A wild head coach hiring cycle is underway within the NFL, as 9 totally different groups have that function to fill forward of the 2026 NFL season.
The New York Giants made the primary transfer, hiring John Harbaugh simply days after he was fired by the Baltimore Ravens. When it was time for the second job to be crammed, the same path was adopted. An AFC North head coach was headed to the NFC, because the Atlanta Falcons employed Kevin Stefanski after he was let go by the Cleveland Browns.
These are the primary two strikes, however there can be extra. We’ll grade all of them as they arrive in.
New York Giants: John Harbaugh
When the preliminary job vacancies had been listed, the Giants’ job was one among our favorites on the open market. Solely when the Ravens parted methods with Harbaugh was New York pushed down the listing.
And when the Ravens parted methods with Harbaugh, it made him one of many extra enticing candidates on the open market.
To us, this seems like an ideal pairing. Greater than the rest, the Giants want stability on the head teaching place. Since Tom Coughlin’s final season, the 2015 marketing campaign, New York has cycled via 4 totally different head teaching choices.
Harbaugh would be the fifth.
Giants followers should not hoping to see a sixth anytime quickly.
Atlanta Falcons: Kevin Stefanski
As famous above, the Falcons have crammed their head teaching emptiness with a coach coming from the AFC North, as Atlanta is popping to Kevin Stefanski.
Just like the rent of Harbaugh, this can be a improbable transfer for each the coach, and the group.
The massive focus in Atlanta is maximizing the expertise on the offensive aspect of the soccer.
Enter Stefanski, a coach rooted on that aspect of the ball.
Consider the offensive expertise that Stefanski will get to work with in Atlanta: Bijan Robinson, Drake London, and Kyle Pitts give Stefanski an unimaginable trio of offensive weapons to construct round. Determining quarterback goes to be a giant a part of the equation, however Stefanski is a coach who can maybe get probably the most out of Michael Penix Jr., who can be working again from one other knee damage however entered the 12 months because the group’s beginning quarterback.
Miami Dolphins: Jeff Hafley
The Miami Dolphins have made their choice.
Inexperienced Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley has been one of many hottest names throughout this hiring cycle — he underwent interviews with seven groups and was set for a second spherical with each the Dolphins and the Titans — has agreed to turn into the subsequent coach of the Dolphins. This units up a reunion of kinds with incoming normal supervisor Jon-Eric Sullivan, as the 2 shared time in Inexperienced Bay.
The joy round Hafley this cycle is one cause for optimism in Miami, and the truth that Hafley constructed a robust protection in Inexperienced Bay is one other. Then there may be the truth that after parting methods with Mike McDaniel, the Dolphins have engineered the frequent teaching flip: Transfer to the opposite aspect of the soccer with the subsequent rent.
Nonetheless, there may be additionally cause for skepticism. That is Hafley’s first NFL head teaching job, and he went 22-26 as the top coach at Boston Faculty. And whereas he did construct a robust protection in Inexperienced Bay, he additionally had a number of first-round picks alongside the defensive entrance at his disposal together with Micah Parsons, after the group traded for him forward of the 2025 season.
So, cautious optimism is likely to be one of the best ways to really feel about this.
