Conor Orr Grades All 10 NFL Head Coaching Hires for 2026

Another NFL coaching carousel has come and gone. This season may have been one of the most surprisingly eventful of the past five years and led a handful of league sources to joke that we are never again to predict that a coaching cycle will be a snooze. Not in this modern climate which, motivated by the unfathomable chaos of college football, allows for more callousness and less loyalty than ever. Despite the lack of Big-Chair-Ready, play-calling offensive coordinators, this carousel provided a spark in different ways. Three of the league’s most tenured coaches were either fired or walked away on their own accord.

This created mass market chaos, the heroic wooing of several big-time candidates and situations where, down to the last moment, some candidates who got jobs were wondering whether the constant upheaval would yank the rug out from underneath them.

Grading these situations is always perilous. I’ll never escape the praise of Urban Meyer, the thumbs down on Doug Pederson to the Eagles or other guarantees that made me absolutely certain a coach would be a slam dunk hire, only to see them on the market again a year later.

That said, I think it’s a worthwhile exercise to praise the process and weigh the grades based on what we know about staffing so far, which may be a little unfair to the Raiders and Cardinals in particular, as their hires were just made official, or pseudo-official, this weekend.

But let’s grade all 10 new hires and rank them in grade order.

1. Baltimore Ravens

Jesse Minter, defensive coordinator, Los Angeles Chargers

Grade: A+

By all accounts, Jesse Minter was the crown jewel of this year’s class and the only candidate to have been requested by every single team with an opening. Since coming to the NFL in 2024 as Jim Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator, Minter’s defenses have posted the sixth-best opponent EPA per play, despite having one of the worst (and most injury prone) rosters of any team in the top 10. It’s not enough to be a top play-caller anymore; it’s about possessing the ability to download a roster, immediately build a team based on its strengths and craft a modern, top-down mentality that will get the team off and running. Baltimore clearly had eyes on Minter when the team decided to part ways with John Harbaugh and landed a coach who smashed a home run with his offensive coordinator hire, the Bears’ Declan Doyle, who has been on the fast track for years and spent an instrumental season under Ben Johnson in Chicago.

I give the Ravens a slight edge over the No. 2 Falcons because I think the hire has the highest ceiling.

2. Atlanta Falcons

Kevin Stefanski, former head coach, Cleveland Browns

Grade: A+

This was probably the cleanest, most down-the-middle fairway hit of the cycle. While I would have recommended Stefanski take a year off under normal circumstances, the Falcons’ job was too good to pass up. From moment one, we predicted the Falcons would move on the former Browns coach who, industry sources say, meshed incredibly well with Atlanta’s new president of football, Matt Ryan. Add in the new staff additions of Bill Callahan, the league’s most revered offensive line coach (alongside Jeff Stoutland) and new general manager Ian Cunningham, and Atlanta looks to be in a healthier place than it has been in years.

Stefanski takes over a job with a much better quality of life, in a division that will offer fewer headaches and with a roster more immediately ready to compete. Oh, and inheriting DC Jeff Ulbrich doesn’t hurt, either.

Another advantage is having Stefanski for a critical period of time in which the organization can fully evaluate Michael Penix Jr. and make a decision on moving forward with stellar quarterback draft classes on the horizon in 2027 and beyond.

3. Tennessee Titans

Robert Saleh, defensive coordinator, San Francisco 49ers

Grade: A-

Robert Saleh is a good head coach. Plain and simple. I understand the frustration of Jets fans who saw his tenure come and go without a playoff berth, but the team’s absolute plummeting that took place after his departure and the visceral reaction from players in the building that day spoke volumes about what he meant to that place. There was so much organizational cleanup that needed to take place before the Jets could take the next step, and the team was a last-minute drive away from beating an eventual 14-win Vikings team before Saleh was let go.

Anyway, the combination of Saleh; Brian Daboll as OC for a mobile-friendly, second-year quarterback in Cam Ward; and Gus Bradley (my prediction) at defensive coordinator is about as good as a team in Tennessee’s situation is going to do. Saleh can rev up a sleepy fan base and Daboll will make an offensive structure for Ward that accentuates his big-play ability.

While the 49ers’ defense lacked the blessing of the EPA crowd, San Francisco was fourth in Sports Info Solutions’s games lost (and points lost) to injury metric in 2025. And what we saw was that, even with a lack of healthy bodies, the 49ers maintained an identity. The Titans have been yearning for one since Mike Vrabel’s dismissal.

4. Las Vegas Raiders

Klint Kubiak, offensive coordinator, Seattle Seahawks

Grade: B+

I heard Kubiak was asking the right questions during this process and will come in with the No. 1 pick in the draft and substantial resources to build the roster. The main reason I am bullish on this hire is that the same reasons the “coach watching” community were presumably down on Kubiak were the exact same reasons Mike Macdonald slipped through the cracks two years ago. We can label someone as timid or soft-spoken, but those labels often come from a fundamental misunderstanding of the person. For what it’s worth, I’ve heard Kubiak is an “animal” on game day. This is the correct hire for a team in this position, with the only question being how hands-off ownership will be in allowing Kubiak to grow into the role.

