Ranking NFL Head Coach Openings: Post-John Harbaugh pecking order, replacing Mike Tomlin, and predicting top jobs for McDaniel, Stefanski

How attractive is your team to prospective head coaches?

Easton Freeze — Tennessee Titans Beat Writer
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The NFL regular season concluded over a week ago, and there are still a whopping eight head coach openings to fill. That’s a quarter of the league! We have completely lost our minds when it comes to coaching hiring and firings in today’s NFL if you ask me, but that’s a conversation for another day. Today’s conversation is about ranking the attractiveness of the eight jobs being interviewed for as we speak.

The New York Giants got the party started when they hired former Ravens head coach John Harbaugh after an intensive day-long meeting with him on Wednesday. This sounded the starting pistol for the hiring derby, and with the January 19th embargo on in-person interviews for currently employed coaching candidates on the horizon, I expect the rest of the dominoes to start falling pretty soon. But just how attractive are these jobs? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and each person’s list largely depends on which categories matter most to them. Is it QB or bust? Secure, trustworthy infrastructure? A roster that’s prepared to win now?

Here’s my rankings of the openings left to fill, plus where I felt the Giants fit into the equation:

Ranking NFL head coach openings in 2026

1. Baltimore Ravens

  • Quarterback: Lamar Jackson
  • General Manager: Eric DeCosta
  • Ownership: Steve Bisciotti
  • Effective Cap Space: $2,721,382
  • 1st 2026 Draft Pick: 14th overall

There’s just no way to argue that the Ravens aren’t the best job. They have by far the best QB situation waiting for their next coach, as well as a supporting roster stuffed full of talent. Ownership is stable and well-regarded, and the front office operation is arguably tops in the league. They’re also not a franchise that’s afraid to be patient. I’d be shocked to see any other job atop a candidate’s preferences.

2. New York Giants

  • Quarterback: Jaxson Dart
  • General Manager: Joe Shoen
  • Ownership: The Mara Family
  • Effective Cap Space: -$11,062,801
  • 1st 2026 Draft Pick: 5th overall

The Giants landed the belle of the ball in Jim Harbaugh, which makes a lot of sense considering how I believe they were the second best job on the market. Ownership is, if anything, too patient. They have serious talent on the roster and a high draft pick. And there really is something to being the head coach of the most popular team in the most important city in the world. Their GM situation is a big question mark, but Harbaugh will be perfectly capable of boxing him out if need be. And I consider the QB situation to be a question mark too, but plenty of people believe in Dart after his rookie year.

3. Tennessee Titans

  • Quarterback: Cam Ward
  • General Manager: Mike Borgonzi
  • Ownership: Amy Adams Strunk
  • Effective Cap Space: $75,528,947
  • 1st 2026 Draft Pick: 4th overall

I think the Titans are the third best opening because of Cam Ward, Mike Borgonzi, and the immense war chest they have to use. They have more money than they know what to do with in free agency and a strong draft setup, so this is a blank slate ready to be molded. Plenty around the league are very bullish on the idea of tying themselves to Cam Ward after what he fought through as a rookie. The downside risk here is obvious: ownership, stability, and the ability to compete right away. Ward could provide a year 2 bump that jumpstarts this franchise’s ascent, but odds are you won’t be a serious contender immediately. If you believe in Borgonzi and Ward though, as many have good reason to do, this job is glimmering with opportunity.

4. Pittsburgh Steelers

  • Quarterback: ???
  • General Manager: Omar Khan
  • Ownership: Art Rooney II
  • Effective Cap Space: $36,250,449
  • 1st 2026 Draft Pick: 21st overall

The Steelers job is a combination of some of the highest highs and lowest lows. On one hand, you can take this job with practically zero fear of not being given a long enough runway. The Steelers have had fewer head coaches since their inception than there have been Popes!

They last fired a coach nearly 6 decades ago. A job doesn’t get more secure and stable than this.

