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Seven of the 32 NFL teams (22%) have been seeking new head coaches over the past few weeks. Each team finished with a disappointing record in 2024.
Regardless of how bad the talent is on those teams, the new head coach is expected to turn around these flailing franchises around quickly. Even if the coach has little input into the team’s rookie draft choices or free agent acquisitions made by the General Manager and team owner, the coach will be on the hot seat in the eyes of the fans.
Fear not, season ticket holders! Six of the seven new head coaches are on the way to these teams:
Chicago Bears – Ben Johnson (offensive coordinator for Detroit Lions)
Dallas Cowboys – Brian Schottenheimer (current offensive coordinator in Dallas)
Jacksonville Jaguars – Liam Coen (offensive coordinator for Tampa Bay Bucs)
Las Vegas Raiders – Pete Carroll (former head coach of the Seattle Seahawks)
New England Patriots – Mike Vrabel (former head coach of the Tennessee Titans)
New York Jets – Aaron Glenn (defensive coordinator for Detroit Lions)
New Orleans Saints – ???
In case you didn’t notice, the Detroit Lions lost both their offensive coordinator (Ben Johnson) and the team’s defensive coordinator (Aaron Glenn) from this season’s 15-2 team. Ouch!
Let’s give some credit to the New York Jets for hiring the talented Aaron Glenn to become their new on-field leader.
The franchise holds the longest current playoff drought in every men’s major league sport. It has been 14 years since the J-E-T-S have played in the NFL’s post-season.
It seems longer than that.
In case his name sounds familiar, Aaron Glenn was a former New Orleans Saints player who became the team’s defensive backfield coach for five seasons. Glenn left the Saints for a better position in Detroit. This week, he rejected overtures from the Saints and signed a 5-year contract to become the Jets head coach.
Ponder this for a moment. Each of these newly hired NFL head coaches will receive at least a four year contract and annual pay of no less than $5 million per season.
Who would turn down a guaranteed $20 million job offer to coach the Saints?
Apparently, nearly everyone has.
A few NFL franchises (such as New Orleans and Dallas) have found that the fish in this year’s coaching pool have been getting smarter. Some nibbled on the line, while others wouldn’t consider taking the bait.
On Tuesday, former Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy effectively told the New Orleans Saints, “No, thanks – I’d rather be unemployed than consider your job!”
Let that sink in, Saints fans.
With only one head coaching vacancy (New Orleans) remaining today, the 61-year old coach with a 2011 Super Bowl ring in Green Bay decided to pass on the Saints job. He would rather sit on the sidelines next fall than guide WhoDatNation’s favorite team in the Crescent City.
Ditto for Kliff Kingsbury in Washington.
The former head coach of the Arizona Cardinals was fired one year ago and is still being paid millions by his former NFL team in Phoenix.
This season, Kingsbury accepted an offensive coordinator position with Washington’s football team.
Like Mike McCarthy, Kliff Kingsbury would rather stick around ol’ DC next season with his talented former LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels than take the riverboat captain’s chair in New Orleans.
Do you remember Joe Brady?
Another “No, thanks” for the Saints job came from Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady.
His name is quite familiar to Louisiana football fans. Joe Brady started as an assistant coach with the New Orleans Saints.
In 2019, Brady moved 70 miles to the north and became the offensive guru of the 15-0 national championship football team at LSU. He won the national college football “Assistant Coach of the Year” award for his work with quarterback Joe Burrow.
Joe Brady (who apparently once liked the state of Louisiana) also does not like what he sees right now when it comes to the New Orleans Saints organization. He also said, “No, thanks” to the Saints open head coaching job.
Are the New Orleans Saints are morphing back into the Aints again?
As we’ve covered before, the Saints have rapidly descended following the 2021 retirement of future Hall-of-Fame quarterback Drew Brees and 2022 departure of head coach Sean Payton (now coaching in Denver).
Saints’ holdover General Manager Mickey Loomis has failed to maintain the team’s long record of success.
This season’s 5-12 finish might make you believe that the Saints’ GM had been a tightwad on paying for football talent.
You would be incorrect.
Today’s New Orleans Saints are $50 million over the NFL’s expected $275 million salary cap for next season. The team has spent plenty of money on players.
Saints management has made a series of questionable personnel decisions over the past few years.
