The Arizona Cardinals need a head coach after firing Jonathan Gannon. During their last coaching search, the rest of the NFL job openings were snapped up before Arizona could land on its hire of Gannon.
Ultimately, this process comes down to selling yourself to a pool of candidates who have a decent bit of leverage. If other teams have more appealing situations, you might miss.
Or you take a risk on pursuing a candidate nobody else is, something that ended up happening with the Gannon hire — because of timing at least.
How enticing is Arizona’s job opening? Quarterback Kyler Murray appears to be on the way out. The roster-building under general manager Monti Ossenfort has been happening for three years with mixed results. What do the other gigs have that Arizona does not?
To do this in an organized way, we’re giving each team’s quarterback situation, franchise stability and roster talent a rating from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best-case scenario. And then we’re ranking the job in terms of desirability based on the totals.
We went through this exercise on Jan. 6, the day after the regular season ended, when six teams had openings.
There are now nine total openings NFL-wide after Mike Tomlin stepped down from his post with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Spoilers: The Cardinals will not be at the front of the line if the top candidates have multiple options.
Ranking the NFL’s head-coaching openings by QB situation, stability and roster talent
Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh (AP Photo/Justin Berl)
1. Baltimore Ravens (John Harbaugh fired)
Total: 25
QB situation (9 out of 10): Lamar Jackson appears to be very involved in the head-coaching search, which is probably good news for any coach who wants the job.
Franchise stability (9): Six finishes atop the AFC North in Harbaugh’s 2008-25 reign is pretty good. A Super Bowl XLVII win and three more AFC Championship Game appearances make for a lot of winning, too. Executive vice president and general manager Eric DeCosta has been with the team since 1996 and took over as the guy in charge in 2019. That screams stability.
Roster talent (7): The offensive and defensive lines need work, but you have great starting points with Zay Flowers coming off his best season yet and Derrick Henry remaining a beast with 1,595 rushing yards at 32 years old. Linebacker Roquan Smith and safety Kyle Hamilton are earning their large paychecks on defense to give stability behind a presumably reshuffled defensive line.
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and quarterback Aaron Rodgers (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
2. Pittsburgh Steelers (Mike Tomlin stepped down)
Total: 17
QB situation (3): Pittsburgh navigated a weird wait for Aaron Rodgers to sign with them last offseason, and it appears that having a new coach incoming does not make that scenario optimal if Rodgers is going to be wishy-washy about whether he wants to play football or consume jungle foliage while locked in a lightless room. Mason Rudolph is the backup, and there’s just a No. 21 pick to seek a QB of the future in the draft.
Franchise stability (8): Tomlin deserves most of the credit for the stability over the past 19 seasons. Double-digit wins were commonplace, after all, but five Wild Card losses in the past six years made it time. Similar to the Ravens’ situation, general manager Omar Khan has only been in charge of the whole thing since 2022 but has been part of the franchise dating back to 2001. He gets to make his first head-coaching hire with all that organizational knowledge in mind.
Roster talent (7): Other than quarterback, the roster isn’t in bad shape and neither are the books. Top-end talent on both sides of the ball begins with D.K. Metcalf and Jaylen Warren on offense, with a defense with very productive starters in T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward, Joey Porter Jr., Payton Wilson and Patrick Queen. The defense should be set up nicely, and then it’s on Khan to figure out the signal caller and how to protect him and add to the skill slots.
Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart (AP Photo/John Locher)
RELATED STORIES
Cardinals GM on Kyler Murray: All options are on the table
Cardinals retaining GM Monti Ossenfort despite firing head coach Jonathan Gannon
3. New York Giants (fired Brian Daboll)
Total: 16
QB situation (7): Jaxson Dart’s emergence was a breath of fresh air for a franchise struggling to build confidence among its fan base, and he produced with 2,272 yards, 63.7% accuracy and 15 touchdowns to five picks — plus nine rushing scores.
His bro-nection with Arizona State product Cam Skattebo gives the team easy-to-root-for leaders, so long as both remain healthy. Concussion issues cropped up for Dart a handful of times. A new head coach must connect with them.
We are pretty sure Dart is a guy to build around.
Franchise stability (3): General manager Joe Schoen is 22-45-1 with a single playoff appearance since he joined the team. This is probably his last chance to get it right.
Beyond that, the Giants have had a single winning season since 2016. Schoen, at present, is most well-known for giving a reason to let very good running back Saquon Barkley walk, while being filmed for Hard Knocks. Not great awareness.
