allencook.png
Getty Images

The NFL coaching carousel of 2026 is moving at full speed. 

The New York Giants (former Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh) and Atlanta Falcons (former Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski) made their respective hires last week. Both the Miami Dolphins (Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley) and the Tennessee Titans (San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh) chose their new coaches on Monday while the Buffalo Bills created a coaching vacancy with the firing of Sean McDermott after nine seasons.

After all the action lately, there are now six vacancies left: the Arizona Cardinals, the Ravens, the Bills, the Browns, the Las Vegas Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Let's take a look at the biggest pro and con for all six jobs ahead of more coaching candidates becoming available after the AFC and NFC conference championship games this coming Sunday. 

Arizona Cardinals 

The best thing the Arizona Cardinals have going for them is their young trio of pass catchers in 2024 fourth overall pick wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. (23 years old), 2025 first-team All-Pro tight end Trey McBride (26 years old) and up-and-coming wide receiver Michael Wilson (25 years old). McBride broke the NFL's single-season catches record for a tight end with 126 in 2025, 10 more than Zach Ertz's 116, which held the top spot since 2018. Harrison Jr. is a blue chip prospect who somehow wasn't a featured element of former offensive coordinator Drew Petzing's offense the last two seasons, but there's still plenty of potential there. Wilson broke out in a big way in the second half of the 2025 season. From Weeks 11-18, only Los Angeles Rams All-Pro Puka Nacua (940) had more receiving yards than Wilson's 775.  

The biggest con here is management: Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort and owner Michael Bidwill. Since Ossenfort became Arizona's general manager in 2023, the Cardinals are 15-36, which is tied for the third-worst record in the NFL. Through three years, the only players Ossenfort has drafted that has really popped is Wilson and cornerback Garrett Williams, both of whom were third-round picks in Ossenfort's first draft back in 2023. Typically, a top-tier coaching candidate desires and needs organizational alignment from top to bottom. That usually requires having a general manager who comes in at the same time as him, something that won't appear to be the case here after three lackluster seasons. That doesn't make sense.

Now, let's talk about the owner. Bidwill's ownership received a D- grade in the NFL Player's Association 2025 team report cards, which was tied for the second-lowest grade among league owners with the Carolina Panthers' David Tepper. Only New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, who received an F, was graded more harshly. As an organization, in all facets, the Cardinals' cumulative team rank by the NFLPA team report cards was dead last for the 2025 season. Players' top concerns from the report included the need for an updated team practice facility, the need for better food/nutrition programs and better treatment for their families. Among players, Bidwill ranked 31st out of 32 owners for willingness to invest in facilities, 28th out of 32 for his contributions to a positive team culture and 27th out of 32 for his commitment toward building a competitive team.

What coach wants to walk into a situation with an uneven dynamic with an underachieving general manager and an owner who appears to cut corners instead of investing in his team? There's a reason the Cardinals haven't won a playoff game since the 2015 NFC divisional round. 

Baltimore Ravens

  • Biggest pro:  All-Pro-caliber talent at multiple key positions
  • Biggest con: Offensive and defensive lines both need makeovers

The allure for the Baltimore Ravens' opening is pretty straightforward: they have All-Pro-caliber talent at multiple key positions. Quarterback Lamar Jackson is a two-time NFL MVP and remains one of the league's best when healthy. 

Running back Derrick Henry is fresh off being the league's second-leading rusher with 1,595 yards in 2025. He's produced over 1,500 rushing yards, over 5 yards per carry and 15 rushing touchdowns in both seasons with Baltimore since 2024. Safety Kyle Hamilton, a 2025 first-team All-Pro, is the best player at his position in the entire NFL. Cornerback Marlon Humphrey, a two-time first-team All-Pro, was Pro Football Focus' seventh-highest graded corner with a 79.0 defensive grade in 2025, and linebacker Roquan Smith earned first-team All-Pro honors in both 2023 and 2024 before just a Pro Bowl selection in 2025. Punter Jordan Stout was the 2025 first-team All-Pro punter after his 44.9 net yards per punt ranked as the second-most in the NFL. 

The biggest issue for the Ravens is they need major work to be done on both of their lines in order to return to being one of the AFC's best going forward. Baltimore's offensive line allowed a quarterback pressure rate of 42.3% in 2025, the third-worst in the league ahead of only the Los Angeles Chargers (42.4%) and the Cleveland Browns (45.5%). The Ravens defensive front generated a quarterback pressure rate of just 31.7%, the fifth-lowest in the NFL, which is how they ended up with 30 sacks, tied for the third-fewest in the league in 2025. 

Even tougher is Baltimore doesn't have a ton of cap room to play with to fix those issues, just $5.1 million in projected effective cap space this offseason, according to OverTheCap.com. That presents the risk that the Ravens' ailing offensive line could lose three-time Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum in free agency this season, which would make an already glaring weakness even worse. 

Buffalo Bills 

  • Biggest pro: Offensive backfield (QB Josh Allen and RB James Cook) 
  • Biggest con: Newly promoted president of football operations/GM Brandon Beane

The biggest pro of the Bills' vacancy isn't surprising: it's their offensive backfield duo of 2024 NFL MVP quarterback Josh Allen and 2025 NFL rushing champion running back James Cook (1,621 rushing yards). Allen continues to be a dual-threat dynamo with his third consecutive season with 25-plus passing touchdowns and 12-plus rushing touchdowns in 2025. All other NFL quarterbacks in league history have zero such seasons combined.

