The NFL Coaching Carousel's Final Turn

Last week we had multiple head coaching positions open across the NFL. This week there is just one vacancy remaining and most candidates have found their new home.

Before we address the lone vacancy let’s review the completed moves over this last week.

The first move was Liam Coen to the Jacksonville Jaguars, this was mentioned last week but this was a confusing and complicated move for both the Jaguars and Coen.

Coen previously declined the opportunity and even signed an extension with the Buccaneers which would have made him the NFL’s highest-paid coordinator, offering him about 4.5 million dollars a year.

But, after Shad Khan, owner of the Jaguars, made the decision to fire Trent Baalke and urged Coen to reconsider, Coen changed his mind and informed the Buccaneers that he would be taking the head coaching position of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The Raiders found their guy too, a familiar face in the NFL, former Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl winning head coach, Pete Carroll. After taking a “senior advisor” position with Seattle after leaving the head coaching role so that Mike Macdonald could be hired as his successor Carroll finds a home with the team in Las Vegas that let Antonio Pierce go this offseason.

Carroll also moves to the AFC West, the division with his long time rival Jim Harbaugh who became the head coach of the Chargers last year. After many run-ins in both college, at USC for Carroll and Stanford for Harbaugh, and in the NFL, with Pete’s Seahawks and Jim’s 49ers, this major coaching rivalry is back on the biggest stage.

Last of the recent hires is the Cowboys elevating current offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer to replace Mike McCarthy as head coach. After spending a significant majority of the last 27 years as a coach or coordinator in the NFL he earned the promotion to the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys

Son of Marty Schottenheimer, former head coach in the NFL for 22 years who won the NFL Coach of the Year award in 2004. On top of Brian’s own experience he comes from a football family and generational experience from his father that will certainly assists in his ability to be successful in his new position.

The last remaining head coaching vacancy is the New Orleans Saints’ job, this has been one of the more intriguing jobs because of the lack of a real foundation in New Orleans currently. Generally, the Saints are an aging team with a quarterback in Derek Carr who is on a very large contract and a majority of their talent is aging. Five of the first six highest-paid players in terms of cap hit are 30 years or older.

This has led to the Saints to be a somewhat undesirable job for all top candidates and even further, coaches like Mike McCarthy have put their name out of the running because they would rather look for a job next year than coach the Saints.

The Saints have been forced to pivot multiple times and it seems there are few high-quality choices remaining for the job. The new frontrunner for the job is the Eagles’ current offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who will be coaching in the Super Bowl against the Chiefs.

Other options remain Dolphins’ defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver and Giants’ offensive coordinator Mike Kafka who had an interview that lasted an impressive nine hours.

With the Saints the last job available there is no need for them to rush, especially if Moore is their man for the job as he would not be able to take the role officially until February 10th, the day after the Super Bowl, at the earliest.

Filling this vacancy would end the head coaching hunt of 2025 and beyond the movement of various assistants and coordinators across the NFL, teams could begin to fully understand their draft plan and how to make their team better moving into the 2025 NFL Draft and then the 2025-26 NFL season.

Massimo Manfra is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email mgm6116@psu.edu.