Roster talent (6): The skill player talent is there, with Skattebo and Malik Nabers giving Dart something to work with on offense. Defensively, a front that includes Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Abdul Carter is the strength of the roster.
New York’s offensive line needs a reboot, and what’s behind the defensive line needs it, too.
The Giants have the No. 5 pick.
Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank, right, hugs head coach Raheem Morris (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
T-4. Atlanta Falcons (fired Raheem Morris)
Total: 15
QB situation (3): Have we ruled out Michael Penix Jr. as a franchise quarterback? Probably? I guess? That’s generous, even if you get over his many seasons dating back to college that ended with a serious knee injury. And he’ll miss the start of next season with a knee injury. Kirk Cousins is probably gone. Atlanta doesn’t have a first-round pick, so the options don’t look excellent at the moment.
Franchise stability (6): If we’re going by purely reputation, the Falcons have the best among the teams with head-coaching openings. They’ve just failed to get out of the mediocre zone since the 2017 season and Matt Ryan era. More decent news: A first-year general manager will be replacing Terry Fontenot, so this coach will be tied to whomever that guy is.
Roster talent (6): Eight wins is still eight wins, a sign this team wasn’t lacking in talent to a huge degree. Running back Bijan Robinson is whom the offense will revolve around. But among the questions is tight end Kyle Pitts, who finally appeared to figure it out and led the team with 928 receiving yards. He’s a free agent if they don’t franchise-tag him.
Leading tackler and linebacker Kaden Elliss, plus backup running back Tyler Allgeier, are free agents as well.
This team won four games to end the year, some against very good playoff squads.
New General Manager Mike Borgonzi of the Tennessee Titans (Photo by Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Images)
T-4. Tennessee Titans (fired Brian Callahan)
Total: 15
QB situation (7): Rookie first overall pick Cam Ward took a beating playing for a team that had no clear No. 1 receiver. He and the Raiders’ Geno Smith tied for the NFL lead with 55 sacks taken, but at least the touchdown-to-pick ratio (15 to seven) wasn’t terrible. Ward’s arm talent gave Titans fans something to look forward to at least, but consecutive three-win seasons speak to the roster talent issues in Tennessee.
Franchise stability (4): It looks a little worse now that former head coach Mike Vrabel, who left in 2023, is doing so well so quickly with the New England Patriots. Maybe that is just about optics and timing, where he saw the end of the Ryan Tannehill era, and quarterback prospects Will Levis and Malik Willis didn’t pan out.
Some more weird optics: Owner Amy Adams Strunk clarified this week that GM Mike Borgonzi will run the 53-man roster and coaching staff, while president of football operations Chad Brinker will do the other stuff. Better late than never to clarify job descriptions, I suppose.
Roster talent (4): There’s no No. 1 receiver but plenty of No. 2 or No. 3 options. The Titans have running back Tony Pollard under contract and a defense bolstered by tackle Jeffery Simmons. Holding the No. 4 pick, Tennessee could use a difference-making wideout, a defensive back or linebacker.
The Titans have the cash to spend big in free agency as well. Shoring up the offensive line will need to be done with that cash.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)
T-6. Miami Dolphins (Mike McDaniel fired)
Total: 14
QB situation (4): Tua Tagovailoa is under contract for three more years and eating up $56.4 million next season. His contract is hard to dump before the 2026 season with so much guaranteed money. Does any coaching candidate think they can piece together a quality first season on the job with the 27-year-old who struggled with a bottom-third QBR and concussion issues this past season?
Franchise stability (5): The Dolphins hired former Packers executive Jon-Eric Sullivan to run the team, which before McDaniel was on a run of blah coaching hires, including Brian Flores (2019-21) and Adam Gase (2016-18).
Roster talent (5): Pro Football Focus had Miami’s offensive line ranked 30th and defensive line ranked 31st this past year. Problem: They are last on this list of teams needing a new coach in projected cap space entering the offseason with the NFL’s fourth-fewest dollars to spend. Cutting receiver Tyreek Hill, who is accounting for $52 million on the cap sheet next season and ended 2025 with an ACL injury, would open up more than $23 million in space.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
T-6. Cleveland Browns (fired Kevin Stefanski)
Total: 14
QB situation (4): Deshaun Watson began practicing on the field toward the end of the year and makes $80.7 million coming off a foot injury. He has played 19 whole games since 2022, and we are unsure if he is worth a quarter of that price tag, even if we skip over the sexual assault allegations that we absolutely cannot skip over.