The biggest con is Brandon Beane, the Bills' general manager who was promoted to president of football operations upon former coach Sean McDermott's firing this week. Just look at Beane's failure in providing capable talent at the wide receiver position. Keon Coleman, the first pick of the 2024 second round, was a healthy scratch multiple times in 2025 and was benched for both tardiness and "disciplinary reasons" this season. When on the field, Coleman fails to create consistent separation. Joshua Palmer (22 catches, 303 yards, zero touchdowns) didn't move the needle. Neither has Curtis Samuel. Allen's overtime deep ball interception in the playoff loss at the Denver Broncos was thrown to 32-year-old Brandin Cooks because that's the best deep threat he had at his disposal. Whiffs are also present at the cornerback position with Beane trading away 2022 first-round pick Kaiir Elam to the Dallas Cowboys in 2025, and 2025 first-round pick Maxwell Hairston was inactive for both of Buffalo's playoff games. 

It's unclear if there's a coaching candidate out there with juice like Liam Coen, who was able to convince Jacksonville Jaguars ownership to fire general manager Trent Baalke before taking their coaching job. However, anyone interviewing for this job ought to think about making the same appeal to Bills owner Terry Pegula. 

Cleveland Browns

  • Biggest pro: New single-season sacks record holder Myles Garrett
  • Biggest con: Cleveland is still struggling to find a franchise QB

The biggest pro of becoming the next coach of the Cleveland Browns is you get to coach five-time first-team All-Pro edge rusher Myles Garrett. Garrett is fresh off of rewriting the NFL's record books with 23.0 sacks in 2025, the most since sacks became an officially tracked individual statistic in 1982. He is currently on a run of five consecutive seasons with 14-plus sacks, the longest such streak ever. 

The con is the Browns' constant futility at finding a franchise quarterback. Deshaun Watson continues to lurk on the roster while recovering from a ruptured Achilles. Shedeur Sanders threw an NFL-most 10 interceptions since his league debut in Week 11 while completing the second-fewest rate of passes (57%) in that same span. Rookie third-round pick Dillon Gabriel lost the opportunity to start over Sanders last season. The Browns have cycled through an NFL-most 42 different starting quarterbacks since returning to the NFL in 1999, and it doesn't look like the person who can break this vicious cycle is currently on their roster. 

Las Vegas Raiders

  • Biggest pro: The ability mold the roster in their image with the Raiders' plentiful resources
  • Biggest con: Lack of job security 

The Las Vegas Raiders possess the ability to be one of the NFL's teams that could immediately turn things around in 2026 after earning the league's first overall draft pick with a 3-14 record in 2025. With the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Raiders have the ability to select Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the 2025 Heisman Trophy winner who helped lead his squad to a perfect 16-0 season that culminated with the program's first national championship. That's on top of the Raiders having a projected $67 million in effective cap space, the third-most in the NFL, according to OverTheCap.com. Having building blocks like Mendoza, 2025 sixth overall pick running back Ashton Jeanty, 2024 first-team All-Pro tight end Brock Bowers and five-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby in addition to all that cap space could lead to a massive Raiders rebound.

The fear here could be a lack of patience from majority owner Mark Davis and minority owner Tom Brady. Las Vegas has cycled through coaches since 2021 going from Jon Gruden (2018-2021) to Josh McDaniels (2022-2023) to Antonio Pierce (2023-2024) to Pete Carroll (2025). Outside of Gruden's firing for non-football reasons, Las Vegas hasn't had an issue moving on quickly from its coaches, pedigree or lack of time on the job be damned. There's plenty of pressure to ace this coming offseason and regular season in 2026 for a Raiders ownership group that demands immediate results. 

Pittsburgh Steelers

  • Biggest pro: High-floor organization that doesn't have losing seasons
  • Biggest con: Quarterback uncertainty 

The Pittsburgh Steelers are the NFL's most stable NFL franchise. They've gone 22 consecutive seasons without a losing record, the longest such streak in league history. Nineteen of those seasons came under the recently departed Mike Tomlin. Pittsburgh is also a loyal organization with just three coaches since 1969: Chuck Noll (1969-1991), Bill Cowher (1992-2006) and Tomlin (2007-2025). 

That type of stability helps create competent squads year after year. 

However, the Steelers don't have a starting quarterback or a clear path to go acquire one. Aaron Rodgers is 42 years old and repeatedly said Tomlin was the reason he came to Pittsburgh on a one-year contract. Whether he retires or not in 2026, he likely won't be back. Daniel Jones after tearing his Achilles, Rodgers and Green Bay Packers backup Malik Willis are the top free agents at football's most valuable position. Arizona Cardinals two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Kyler Murray could be available via trade, but he's played 12-plus games just once in the last four seasons. The 2026 NFL Draft has a shallow quarterback class, and the Steelers won't be able to trade up to the first overall pick to go get Fernando Mendoza. That makes doing battle with Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow a combined four times a season in the AFC North a difficult task.