Eight NFL groups employed new head coaches within the offseason and 14 groups are coming off playoff appearances, so most franchises are most likely completely content material with their HCs. However listed below are the ten head coaches who’re feeling extra warmth than their friends heading into the 2024 season.
The record seems in inverse order, from sizzling to the most popular seat:
10. Dave Canales | Carolina Panthers
First-year coaches should not belong on this record, however contemplating Carolina’s dysfunctional atmosphere beneath proprietor David Tepper, something is feasible. The Panthers are on their fourth head coach beneath the previous part-owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, together with their third prior to now three seasons. It could definitely be unprecedented within the trendy period, however we cannot put it previous Tepper to make it four-for-four.
9. Sean McDermott | Buffalo Payments
Buffalo’s late-season surge could have saved McDermott in 2023, nevertheless it’s honest to surprise what number of extra probabilities he’ll get with the Payments in the event that they proceed developing brief within the playoffs.
8. Mike Tomlin | Pittsburgh Steelers
The longest-tenured coach within the league (17 seasons), Tomlin has by no means had a shedding document. However the Steelers additionally have not received a playoff sport for the reason that 2016 season, the franchise’s longest streak since its first post-merger playoff look in 1972.
Change is inevitable within the NFL, even for a franchise that’s the mannequin of stability such because the Steelers (three HCs since 1969). If quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Justin Fields fail to snatch the offense and the workforce flounders, subsequent offseason is perhaps the proper time for the group to make a clear break and begin recent with a brand new regime.
7. Doug Pederson | Jacksonville Jaguars
In 2022, Pederson was hailed as a QB whisperer for his work in undoing the harm City Meyer did to Trevor Lawrence as a rookie. The Jaguars’ disappointing 2023 season (9-8, no playoffs) rained on his parade and probably turned the upcoming season right into a make-or-break one for the Eagles’ Tremendous Bowl LII-winning coach.
6. Brian Daboll | New York Giants
A Coach of the Yr contender in 2022, the wheels got here off for Daboll in Yr 2 with the Giants. Quarterback Daniel Jones regressed and the job bought even more durable this offseason when operating again Saquon Barkley left in free company and joined the rival Eagles. Few anticipate the Giants to contend in 2024 — they’ve the longest odds (+1000) to win the NFC East, per Motion Community — nevertheless it’s laborious to see how Daboll can stand up to one other ugly season.
5. Nick Sirianni | Philadelphia Eagles
Halfway by means of the 2023 marketing campaign, the thought of Sirianni on the new seat would have been thought of absurd. In his first 45 video games as Eagles head coach, Sirianni went 33-12, together with a Tremendous Bowl look in 2022 and a 10-1 begin in 2023. Philadelphia self-destructed over its final six video games (together with the postseason), and Sirianni’s incapability to sort things raised issues. He wants a giant yr to quiet requires his job.
4. Matt Eberflus | Chicago Bears
The Bears are arguably essentially the most compelling workforce getting into the season. The entrance workplace retained Eberflus after two shedding seasons and a 10-24 document, giving him the primary crack at main rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, chosen No. 1 total in April’s NFL Draft. One other shedding season in Chicago might discover the workforce falling into the identical cycle it discovered itself in throughout its final two makes an attempt at creating a franchise quarterback.
Mitchell Trubisky went from John Fox to Matt Nagy in his first two seasons, whereas Justin Fields was coached by Nagy as a rookie earlier than the Bears employed Eberflus forward of his second yr. The cash poured into the roster over the previous two offseasons suggests the entrance workplace is able to contend, placing much more stress on the third-year head coach.
3. Dennis Allen | New Orleans Saints
Allen hit a milestone in his teaching profession in 2023, his first yr with a successful document (9-8) in 4 full seasons as an NFL head coach. The previous Raiders head man earned the gig in New Orleans for his distinctive work because the workforce’s defensive coordinator beneath Sean Payton, however his success main a protection hasn’t translated in a significant manner in his elevated position.
He made certainly one of his greatest choices since turning into Saints head coach this offseason in firing longtime offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael and hiring former 49ers passing sport coordinator Klint Kubiak to the place. If the offense, which completed 2023 ranked ninth in scoring (23.6 factors per sport), takes a step again, each might be on the way in which out.
2. Robert Saleh | New York Jets
Most coaches with Saleh’s manufacturing aren’t afforded as a lot time as he is loved with the Jets. He has an 18-33 document and no playoff appearances, however has largely been scapegoated by New York’s subpar quarterback play. Cracks fashioned this offseason with a scathing report from The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt and Dianna Russini on the Jets’ dysfunction, and a chasm could type if the workforce struggles once more.
1. Mike McCarthy | Dallas Cowboys
McCarthy is teaching for his job in 2024. The Tremendous Bowl XLV-winning coach of the Packers, getting into his fifth season with the Cowboys, is within the ultimate yr of his contract. It is troublesome to check him receiving an extension if Dallas comes up brief within the postseason once more beneath his watch.
Since his hiring in 2020, the Cowboys are 42-25, tied for the league’s fifth-best document throughout that span. Nonetheless, Dallas is 1-3 within the playoffs.
Former Patriots head coach Invoice Belichick was lately linked to the Cowboys. Ought to McCarthy falter, Jerry Jones should not waste a minute placing the 72-year-old again to work.