So you can rest assured you’ll be given the time and flexibility to figure it out. That’s worth it’s weight in gold when ranking the desirability of a job. So why fourth? Because most everything else is really dreary. The QB situation is a mess, has been for nearly a half-decade, and the path to fixing it is entirely unclear. They once again have a poor draft position, and this roster is aging quickly. It’s time for a full reset in Pittsburgh. Luckily, that organization will give you the chance to see it through.

5. Atlanta Falcons

  • Quarterback: Michael Penix (?)
  • General Manager: ???
  • Ownership: Arthur Blank
  • Effective Cap Space: $14,482,851
  • 1st 2026 Draft Pick: 48th overall

The Falcons are a QB away from being a really, really sexy job. They just uprooted their entire leadership structure, starting with Matt Ryan as the new President on the football side and working their way down the hiring ladder. The new coach will be married to the timeline of the new GM, which is always better than the alternative. And on both sides of the ball, this team has really high end and/or promising young talent. Michael Penix is a serious question mark after his second season, though, and their offseason war chest is lacking. No first round pick this April in Atlanta thanks to the last GM’s aggressiveness!

6. Las Vegas Raiders

  • Quarterback: Geno Smith (Fernando Mendoza)
  • General Manager: John Spytek
  • Ownership: Mark Davis
  • Effective Cap Space: $64,737,901
  • 1st 2026 Draft Pick: 1st overall

The Raiders are as blank a slate as you’ll find on this list. With the first overall pick, they’re widely expected to select Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza. So if you love the idea of having your timeline married to him, this job looks pretty nice. They have young talent on offense in Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty, but this roster needs serious work (especially if they lose a seemingly disgruntled Maxx Crosby soon). They have a ton of cap space to work with too, but the other hang up for me is that this seems like a buddy situation at the top between Tom Brady and GM John Spytek. Whoever takes this job has to understand that they’re liable to be the third wheel in important moments.

7. Miami Dolphins

  • Quarterback: ???
  • General Manager: Jon-Eric Sullivan
  • Ownership: Stephen Ross
  • Effective Cap Space: -$38,480,719
  • 1st 2026 Draft Pick: 11th overall

This Dolphins job is a bit of a mess. I like their new GM Jon-Eric Sullivan, who has been a top candidate for one of these jobs for a couple cycles now. He comes highly recommended, and having your timeline tied to him will be important since this is a rebuild situation in my opinion. The Tua era is over. So you have a very expensive discarded QB to deal with, on top of finding a suitable alternative quickly. The cap situation is not pretty either. A couple nice, young pieces on this roster deserve to be mentioned, but a lot of work and a QB solution are needed to compete in an AFC East that’s clearly a two-horse race at the top for the foreseeable future.

8. Cleveland Browns

  • Quarterback: ???
  • General Manager: Andrew Berry
  • Ownership: Jimmy Haslam
  • Effective Cap Space: -$36,134,999
  • 1st 2026 Draft Pick: 6th overall

I projected the Browns to hire the kind of young, wide-eyed candidate who would take any job offered to them in my hiring predictions article here. That’s because I think this is a bottom-two job of the cycle for a variety of reasons. The upside exists, don’t get me wrong. You’re taking over a truly exciting defense and have a very nice draft setup thanks to another crappy season and last year’s trade with Jacksonville in the first round. But the cap situation needs addressing, the QB situation is a giant question mark, the organizational history couldn’t be uglier, ownership isn’t highly regarded, the offensive line is deteriorating, and you’re joining a GM whose timeline isn’t aligned with yours. Good luck!

9. Arizona Cardinals

  • Quarterback: ???
  • General Manager: Monti Ossenfort
  • Ownership: Michael Bidwill
  • Effective Cap Space: $9,414,300
  • 1st 2026 Draft Pick: 3rd overall

I think the Cardinals job is easily the worst of this season for a variety of reasons. Listing them is easy: crappy ownership, organization dysfunction and irrelevance, minimal cap space, and a mess of a QB situation (I think Kyler is as good as gone this offseason). What’s the sell? The roster isn’t actually in terrible shape and you have a high draft pick! But don’t forget the division this team is in. What’s the path for them to seriously contend for the incredible NFC West anytime soon?

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