NFL Head Coaching Vacancies Keep Growing—And What It Says About NFL

ORCHARD PARK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 18: Keon Coleman #0 of the Miami Dolphins and Head coach Sean McDermott of the Buffalo Bills react as they pose for a photo prior to an NFL football game against the Miami Dolphins at Highmark Stadium on September 18, 2025 in Orchard Park, New York. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)

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So far this season, there are 9 NFL teams that fired their head coach. One NFL head coach stepped down, and several offensive and defensive coordinators were let go. The 10 head coach openings in the NFL aren’t unprecedented, it happened in 2022, 2006, 1997, and 1978. What is unusual about this cycle is the broad spectrum of tenure of the vacated coaches, and for some, the timing.

The question is, why and where do the NFL teams go from here? As of this writing, five of the ten positions have been filled. We will get to that later. For now, let’s concentrate on the why and the who.

Who Was Fired (or) Resigned

The open head coaching positions:

As this is a fluid situation, here are the opening positions and a little about the team prospects going forward. Let’s do it from desirable to least desirable.

1. Baltimore Ravens: fired John Harbaugh after 18 years.

The AFC North division is in flux. Of the 10 vacancies, three came out of this division. Harbaugh was let go after the Ravens lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, which cost the team a trip to the playoffs.

Harbaugh had a regular-season record of 180-113 in his tenure with the Ravens. HE was 13-11 in the postseason. And with his team’s 12 playoff appearances and six AFC North titles, he also won Super Bowl XLVII.

**Ravens hired Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter for the head coaching position.

1. Buffalo Bills: fired Sean McDermott after nine years.

I am slightly reticent to put the Bills as a desirable place to work after the owner and GM’s press conference. But they still have quarterback Josh Allen, and that has to count for something, right?

1. Pittsburgh Steelers: Mike Tomlin steps down after 19 years.

The Steelers roster is a mess. They have no quarterback, their wide receiver room lacks depth, and their hallowed defense is aging rapidly.

However, they do have organizational stability, the 21st pick in the NFL 2026 draft with 12 total picks, and Spotrac has them listed with $65.4 million in cap space.

1. Las Vegas Raiders: Pete Carroll fired after one season

This is the Raiders’ fifth head coach in the last five years. This points to the opposite of

• Jon Gruden (2018-2021)
• Rich Bisaccla (interim, 2021)
• Josh McDaniels (2022-2023)
• Antonio Pierce (2023-2024)

organizational stability. While they don’t have a quarterback or an offensive line, they do have tight ends Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer, running back Ashton Jeanty, and (for now) defensive end Maxx Crosby.

The Raiders also hold the first pick of the 2026 NFL Draft, and potentially nine total picks with the expected compensatory picks added. In addition, the Raiders enter 2026 with the second most cap space ($92,085,290) according to Spotrac.com.

1. Cleveland Browns: Kevin Stefanski fired after six years

It’s hard to imagine that Stefanski was fired and general manager Andrew Berry retained ( see Buffalo Bills), yet here we are. It is also hard to pitch the Browns as being a desirable landing spot when Chris Shula, Jesse Minter, and Mike McDaniel have all removed themselves from consideration.

The Browns quarterback situation is a mess, their rookie running back Quinshon Judkins suffered a season-ending injury, their wide receivers are subpar, but they do have Myles Garrett, that’s something.

1. Arizona Cardinals: Jonathan Gannon fired after two years

The Cardinals’ quarterback situation is in flux, their running back situation isn’t much better, but they do have tight end Trey McBride and wide receivers Michael Wilson and Marvin Harrison Jr. The Cardinals have the third pick in the first round of the 2026 Draft and currently have six other picks. Spotrac has its cap space at a respectable $35.3 million.

However, what is not so great is ↴

Based on a 2023 NFL Players Association survey, the Arizona Cardinals are generally not considered a top-tier place to work, particularly for athletes, ranking 31st out of 32 teams. Reports indicated poor grades for facilities, including weight rooms and locker rooms, and noted a challenging, top-down culture.

