Fire-Happy Teams Advised Against Clearing Way for Former Ravens HC

Front offices around the NFL are at an all-time antsy, a trend no one is noticing more than the league's head coaches.

Just a few days after the conclusion of the regular season, eight new top gigs have opened up, and that's before a single playoff game has been played. There's plenty of time remaining for postseason flameouts to encourage other front offices that they, too, should get in on the hunt for their next sparkly sideline leader, a pool of entrants that now includes the Baltimore Ravens' former man in John Harbaugh.

He's the biggest name on the market, the rare free agent coach directly coming off of a stint that lasted nearly two decades with a studded Super Bowl ring to show for his time in the NFL.

Baltimore Ravens Head Coach John Harbaugh — Dec 27, 2025; Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA; Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh prior to the game against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

A few available openings are believed to have opened up as a direct response to his headlining, and those around the league are warning executives of further embarking in such impulsive practices.

"A team would have to take a leap of faith to fire its current, sitting, active head coach to go make a move for John Harbaugh," ESPN insider Adam Schefter said. "I've spoken to teams. They've brought up that exact dilemma. It's hard to do...you've got to be willing to move on from your coach, period, separate from John Harbaugh."

Teams can’t and won’t fire their head coach specifically to hire coaching free-agent John Harbaugh, as explained below with @DanStanczyk:

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— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 8, 2026

"You can't fire your head coach to go hire John Harbaugh without even talking to him and knowing that you get him...he's on a fact-finding mission, and he wants to talk to everybody. and he would not commit to any one team."

Playing the Field

It helps Harbaugh's leverage that so many teams have decided to pull the trigger on a fresh coaching start, as he's got more teams to observe and monitor than there've been in years past. He's also contributed to that number, as Schefter heavily implied.

Luckily for the Ravens, such a dilemma can't exist for them. It was the team who decided that Harbaugh's time was up, as he was believed to have lost the locker room after years of accumulating disappointments. The Ravens' most recent loss, a blow of a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, ended their campaign short of the playoffs with Lamar Jackson at the helm for the first time ever.

While he makes his visits across the notably vacant posts around the country, Baltimore prepares for an entirely different brand of coach hunt. It's set on finding someone worthy and capable of maximizing the best version of next fall's mapped-out roster, a task that Harbaugh proved unfit for. But it would appear that, based on reported interest, the two parties could meet again on the field very soon.

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