Kubiak specializes in an incredibly attractive brand of football loaded with explosive plays. The Seahawks ranked third in the NFL this year in air yards per completion and air yards per passing attempt. You could argue that the Seahawks get more out of play-action than any team in the NFL (they utilize it far less than the Rams but are close in total yardage). To me, this is an olive branch not only to Ashton Jeanty, but to any quarterback who is coming onto the roster.

The Raiders opted for my favorite coaching search strategy: When you have one of the worst jobs, be patient. Wait out the Super Bowl teams and give yourself a pick of candidates that may have otherwise been spoken for in another season.

5. Buffalo Bills

Joe Brady, offensive coordinator, Buffalo Bills

Grade: B

A Joe Brady–Jim Leonhard combination is a winning formula. I think Leonhard, as DC, upgrades the defense from an attacking standpoint and can help change the identity of a unit that went stale under Sean McDermott. Enough so, at least, that maintaining the status quo on offense raises the bar to the point where we can label this a success.

I think we can agree that the Bills wound up in a good place despite hating the process. The search felt rushed, wonky and, to be frank, not nearly as comprehensive as it needed to be given how premium the job appears from the outside looking in. This is a top fan base with increased investment in facilities and a quarterback who has actual superpowers. I still think a more established sitting head coach would have sawed his arm off to push through a potential trade.

I am worried, ultimately, about how center-stage Josh Allen was placed during this process and the trend now of quarterbacks wanting to sit in on head coaching interviews and offensive coordinator interviews. Anyone curious about the pitfalls of bringing the franchise quarterback over to management should ask the Legion of Boom Seahawks about the result of those decisions.

We can—and should—have a discussion about the Big Brother–type press conference that took place in the wake of McDermott’s firing, which lends the job a bit of a strange feel given how clearly the structure is outlined. In short, when the owner is this aligned with the general manager and the general manager can bypass fault for certain mistakes despite there being a record of his thoughts to the contrary, you’d better have some finesse as a head coach.

John Harbaugh holds a Giants helmet during a press conference. — John Harbaugh landed in New York after 18 seasons with the Ravens. | Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

6. New York Giants

John Harbaugh, former head coach, Baltimore Ravens

Grade: B-

I would imagine that Harbaugh will land atop many of these lists, and for good reason. He is one of the winningest coaches in NFL history and has a Super Bowl under his belt. So, why does he land at No. 6 on our list? I think it’s fair to point out that the multitude of people comparing his hiring to Andy Reid’s move from Philadelphia to Kansas City are failing to note that Reid has always been one of the brightest and most malleable offensive minds in football.

Harbaugh comes to the Giants without his offensive coordinator, Todd Monken, who was just named head coach of the Browns. Monken was a big selling point for me as a kind of VP on the Harbaugh ticket, as I think he would have been perfect for Jaxson Dart. Instead, the Giants have to go on a “what’s left” search for their OC, which, while scanning some promising candidates, runs into the central issue of this coaching search to begin with: There’s not a ton of ace play-callers out there. While I refuse to rest on the trope of why teams rarely hire special teams coaches, I think it’s important to acknowledge that we are getting Harbaugh without one of the best front offices—if not the best front office—in the NFL and without Monken.

Two things can be true: Harbaugh can raise the floor of this organization immediately to eight wins. He could also float there if he doesn’t nail the next part of the process.

7. Pittsburgh Steelers

Mike McCarthy, former head coach, Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys

Grade: B-

I defended the McCarthy hire because, at the end of the day, I want to challenge people who considered the Harbaugh hiring or, before that, Sean Payton’s second act, as some guarantee of success while mocking McCarthy every time he interviewed. My main issue with this hiring is that McCarthy is 62 and this Pittsburgh roster is in need of some serious attention and long-term vision. McCarthy is a stable hand on the wheel who almost never has bottom-out seasons and could be a cog in maintaining or upgrading the quarterback position in Pittsburgh.

That said, in exploring the post–Mike Tomlin era, the Steelers are also looking out at a vastly different NFL than the one they inherited when hiring Tomlin in the first place. McCarthy feels like a short-term answer to help Pittsburgh maintain respectability, with likely only one slot—offensive coordinator—containing a potential in-house successor. Again, a B- is great. Some of us (raises hand) made it all the way through school attaining this mark with Tomlin-like consistency. It’s hard not to tie this hire with the one the Ravens made, which is undeniably a push to get younger and deeper into the next evolution of the NFL. McCarthy, by his own admission, has studied the game during his gap years but hasn’t often lived up to his self-made claims of becoming more analytical, for example.

