From Black Monday to renewed hope around the league, news travels fast when it comes to the NFL head coaching cycle. Teams have made new head coach hires over the last handful of weeks, moving quickly from some ugly endings to the 2024-25 season to what will hopefully be the beginning of something special.
Our latest NFL Power Rankings will take a break from your regularly scheduled programming to take a quick look at each of the new coaching situations around the NFL, ranking each new hire from worst to best.
Which new NFL head coaches are in the best situations? Which coaches were the most underwhelming of the hires? Who is set up to potentially pull off what we just saw with Dan Quinn and the Washington Commanders, going from the second-worst record in the NFL to the NFC Championship?
Note: At the time of this post being written, the New Orleans Saints had not yet hired a new head coach
NFL Power Rankings: Every new head coach hire ranked worst to best
6. Brian Schottenheimer, Dallas Cowboys
I will be the first one to say I do not understand this hire all that much. As worthy as Brian Schottenheimer may be based on his time in the league and overall pedigree, it's just hard to look at Dallas's situation and think anything except they missed out on their top targets.
I think Dallas would have preferred to go after Bill Belichick if they knew they were moving on from Mike McCarthy, but instead of just moving on -- which they eventually did -- they decided to drag their feet. And even if you feel like the Cowboys dodged a bullet by not hiring Belichick (which is kind of a wild take), they seemingly also missed out on Deion Sanders, who may have used their job opening for leverage.
It's hard to imagine Schottenheimer was truly their first option and feels more like a placeholder for whoever becomes available in 2026.
5. Liam Coen, Jacksonville Jaguars
I actually don't mind this hire at all. The Jacksonville Jaguars have tried a variety of coaches in recent years, and the glamorous hires of Urban Meyer and Doug Pederson that stole all the headlines failed miserably.
I kind of love the idea of going after Liam Coen, who has been part of the Sean McVay coaching tree and did great work this past year with Baker Mayfield and that Buccaneers offense. It feels like this has a chance to work out simply because there won't be a lot of (or as much) pressure on Coen early on unlike with Meyer and Pederson.
4. Aaron Glenn, New York Jets
The New York Jets need to be in it for the long haul with this hire because they are going to have to tear things down on the roster before building it back up. This is such an interesting gig for Aaron Glenn because he was obviously a first-round pick for the Jets back in 1994, so he's making it full-circle here.
More than just a fun story, however, Glenn is not exactly inheriting an empty cupboard with this Jets roster. There's a lot of meat on the bone but there are huge question marks looming with Aaron Rodgers and many pieces on that Jets offense that are holdovers and only in New York because of Rodgers in the first place.
Glenn is getting paired with Darren Mougey, who was with the Broncos from the transition from Peyton Manning to a carousel of QBs and now to Bo Nix. He might be the exact right person for the job because he now knows what not to do at QB and can build the roster Glenn wants.
3. Ben Johnson, Chicago Bears
It's safe to say that most people believe Ben Johnson was the crown jewel of the 2025 NFL Head Coach cycle, and he very well may be. With that said, I don't know that the job in Chicago is going to be as seamless as just putting his stamp on the organization and things are going to be great.
The Bears definitely have needs all over the offensive line, and we need to see if Caleb Williams is really going to take that step forward under a new head coach. He took way too many sacks this past year and that simply will not fly in the Ben Johnson offense. He's got to get rid of the ball and let his playmakers make plays.
The new Bears' head coach is going from a true ball-distributing point guard to a playmaker at the position. I think he'll do a great job but it might be rocky at first.
2. Pete Carroll, Las Vegas Raiders
When you hear people talk about Pete Carroll, you hear things like, "He's the youngest 73-year-old you'll ever meet." And those types of statements are just weird. But Carroll certainly takes care of himself and doesn't strike as the type of guy who is entering his mid-70s. He's still got what it takes to coach at the highest level and now he's joining the absolute Mount Rushmore of coaches that is the AFC West.
Carroll is now the fourth head coach in the AFC West with a top-50 all-time winning percentage. Top-50 all-time...
Carroll is likely going to bring Russell Wilson with him in Las Vegas and while I don't know if he has a shot to truly take the AFC West immediately, I love this hire for the Raiders overall and especially when you pair Carroll with general manager John Spytek, who has done incredible work with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Denver Broncos.
1. Mike Vrabel, New England Patriots
I don't know why more people aren't loving this move. I guess from the perspective of firing Jerod Mayo, I get it. The Patriots may have done Mayo dirty in this situation. But independent of that, hiring Mike Vrabel is an objectively great move and the Patriots may have the best overall situation of any of the teams needing a head coach in 2025.
Drake Maye looks like a stud. The Pats have a ton of cap space. Vrabel was recently a Coach of the Year in the NFL. The only reason things didn't work out in Tennessee with Vrabel is because that organization is largely incompetent and Vrabel had a horrible GM with him when Jon Robinson was assembling the roster. We saw things really start to deteriorate when Robinson shockingly traded AJ Brown to the Eagles for Treylon Burks (basically).
That was not something Vrabel signed off on.
He routinely outkicked his coverage with the Titans. His teams have always been tough. And he assembles a good staff. The Patriots might surprise some folks in 2025.