Rookies Dillon Gabriel (937 yards, seven touchdowns, two picks, 80.8 passer rating) and Shedeur Sanders (1,400 yards, seven touchdowns, 10 picks, 68.1 passer rating) might have burned two 2024 draft picks to answer the backup quarterback question. Sanders did look like he had a leap toward the end of the year, and the Browns at least have options in-house.
Franchise stability (3): Did you read the section above? The only good news here is that the Browns live in a division of mediocrity, with the Steelers and Ravens underachieving until the end and the Cincinnati Bengals getting six wins despite the past offseason financial efforts to keep their quarterback-receiver talent intact.
Roster talent (6): Myles Garrett is still awesome! There are some talented pieces elsewhere, with rookie linebacker Carson Schwesinger piling up 156 tackles in a season.
Offensively, running back Quinshon Judkins had a strong rookie year — it also came with a domestic assault allegation that led to no charges — as did tight end Harold Fannin Jr. But nearly the entire starting offensive line is entering free agency, and the receiver group need major upgrading.
Defensive tackle Mason Graham, last year’s No. 5 pick, had some meh basic numbers but still projects to be a talented interior force.
Cleveland owns the No. 6 pick and a late-first via the Jaguars.
Arizona Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort and owner Michael Bidwill (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
8. Arizona Cardinals (fired Jonathan Gannon)
Total: 13
QB situation (4): Give this a bump if you feel somewhere in your heart that Kyler Murray could return and a new coach could optimize him. That seems out of touch with reality, where a bridge has probably been burnt and at this point in his career, he is what he is.
Owning the No. 3 pick gives the Cardinals a shot to draft a quarterback if one of the Raiders or Jets gets the ick and, best-case, only one quarterback is off the board. That seems unlikely. Reality appears that Arizona would be taking the third quarterback off the board in a draft where even the top two options are shrug-worthy.
Jacoby Brissett is under contract and could be a bridge quarterback, whether or not Arizona drafts the future option.
Franchise stability (4): Ossenfort’s press conference explaining the firing of Gannon became a test to see if he could defend his drafting and roster-building duties that were, of course, undercut by the injury bug. He enters his fourth year with a roster that hasn’t seen drastic talent improvement in three years on the job.
Roster talent (5): In Ossenfort’s defense, the injury-hit youngsters could get healthy and back on track. That is where there’s a good chance the roster talent isn’t as bad as the other teams on this list. There are plenty of in-house options who will have an opportunity to take starting jobs at positions like cornerback, linebacker and along the defensive line.
Trey Benson at running back, wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. has shown enough flashes if you put his draft position aside and Michael Wilson shocked the league with a huge Year 3 leap. Josh Sweat made the big spending worth it at edge.
Draft to bulk up the offensive line, attack the WR market in free agency to be sure about the depth in that group and you can sell us on a competitive team returning.
But a coach taking this gig must understand he’s potentially living without a franchise quarterback for a year.
General manager John Spytek of the Las Vegas Raiders (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
9. Las Vegas Raiders (fired Pete Carroll)
Total: 11
QB situation (5*): Big asterisk here. The QB situation could swing a couple different ways. Starting quarterback Geno Smith is under contract, and the numbers weren’t dreadful. But Las Vegas has the No. 1 pick, and you’d think that is used on a quarterback so long as the evaluators led by (certainly not minority owner Tom Brady) general manager John Spytek like the options of college QBs Fernando Mendoza and Dante Moore.
If not, that is an unfortunate spot to be in.
Franchise stability (3): Aside from Jon Gruden’s 22-31 run from 2018-21, owner Mark Davis and the Raiders have not had a head coach last longer than three seasons since — scrolling, scrolling, scrolling — Jon Gruden in 1998-2001.
Roster talent (3): Is Maxx Crosby on this team next year? It would appear that the team ticked him off by shutting him down against his will to secure the No. 1 pick in the draft. Hopefully, that answers our question about whether they like a quarterback in this draft class.
There is some fun talent like tight end Brock Bowers (680 receiving yards, seven touchdowns) and rookie running back Ashton Jeanty (975 rushing yards, 10 total touchdowns). But the foundations in the trenches aren’t there.
Follow @kzimmermanaz
Hence then, the article about re ranking the cardinals job desirability with the other nfl head coaching openings was published today ( ) and is available on Arizona sports ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Re-ranking the Cardinals’ job desirability with the other NFL head coaching openings )
Also on site :