The 2024 NFL Season will close the books on Week 1, so let's unveil our first edition of head coaches on the hot seat. In another series that will be updated weekly, we'll dive into head coaches who are on the hot seat. This list may change from week to week, and yes, while it is Week 1, we can surely take some early, educated guesses on which coaches may feel their seats warming up just a hair.
There are still 16 games to go for every single NFL team, so we may see some new coaches arrive on these power rankings and others depart. So, let's dive into the first NFL power rankings of the top head coaches on the hot seat following Week 1 of the 2024 NFL Season.
NFL Power Rankings: Ranking coaches already on the hot seat after Week 1
3. Antonio Pierce, Las Vegas Raiders
OK, this is not going to work, gang. The decision to make Antonio Pierce the permanent head coach felt like the wrong one from the start. This is only his third year coaching at the NFL level. His Las Vegas Raiders team lost by double-digits in Week 1 versus the Los Angeles Chargers, who don't exactly have a great roster.
The team is trotting out Gardner Minshew at QB and a roster that is top-heavy overall. GM Tom Telesco had a disastrous first offseason, overpaying for Christian Wilkins and failing to secure a QB in the 2024 NFL Draft. To me, though, Pierce is going to quickly prove why he isn't yet ready to be a head coach at the NFL level, and I reckon he will be a regular on these power rankings for 2024.
2. Dave Canales, Carolina Panthers
If the Carolina Panthers endure more of these saddening blowout losses, I am not sure that first-year head coach Dave Canales would survive a full season. The Panthers did fire former head coachFrank Reich after a 1-10 start to the 2023 NFL Season.
There's no way that Canales would also get fired in year one, right? Right??
The Panthers are a mess from top to bottom, and owner David Tepper is just running this franchise into the ground. If the Panthers do struggle to win games and are getting blown out more and more as the 2024 NFL Season progresses, there is just no way they could stick it out with Canales.
1. Brian Daboll, New York Giants
To me, the New York Giants are in a rare situation where I can truly see the General Manager getting fired before the head coach. In the NFL, GM's usually have a longer leash, as building a roster takes time. They typically get two head coaching hires, so for the G-Men, you may think that Brian Daboll could be one of two chances for GM Joe Schoen.
And while I firmly believe Schoen is the person at fault here, it still may be more likely that the Giants get rid of Daboll before they get rid of Schoen. This roster is downright awful, and their OL and QB play are among the worst in football. It's actually impressive that Schoen and his staff, now in year three, have no clear identity on offense, a poor offensive line, and no sustainable QB situation on the roster.
That is enough to clean house in the front office. Brian Daboll is a good head coach, but I'm not sure any HC can win with this roster. But as I mentioned, it still feels like the Giants could operate how other teams do and give the GM another head coaching hire.