Last fall, New Orleans’ third-year head coach Dennis Allen was jettisoned after the Saints lost seven straight games in September and October. Special team’s coach Darren Rizzi was 3-5 in mop-up duty and was promised serious consideration for the permanent job.
Recent media buzz indicates that Rizzi is likely to leave for Chicago and accept the Bears’ special teams coaching job.
Is it now “Kellen Moore-or-bust” for the Saints?
The hot Saints coaching rumor of the day is about Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.
The 36-year old former quarterback at Boise State played several years in the NFL as a back-up signal caller in both Detroit and Dallas.
He moved into coaching in Dallas and became an assistant coach. Kellen Moore was quickly promoted to become a very young offensive coordinator in Dallas under then-head coach Mike McCarthy.
After Dallas owner Jerry Jones told McCarthy to take over the play-calling duties, Kellen Moore moved along to the Los Angeles Chargers in 2023. This season, he caught a huge break and became the offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles.
In less than two weeks, Kellen Moore will be drawing-up plays in the Super Bowls as Philadelphia plays Kansas City.
Kellen Moore now resides in the NFL’s version of Candyland as the offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Phiadelphia’s General Manager has wisely loaded the football team with explosive offensive talent that would make most any offensive coordinator look good.
The Eagles have a 2,000 yard rusher in Saquan Barkley. The team also features a recent All-Pro quarterback (Jalen Hurts) throwing to a couple of top flight receivers in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.
The Philadelphia Eagles averaged 27.2 points per game in 2024. That was good enough for 7th best in the NFL. When combined with a stingy Philly defense allowing a 2nd best 17.8 ppg, it’s easy to see why Kellen Moore’s offense has been so productive this season.
Wouldn’t you love to be Kellen Moore’s agent right now?
As more potential coaching candidates for the New Orleans Saints job keep saying, “No, Thanks!”, Kellen Moore’s price tag is rising by the day.
The Saints face a lot of problems on both sides of the football. Is Kellen Moore worth the money which current General Manager Mickey Loomis may feel compelled to offer him?
Based on how this team has overspent on the field, no one should be surprised if the Saints panic and overspend on hiring Kellen Moore to become the team’s new head coach.
Speaking of WhoDats, the Dallas Cowboys hired who???
On this week’s 29th anniversary of Dallas’ last appearance in the Super Bowl (January 28, 1996), the Cowboys surprised their loyal fans by announcing the team’s newest head coach last Friday evening.
Brian Schottenheimer was named the new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys.
The son of former NFL Coach-of-the-Year Marty Schottenheimer (Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns), the 51-year old coach was the Dallas Cowboys’ offensive coordinator in 2024.
The younger Schottenheimer’s most recent title of “Offensive Coordinator” was a misnomer.
The Cowboys’ former head coach, Mike McCarthy, was calling all of the plays utilizing off his unique (and very large) “Denny’s menu” card on the sidelines.
Dallas offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer was relegated to (effectively) being the team’s quarterback coach tasked with developing the Cowboys’ $60 million/year signal caller, Dak Prescott.
Unfortunately, Prescott was injured midway through last season and never returned to the line-up. After two straight 12-5 years, the 2024 Dallas Cowboys finished 7-10.
One year ago, the ever-optimistic Dallas Cowboys team owner (and season ticket cheerleader) Jerry Jones said he was going “All in” in 2024.
Though JJ never quite told the rest of us what “All in” meant, his team didn’t get the memo either based on their poor performance in 2024. Coach Mike McCarthy’s contract expired earlier in January and was not renewed.
More recently, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones did a nifty job of teasing fans with overtures about potential coaches like Bill Belichick, Deion Sanders, and other top names.
In the end, he promoted Brian Schottenheimer into the team’s head coaching hot seat.
Perhaps the latest Jerry Jones coaching hire will blossom into a terrific coach in Dallas and lead the team back to the top of the NFC in the coming years.
To do that, he will need better players at skilled positions on both offense and defense. Alas, the head coach doesn’t draft the players and sign free agents for the Cowboys.
Brian Schottenheimer’s boss (Jerry Jones) does that. Good luck at getting his boss away from the media microphones and keeping him out of the team’s locker room, too.
The 82-year old Dallas Cowboys’ ringmaster excels at one thing – bloviating.
Cowboys fans would prefer to have a nice quiet team owner who hires a quality management team to develop and operate a competitive NFL team.
Keep dreaming, Dallas Cowboys fans. Ol’ Jer is still your head coach.