Ben Johnson decided last offseason to come back to the Detroit Lions for another season as their offensive coordinator, putting off becoming an NFL head coach for another year.
He has to look around and wonder if he should keep waiting.
If you’re Johnson, Aaron Glenn, Brian Flores, Liam Coen, Kliff Kingsbury or any other top candidate in this cycle, the options are not great. There were six openings as of Thursday, and every single one has serious drawbacks. That’s generally the issue with teams that have an opening at head coach. In most cases, those teams were bad enough that it led to them firing their head coach. This particular cycle looks especially bad for Johnson or any other coach looking for a good landing spot over the long term.
The teams with openings can sell that they have one of 32 head coaching jobs, and that’s about it.
What’s the best opening this cycle? The answer could be none of them.
Each of the six openings should give a reason for pause for a candidate not wanting to jump into a bad situation:
Chicago Bears: The Bears have something to sell, and that’s Caleb Williams. Williams is no sure thing after an up-and-down rookie season, but let’s assume a candidate believes the top pick of the 2024 NFL Draft is a future star. The rest of the franchise isn’t good. The team hasn’t won a Super Bowl in almost four decades.
The organization’s structure at the top, with team president Kevin Warren trying to add to his power within the franchise and general manager Ryan Poles being in a seemingly tenuous situation, isn’t good. Ownership has gotten it wrong for a long time. Bears chairman George McCaskey said this week about the importance of alignment between GM and head coach, “I don’t think that’s a factor.” That was an alarming statement, and also one that makes it easier to figure out why ownership has failed so many times. Also, you’d be entering a division that had three playoff teams this season. It won’t be easy. Yes, Williams’ potential is enticing. But there’s a lot of other red flags.
New England Patriots: Of the six openings, is there a worse roster situation outside of quarterback than New England? Probably not.
Like the Bears, the Patriots can sell Drake Maye and his future. It’s also a team that’s 8-26 the past two years because the roster is poor. The front office is seemingly going to be back, and that’s another issue potential candidates have to consider. Overall this might be the best of the six openings because of Maye and recent championship success with the organization that is dimming but still gives hope that there can be a rebound soon. A lot of improvement needs to happen for the Patriots to get back to respectability, with a franchise owner who just fired a coach for a 4-13 season with a terrible roster.
New Orleans Saints: The Saints have a roster that is aging in key spots, a less-than-ideal quarterback situation and a salary-cap mess that the team keeps putting off fixing. New Orleans is an estimated $64.5 million over the cap for 2025, according to Spotrac. That’s by far the worst situation in the NFL.
New Orleans is coming off a 5-12 season and it doesn’t look like there’s a realistic path to a quick turnaround. Does that sound like an enticing opening for a coach with options?
Las Vegas Raiders: Whoever the Raiders hire will be their fifth coach in five seasons, counting interims. The Raiders seemed indecisive in delaying a bit in firing Antonio Pierce, then general manager Tom Telesco. Team owner Mark Davis hasn’t had a clear plan on how to get the Raiders out of the rut they’ve been in for decades. The roster is poor, with no answer at quarterback and no obvious path to find a good one. Perhaps firing Telesco will appeal to a coach who doesn’t want a forced relationship with a general manager. But there’s not much else to sell. And the situation includes having to coach against Andy Reid, Jim Harbaugh and Sean Payton in the division for the foreseeable future.
The Raiders have made just two postseason appearances and haven’t won a playoff game since the end of the 2002 season. It’s a bad franchise and given the strength of the AFC West, it’s going to be tough to turn it around.
Jacksonville Jaguars: This probably would be a good opening due to a low bar for the franchise and some stability at quarterback with Trevor Lawrence. But the Jaguars shocking the NFL by retaining general manager Trent Baalke might make that job less appealing. Shad Khan has the reputation of being an absentee owner, and his decision to not clean house in the front office as well as the coaching staff is furthering that reputation.
If a candidate can overlook Baalke, a losing tradition (the Jags have had double-digit losses in 11 of 14 seasons) and a roster that went 4-13 last season, it might be a decent situation.
New York Jets: Are you going to coach for the team owner who reportedly is listening to his son’s advice that’s based on Madden ratings? There’s a reason the Jets have the longest playoff drought in major American sports, at 14 years. The Jets went all-in for the 2024 season with Aaron Rodgers and came up short. That will hurt the roster for a while. The new regime will either have to clean up the mess after Rodgers leaves or figure out how to work with him as he turns 42 years old. And if Rodgers isn’t the quarterback next season, who is? Usually when a team is facing a roster teardown it’s after a little bit of success; the Jets will be rebuilding after not making the playoffs for 14 straight seasons. And the new coach will be navigating all of that in an unforgiving market.
The right coach can turn any bad situation into a good one if everything breaks right. The Houston Texans might have been the worst franchise in the NFL when they hired DeMeco Ryans. He and new quarterback C.J. Stroud turned everything around immediately. But there are no sure things in this cycle. No matter who gets hired where, they’ll have a ton of work to do.
