Following Thursday’s news that Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft are parting ways, there were eight head coach openings across the NFL: the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans and Washington Commanders.
Now there are only seven after the Patriots hired Jerod Mayo on Friday, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Mayo, 37, will be introduced at a news conference next week.
To say the past 48 hours have been a stunning moment in not only the history of the NFL, but the history of coaching, is an understatement. Three legends either were gently shoved out the door or decided to retire:
• Pete Carroll, the architect of one of the greatest college football dynasties in history with the USC Trojans and a rare crossover success as a Super Bowl winner with the Seahawks.
• Nick Saban, the architect of greatest college football dynasty in history and the winner of seven national championships (six with the Alabama Crimson Tide and one with the LSU Tigers).
• Bill Belichick, one of the greatest coaches in NFL history and certainly the greatest in NFL history, winner of six Super Bowl trophies and, during one stretch, winner of the AFC East in 17 out of 19 seasons.
Each of them left a mark on the game that will be forever grooved into coaching philosophy and lore. The Patriots were the unattainable model of consistency in the NFL. The same for Saban in college football. Carroll ushered in an era of coaching that was as much about psychology as it was scheme. His disciples around the NFL are still sought after to this day.
With that said, let’s get down to the business at hand. If you are a prospective head coach trying to fill these mammoth shoes, which job would you like? There are candidates this cycle who will certainly have their pick, such as Ben Johnson, the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions. There are also jobs that will be a very specific fit for a very specific temperament. So in light of that, we’re going to try to rank the openings based on a handful of factors.
1. Ownership quality
2. Perceived job pressures (with 10 being a great, low-pressure job and 1 being a complete sauna of a situation from the beginning)
3. Quarterback skills
4. Nonquarterback roster ability
5. Divisional difficulty (with 10 being an open competitive landscape and 1 being a division with an incumbent juggernaut or multiple teams that are strong every year)
I would add that, should the Dallas Cowboys’ job come available, I would likely rank it near the top of the list. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the only other job that I could see coming open (barring a massive surprise), would probably land somewhere in the middle.
With those details set, let’s get to the rankings, from best jobs to worst.
