Ben Johnson chose to return to the Detroit Lions as their offensive coordinator last offseason, delaying his chance to become an NFL head coach for another year.
He might now be wondering if he should keep waiting.
If you’re Johnson, Aaron Glenn, Brian Flores, Liam Coen, Kliff Kingsbury, or any other top coaching candidate this year, the options aren’t very appealing. As of Thursday, there were six head coach openings, and each of them comes with significant challenges.
This is often the case when a team has an opening for a head coach, as those teams were usually bad enough to fire their previous coach. This year, it seems especially tough for coaches looking for a good long-term position.
The teams with openings can only offer one of 32 head coaching jobs, and that’s about it.
None of the six openings are very appealing. Which opening is the best? It might be none of them.
Each of the six openings presents reasons for candidates to hesitate before jumping into a bad situation:
Chicago Bears: The Bears have Caleb Williams to offer, but after a rocky rookie season, it’s still uncertain how successful he will be. The rest of the team isn’t very good, and the Bears haven’t won a Super Bowl in nearly 40 years.
The team’s leadership isn’t stable either, with President Kevin Warren trying to gain more power and General Manager Ryan Poles facing an uncertain future. Ownership has made poor decisions for a long time.
Bears chairman George McCaskey even said this week that the relationship between the GM and head coach isn’t important, which is concerning. On top of that, the Bears are in a division with three playoff teams, making it a tough situation. While Williams has potential, there are many red flags.
New England Patriots: Among the six openings, New England probably has the worst roster situation besides quarterback. Like the Bears, the Patriots can promote Drake Maye and his future, but the team has a poor roster and has gone 8-26 in the last two seasons.
The front office seems likely to stay the same, which could be another problem for potential candidates. This job might be the best of the six because of Maye and the Patriots’ past success, but there’s still a lot of work to do to turn the team around, and ownership just fired a coach after a 4-13 season with a weak roster.
New Orleans Saints: The Saints have an aging roster, a quarterback situation that isn’t ideal, and a salary cap issue that the team keeps delaying fixing. The Saints are $64.5 million over the cap for 2025, the worst situation in the NFL. After a 5-12 season, it doesn’t seem like there’s a quick way to improve. Does this sound like a good opening for a coach?
Las Vegas Raiders: The Raiders are looking for their fifth coach in five seasons, including interim coaches. The Raiders have struggled with decisions, like waiting too long to fire Antonio Pierce and General Manager Tom Telesco.
Owner Mark Davis hasn’t had a clear plan to fix the team’s long-term issues. The roster is weak, with no clear answer at quarterback, and it’s hard to see how the team will find a good one. Some coaches might like that Telesco was fired, allowing them to avoid working with him, but the overall situation isn’t great.
The AFC West is a tough division with strong coaches like Andy Reid, Jim Harbaugh, and Sean Payton, making it even harder to turn the team around. The Raiders have made only two playoff appearances and haven’t won a playoff game since 2002. It’s a struggling franchise, and with the strong teams in their division, it’s tough to see how they could improve.
Jacksonville Jaguars: This could be a decent opening due to the low expectations for the franchise and stability at quarterback with Trevor Lawrence. But the Jaguars surprising decision to keep General Manager Trent Baalke might make the job less appealing.
Owner Shad Khan has a reputation for not being very involved, and his choice to keep both the front office and coaching staff intact adds to that image. If a coach can overlook Baalke, the team’s losing history (the Jaguars have had double-digit losses in 11 of the last 14 seasons), and last season’s 4-13 record, it might be a reasonable situation.
New York Jets: Would you want to coach for an owner who reportedly listens to his son’s advice based on Madden ratings? There’s a reason the Jets have the longest playoff drought in major American sports, with 14 seasons.
The Jets went all-in for the 2024 season with Aaron Rodgers, but they fell short, leaving the team in a tough spot. The new coach will have to clean up the mess after Rodgers leaves or figure out how to work with him as he gets older.
If Rodgers isn’t the quarterback next season, who will be? Usually, a team facing a roster teardown has had some success before, but the Jets are rebuilding after 14 years without the playoffs. The new coach will also have to deal with a tough market.
The right coach can turn any bad situation into a good one if everything works out. For example, the Houston Texans were one of the worst teams in the NFL when they hired DeMeco Ryans, but he and quarterback C.J. Stroud turned the team around quickly. However, there are no guarantees in this coaching cycle. No matter where a coach is hired, they will have a lot of work to do.
