is expected to have a say in the hiring process.
The Cardinals might take a little longer to make a hire, however, as they need to also bring in a new General Manager and they would like to get that done first.
Houston is a tough team to get a read on.
In the past two seasons, the Texans had two different coaches, both going one-and-done.
This makes them somewhat of an unattractive location, but they also have some promising young pieces and multiple first round picks in the coming years, including the second overall pick in this year’s draft.
Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon was a finalist for the job last year and might be the name to watch for Houston in this cycle.
Jakob Schnur is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jks6463@psu.edu