Key findings regarding the workplace include:

• Poor Player Facilities: The team received failing grades for their weight room, training room, locker room, and family treatment.
• Questionable Policies: They were the only team in the NFL to deduct money from player paychecks for meals eaten at the facility.
• Troubling Culture: Reports from The Athletic described a workplace culture that had some employees feeling they were “working in fear” under a top-down management style.

The Why

As Mike Straw points out, firing NFL head coaches isn’t new. It is just that this recent purge is historic. And yes, “expectations are sky-high, patience is gone, and context rarely seems to matter”, so much so that teams are willing to pay coaches not to coach their teams.

Expectations v Reality

With the outcomes of Liam Cohen, Ben Johnson, and Mike Vrabel, organizations believe that a one-year turnaround is the norm. But what if these three are outliers and not the standard?

McDermott brought legitimacy to an organization that had not sniffed a playoff. Yet, his inability to get his team past the playoff round was not enough. Harbaugh, in 18 years, won a Super Bowl, and the Ravens were perennially in the playoff picture, but his inability to beat a Steelers’ squad in a game in which his tight end dropped a two-point conversion, and his rookie kicker missed the game-winning field goal, was the breaking point.

Yes, Gannon never produced a winning season in his two years as the Cardinals’ head coach. And okay, Raheem Morris’ Falcons squad underperformed with an above-par roster. So, where does that leave the standard?

The New York Jets retained first-year coach Aaron Glenn, whose roster was less than stellar, but his coaching mishaps did not help. Glenn now has a chance to make the roster into his ideal with two first-round picks in the 2026 NFL Draft and a projected $85.6 million in cap space per Spotrac. Glenn stayed. Carroll is gone. Which is the standard?

For the most part, the teams that have hired their new head coach are teams with the realistic expectations of seeing the turnaround that Cohen, Johnson, and Vrabel experienced this year. Their rosters almost all include a stable foundation of offensive weapons.

Positions Field/Coaches Hired

Baltimore Ravens: Hired Minter.

The Ravens have MVP quarterback Jackson, 1595 rushing yard back in Henry, and Kyle Hamilton on the defensive side.

New York Giants: Hired John Harbaugh.

The Giants have quarterback Jaxson Dart, running back Cam Skattebo, and a defense that underperformed with the talent on the roster.

Atlanta Falcons: Hired Kevin Stefanski.

Although the Falcons have a quarterback question, they also have running back Bijan Robinson and wide receiver Drake London to fortify their offense.

Tennessee Titans: Hired Robert Saleh.

The Titans have quarterback Cam Ward, tight end Chig Okonkwo, and rookie wide receivers Elic Ayonmanor and Chimere Dike. The defensive side is anchored by defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons.

Miami Dolphins: Hired Jeff Haley.

The Dolphins have a quarterback question, but also have running back De’von Achane and wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.

What Is It Saying About The League

With the boom of fantasy football and DFS, the NFL may protest that it is reality versus fantasy, but the win now, immediate reaction attitude suggests that it at least has its ear to the Madden, DraftKings, and fantasy football world.

The reality is that only one team wins the Super Bowl. There can only be one in reality and in fantasy. The outliers who boost the expectations are just that, outliers.

But the league, like the fantasy football and betting market, has become impatient. The NFL has always stood for “not for long”, but the time frame, accelerated by money and, in most cases, unattainable expectations, has fueled the need for change.

Most of the organizations should be careful what they wish for. Those that were perennial postseason players, the Bills, Steelers, and Ravens, have let go of those who made them postseason stalwarts for loftier expectations.

While the Raiders, Browns, Titans, and Giants are now expecting the turnaround of the Bears, Jaguars, and Patriots. It could get better, see the Patriots. It could get worse, see the Raiders. But what we do know is that the league, for the most part, no longer has the patience to ‘wait and see’. It demands immediate results, or changes will be made.

But consider this: Did the head coach construct the roster that pays a quarterback millions before he played a snap? Or did they lack quality players either on the offensive side or in the trenches to help a generationally talented quarterback? Is the head coach calling the plays?

Maybe what the firings say about the league is the superficial matters. The coach is the fall guy. Don’t look too closely behind the curtain because the wizard isn’t a wizard at all.

“He was swimming in a sea of other people’s expectations. Men had drowned in seas like that.”

― Robert Jordan, New Spring