Ranking the NFL's Head Coaching Hires - Tier List: What Grade do the Steelers, Giants, and more get?
For the fifth time in NFL history, there will be 10 head coaching changes in a single offseason, tying the record with the 2022, 2006, 1997, and 1978 offseasons.
Only two teams remain vacant at head coach: The Las Vegas Raiders and Arizona Cardinals.
Check out our article on the odds for the next Raiders coach, and for the next Cardinals coach on site.
That means that the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, New York Giants, Atlanta Falcons, Miami Dolphins, and Tennessee Titans have found their new man to lead each respective franchise moving forward.
Here's a look at the hirings and where each coach came from:
Bills: Joe Brady, promoted from OC to HC
Browns: Todd Monken, former Ravens OC
Steelers: Mike McCarthy, former Packers and Cowboys HC
Ravens: Jesse Minter, former Chargers DC
Giants: John Harbaugh, former Ravens HC
Falcons: Kevin Stefanski, former Browns HC
Dolphins: Jeff Hafley, former Packers DC
Titans: Robert Saleh, former Niners DC and Jets HC
We'll give our input on each hiring and rank them on a tier-list below:
Grade | Team/Coach |
A | Titans/Robert Saleh, Ravens/Jesse Minter, Giants/John Harbaugh |
B | Bills/Joe Brady, Dolphins/Jeff Hafley, Falcons/Kevin Stefanski |
C | Steelers/Mike McCarthy |
D | |
F | Browns/Todd Monken |
In the ultimate team sport where coaching matters the most, NFL teams can turn their programs around in a heartbeat if they hire a stud at head coach.
In the 2025 offseason, three teams hit home runs with their hires: the Chicago Bears with Ben Johnson, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Liam Coen, and the New England Patriots with Mike Vrabel.
All three teams qualified comfortably for the playoffs, and Vrabel's Patriots are in the Super Bowl, after they were all projected to miss the postseason coming into the season in oddsmakers' eyes.
A-Tier (Titans, Ravens, Giants)
Tennessee Titans
The Titans hit a home run with the addition of Niners' defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. Combined with the hiring of Brian Daboll at OC to help out second-year quarterback Cam Ward, Tennessee looks to be set with their coaching staff for the foreseeable future.
The Niners defense completely overperformed their talent level last year, especially when considering the injuries to stars Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Tatum Bethune, Mykel Williams, and more.
As the Jets head coach, Saleh led the unit to the 4th-ranked defense in 2022 in terms of yards allowed per game, 3rd place in 2023, and were 2nd in five games in 2024 before he was fired.
The Titans have plenty of talent leftover on defense that includes Jeffery Simmons and T'Vondre Sweat in the middle of the defensive line and a good linebacking corps (which could also add Arvell Reese in the draft). If Saleh has similar success as he did with the Jets, the Titans will be a top-five defense in no time.
That leaves the offensive side of the ball to figure out. Luckily, they have an extremely talented young QB that has shown flashes of stardom, and a young O-line that should continue to get better.
The hiring of Daboll at OC could work wonders for an offense that ranked 31st in yards per game. Receivers Elic Ayomanor and Chimere Dike had promising rookie seasons, and Tennessee has tons of cap and draft picks to bolster the roster this offseason.
Baltimore Ravens
Speaking of terrific defensive minds, the Ravens have picked up the next young defensive genius. Coming from the Harbaugh/Michigan tree that includes former coordinators Mike Macdonald and Wink Martindale, Minter is next up.
The Chargers defense has been elite the past two seasons with Minter, even with the lack of a true No. 1 pass rusher and a shutdown corner on that side of the ball.
In 2024, L.A. had the No. 1 scoring defense, and in 2025, they finished No. 9 in the same stat, and No. 5 in yards allowed per game.
Minter will fix the issue that the Ravens have had over the past few seasons: inconsistent defense. Baltimore had a tendency to be very hot or very cold defensively with Zach Orr at DC.
Minter runs a complicated zone-heavy defense which passes off receivers entering and exiting each zone flawlessly. The Chargers finished in the top-eight in interceptions in each 2024 and 2025, demonstrating the ability to confuse quarterbacks and create game-changing takeaways.
With Lamar Jackson at QB, and Todd Monken out as OC, the offense should be explosive next year to pair with a sound defense.
New York Giants
The hiring of Super Bowl winning head coach John Harbaugh should provide stability to an organization that has cycled through plenty of head coaches and quarterbacks recently.
While Harbaugh won't call the plays on defense or offense unlike the majority of these coaches, his consistent success in Baltimore shows that he knows how to lead a team on gameday.
Harbaugh has also had experience with a young, talented quarterback in the form of Lamar Jackson, and he'll have a chance to help develop Jaxson Dart in New York.
Dart, Cam Skattebo, and Malik Nabers have all shown that they can be one of the best at their respective positions if all goes right. The vacant offensive coordinator position will be an important hire to try and get the most of those guys.
Former Ravens defensive backs coach and Titans DC Dennard Wilson will lead the defense. He has experience with a big defensive line in Tennessee, and should make the secondary better next year.