8. Cleveland Browns

Todd Monken, offensive coordinator, Baltimore Ravens

Grade: C+

I think that if we’re dinging Todd Monken for an inability—perceived or otherwise—to fully connect with Lamar Jackson, we would have to also examine every other coach who has had that label heaped on him. Jackson, for many understandable reasons, is slow to trust. Despite this, Monken empowered Jackson like no professional coach ever has. He oversaw what should have been back-to-back MVP seasons and allowed Jackson to paint with the entire canvas, changing the way the NFL is using quarterbacks with both mobility and arm talent in the process.

Last year, I would have viewed Monken as a strong hire and challenged myself to remember this when placing it into the proper context in 2026. Cleveland’s hiring process felt a bit out of sorts, and there’s still the matter of whether Jim Schwartz will return as the defensive coordinator and how willing he will be to coexist with a head coach who got the job instead of him.

I can both like what Monken will bring as a play-caller and be skeptical of how he will fit into the organizational flow. And perhaps that is why the hire is all the way down at No. 8. Is what Monken brings at age 59 offering a higher ceiling than Stefanski would have if he were allowed the time and space to reshape the offense in a post–Deshaun Watson era?

9. Miami Dolphins

Jeff Hafley, defensive coordinator, Green Bay Packers

Grade: C

These last two coaches suffer from my inability to separate their hires from the organizations’ decisions to create a vacancy in the first place, or generally the organizations’ decisions to hire a certain type of candidate despite where they are from a roster standpoint. I hope that those taking in one small snippet of this article can broaden their attention spans enough to realize that all of these coaches are deserving, but some of them may be getting shoehorned into a round hole despite their four perfectly symmetrical corners.

I really like the way the Dolphins have staffed up to this point. Bobby Slowik had legitimate head coaching aspirations two years ago but was sideswiped by a quarterback regression in Houston. Down the stretch in 2025, he played an increasingly important role in supporting Mike McDaniel from the booth and sees the game similarly to the gifted offensive coach, now the offensive coordinator of the Chargers. Nathaniel Hackett is an excellent addition to any quarterback room, which he has proved historically beyond his association with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay.

Hafley will bring a CEO mentality to the fold, and it’s clear when hearing him talk that he serves as a kind of oratory counterpoint to his predecessor, McDaniel. Having been a skilled college head coach, I think he’ll connect with players in a different way, but could end up being more successful in holding them accountable. My concerns are twofold: One is that the Packers’ defense fell apart in the absence of Micah Parsons, posting the 28th best EPA per play allowed in the NFL. Against playoff or borderline playoff teams in 2025, the Packers held only the pre-coordinator-change Lions and pre-coordinator-change Eagles to fewer than 20 points.

The C grade feels harsh, but this is mainly because the Dolphins missed the chance to capitalize on another one of my favorite coaching maneuvers: When hiring a new general manager, allow that GM a season to work with the existing coaching staff if there is upside. Jon-Eric Sullivan comes from an organization skilled at feeding players into a system mastered by Matt LaFleur and adjacent to the system run by McDaniel. I would have liked to see the pair collaborate with a quarterback other than Tua Tagovailoa before deciding to part ways. Instead, there is a good chance McDaniel will be a Tier 1 head coaching candidate next year. Why allow that candidate to leave the building?

10. Arizona Cardinals

Mike LaFleur, offensive coordinator, Los Angeles Rams

Grade: D+

Again, when this ranking is discussed, I hope we can separate my letter grade from my individual thoughts on Mike LaFleur, who was on my list of ascending head coach candidates in 2025. LaFleur’s track record as a play-calling offensive coordinator with the Jets was far better than he’s been given credit. Ranking in the top half of the league in rushing success rate was no small feat with that roster, and his EPA per play over that span was better than a Ravens team that got 24 games out of Lamar Jackson. I would guess that his dismissal from that role was more an act of organizational impatience than a reflection of his job performance.

Hiring assistants off the Rams’ tree has been a remarkably successful strategy. Sean McVay has now produced Matt LaFleur, Kevin O’Connell and Liam Coen.

My concern—and the reason for the D+ grade—is that the Cardinals are not in a position to plug and play a rising coordinator and find success. While LaFleur is steeped in the division, I fear the Cardinals may have become too enamored with mirroring the Rams’ success and less about figuring out what coach can come in and be a galvanizing force for a roster that has underperformed its billing to this point. This is a gig for a force of personality who can overcome deficiencies above the head coach and general manager positions.

Specifically, I’ve outlined how successful Vance Joseph was at combatting the NFC West’s best offensive minds while the defensive coordinator of the Cardinals, and at developing a new perspective after dealing with similar difficulties in Denver as a head coach. Raheem Morris, another finalist for this job, may have also had a better vantage point for attacking a gig that needs far more than an improved scheme. This job was better suited for a coach with experience who can schematically weather the cutthroat nature of his division and develop all corners of the building.