B-Tier (Bills, Dolphins, Falcons)
Buffalo's hiring of Joe Brady, Miami's hiring of Jeff Hafley, and Atlanta's pickup of Kevin Stefanski land each team in the B-tier.
The Brady and Hafley hiring are risky: they have a chance to become terrific head coaches right away, but it wouldn't be surprising if both also fail quickly.
Buffalo Bills
Brady has steadily improved his offensive gameplan and process ever since his disastrous stint with the Carolina Panthers in 2020-2021. He became the Bills' OC in 2024 and led them to the best rushing offense in the league last season.
It's been reported that Josh Allen had plenty of say in the hiring process, and this hire makes it clear that Allen likes playing for him. It's a bit of an unexpected hire after owner Terry Pegula stated that he wanted a new voice in the organization to lead them, but that whole press conference was odd anyways.
Brady may have more power over the roster that lacks offensive talent outside of Allen, James Cook, and Khalil Shakir. No offense to Tyrell Shavers, Brandin Cooks, Keon Coleman, Josh Palmer, and Curtis Samuel, but that isn't exactly the most exciting receiving corps out there. Brady should advocate to surround Allen with better targets.
It will be interesting to see if the defense regresses in a major way without Sean McDermott leading it, and the search for an elite defensive coordinator will be tough.
Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins chose to go with a defensive coordinator who also overperformed expectations in Green Bay.
While the Green Bay front-seven is terrific, the talent in the secondary left much to be desired last year, but Hafley made the most of it.
The Packers ranked No. 11 in points allowed per game, and limited quarterbacks to 6.5 yards per pass (7th). Hafley is smart and has shown that he's able to create gameday-specific plans based on the opponent they're playing, instead of being stuck-up in his own ways.
The hiring of Hafley also makes Miami a top destination for Packers free agent quarterback Malik Willis who performed well when Jordan Love was injured. For a QB-needy team, the potential of Willis will be hard to pass up.
Hafley had prior head coaching experience at the collegiate level when he went 22-26 at Boston College in four seasons from 2020-2023.
Atlanta Falcons
Atlanta chose to go with former Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski to lead their club.
Stefanski, an offensive mind, had a couple of 11-win seasons (2020 with Baker Mayfield, and 2023 with Joe Flacco) in Cleveland, but a combined 8-26 record over the past two seasons led to his demise.
He'll have a chance to rejuvenate his career in Atlanta where the offense could be special. Drake London, Bijan Robinson, and Kyle Pitts (if re-signed) is an elite group of weapons for third-year QB Michael Penix Jr.
It will be Stefanski's job to develop Penix Jr. into the star he could be. MPJ has dealt with a litany of injuries, but he's shown some promise in the games he's been fully healthy, with his arm strength and accuracy being his best traits.
Going from the defensive-minded Raheem Morris to Stefanski is definitely an upgrade and makes more sense for a team with young, budding, offensive players.
Baker Mayfield's recent quote in which he posted "still waiting on a text/call from [Stefanski] after I got shipped off like a piece of garbage. Can't wait to see you twice a year, Coach" on X may make fans uncomfortable with the upcoming Stefanski/Penix Jr. relationship, and only time will tell if the two get along.
C-Tier: (Steelers)
The hiring of Mike McCarthy was definitely not the Steelers' fans top choice, but his prior success with the Packers and Cowboys made Art Rooney and co. comfortable.
McCarthy was out of football last year, giving him a chance to calibrate the league and examine modern tendencies from a broad point of view. The Super Bowl winning head coach with Green Bay announced that he will indeed be calling the plays next year on offense which is interesting.
McCarthy's offenses have never been eye-poppingly creative or dynamic, but they have, at the very least, been consistent. How much of it was lifted by the play of Aaron Rodgers and Dak Prescott, however, is unmeasurable.
Rodgers has yet to make up his mind about retirement or if he wants to return to Pittsburgh, and former sixth-round pick Will Howard may be on deck to lead the Steelers' offense next year.
Howard hasn't played a single snap in the NFL, but coaches and media in Pittsburgh have raved about his play. A mobile, 6'4, 235lb, strong-armed quarterback certainly has potential, and it may be up to McCarthy to unlock it.
McCarthy isn't a bad hire, but there were definitely some better candidates on the board (Brian Flores, and Klint Kubiak to name a couple).
F-Tier (Browns)
In quite the shocker, the Browns chose to go with Todd Monken to lead their team moving forward.
This could turn out to be quite the miserable hire as the Ravens offense, especially in the playoffs, hasn't been as explosive as some may think with Jackson, Derrick Henry, and more on that side of the ball.
A younger offensive mind would've made more sense here to work with Shedeur Sanders (or Dillon Gabriel). Monken turns 60 years old in a week, becoming the eighth coach in NFL history to coach his first ever game as the head man at 60 years or older.
He's an offensive coordinator that theortically wants to establish a run game, but at moments, abandons it at the worst time (i.e. Ravens/Chiefs AFC Championship where Jackson was the leading carrier with eight carries).
He did help Jackson turn into the absolute superstar he is today, but that would've happened with anybody at OC.
Andrew Berry and co. have quietly done a nice job building the team through the trenches, but this feels like a mistake, when considering there were brighter offensive minds on the market.
