- Dan Graziano is a senior NFL national reporter for ESPN, covering the entire league and breaking news. Dan also contributes to Get Up, NFL Live, SportsCenter, ESPN Radio, Sunday NFL Countdown and Fantasy Football Now. He is a New Jersey native who joined ESPN in 2011, and he is also the author of two published novels.
Will the Patriots and Raiders go after the same candidate? Just how desirable is the Jacksonville job? Where are the Jets, Saints and Bears at after playing big chunks of their 2024 campaigns with interim coaches? And what is going on with the open Jets and Titans general manager positions?
We'll hit on all that and more, as our insiders answer big questions and empty their reporter notebooks with everything they've heard on the hiring front.
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The league is ripe with examples of savvy offensive minds who instantly changed the tenor of a franchise upon becoming a head coach. Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen is one to watch, and it's worth noting the Raiders tried to hire Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury to the same position under Pierce. I've got Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken as a sleeper. And I imagine Flores gets a look.
Graziano: That's the thing. This job is a bit of a tough sell because there's no way to know what the quarterback situation is going to look like. Will they be breaking in a young guy? If so, does the Flores- • Hurts named MVP As for the desirability of the job, I think there will be people who want to work with Lawrence and an owner who hasn't been scared to spend on players. Lawrence has flaws, but he's obviously someone you can win games with and, unlike a few of these other situations, the quarterback situation in Jacksonville is stable for years to come. Fowler: A new staff that comes in with a defined plan for Lawrence and builds layups in the game plan will go a long way to help him. We saw that in 2022, Pederson's first season in Jacksonville and his last as the primary playcaller. Then something got sideways. But multiple people I've spoken to in the organization believe there's no reason Jacksonville should be a four-win team based on the team's overall talent. The Jaguars' past three hires were previous head coaches who skewed toward offense. This time, I sense that Jacksonville will target a first-time head coach with an offensive background. If prime candidates can get past the Baalke dynamic, then this might be the best job going. Graziano: This continues to be the spot most people seem to have pegged for Johnson, assuming he's good with the front office structure. Lawrence is only 25 years old, so it's not as if all the hay is in the barn on his development. My guess is working with him will be appealing to top offensive-minded candidates.
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The Jets are casting a wide net, but the three names I'm hearing most are Vrabel, Glenn and Flores. All those guys are drawing interest elsewhere, and Glenn and Flores are in good situations currently. So it's possible the Jets don't get any of the three, which is one reason they are looking at a bigger pool of candidates. Former Jets coach Rex Ryan and current interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich have fans in the building and shouldn't be completely ruled out, but I think they're long shots at this point. My sleeper is former Falcons head coach and current Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, who can't interview until next week because Pittsburgh plays Saturday.
Fowler: The Jets are set to speak with more than two dozen candidates between the GM and head coaching positions. People I've talked to think they will go offense on the coaching side, but some of the strongest candidates are on defense, which could sway things. And the Jets are speaking to an intriguing mix of salary cap and personnel candidates for the GM role, so some around the league are wondering if they make two hires -- a general manager and an executive director of football operations, similar to what the Panthers did with Dan Morgan and Brandt Tilis.
It sounds like the Bears will make their initial case for Johnson this week via a virtual interview. Where do you see that going?
Graziano: I think he'll have some interest in that job. Jobs with a good young QB are the most likely for Johnson, though maybe Chicago and Jacksonville more because the Patriots might be locked in on Vrabel.
Johnson is appealing on his own, but the Bears would get the bonus of weakening a division rival in Detroit with that hire. Either way, I expect Johnson will take a head coach job this cycle. He has been squirrely about it the past couple of years, but people I talk to close to the situation believe he's in a different frame of mind and expect him to embrace the opportunity if it's offered, which I believe it will be.
The Bears are obviously talking to a lot of people, including some very seasoned veteran head coaches. So they might have to go through this first round of interviews and decide exactly how important previous experience is to them. That could determine Johnson's prospects there.
Fowler: More than half of the candidates the Bears will interview have previous head coaching experience, which seems essential for a franchise that watched too many clumsy finishes under Matt Eberflus. That's why Vrabel would make sense, though he's considered a front-runner in New England. My sense is McCarthy will have interest should he leave Dallas, something we're guaranteed to get clarity on by the time his contract expires. And as we reported, Pete Carroll is set to speak with Chicago on Thursday.
What else are you hearing this week?
Graziano's notes:
The Jets have interviewed several general manager candidates, and that list has grown larger now that they're able to talk to candidates currently employed by other teams. Former Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff and former Titans GM Jon Robinson both did well in their interviews in December, I am told, and I would expect them to be candidates as the process continues to unfold. I'd also watch Chiefs assistant GM Mike Borgonzi, who probably would be a name you'd be hearing a lot more if there were more GM openings. And they're talking to Eagles assistant GM Alec Halaby, who is widely regarded as a future GM and a name to watch.
As for the Titans, who fired GM Ran Carthon on Tuesday, their situation is a bit different. Tennessee president of football operations Chad Brinker appears to and will continue to have the most power in that front office, and he said Tuesday he's looking for a GM with a strong scouting background to help implement a "draft, develop and retain" model. Brinker worked in Green Bay for 13 years before arriving in Tennessee two years ago as assistant GM, so expect to hear some Packers front office names mentioned as candidates. Two mentioned to me were Packers VP of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan and player personnel executive Lee Gissendaner.
A few people I've talked to expect former Jets head coach (and former 49ers defensive coordinator) Robert Saleh to be the favorite to land back in San Francisco to fill their open defensive coordinator position. Saleh is also on the Jaguars' list of head coach interviewees, so one would assume he'd let that situation play out before taking a coordinator job.
Former Saints head coach Dennis Allen should have options on the defensive coordinator circuit as well. There are intriguing openings tied to open head coach jobs, as the Bears, Jets and Jaguars all have good defensive building blocks. There are also open defensive coordinator jobs in Cincinnati and Indianapolis, where the head coaches aren't turning over.
Fowler's notes:
Cowboys coach McCarthy and owner Jerry Jones spent significant time Tuesday and Wednesday discussing the future -- whether it's a new contract in Dallas or McCarthy potentially coaching elsewhere in 2025. People I've talked to in Dallas believe McCarthy is more likely to stay in Dallas than leave, but both sides need to be sure, and they have less than a week to figure it out. McCarthy has leverage and options. And as several coaches have told me this week, why wouldn't teams want to speak to a Super Bowl winner in what's considered a weaker candidate pool?
To expand on what Dan said about Saleh and the 49ers, my sense is veteran players there are tired of the lack of continuity after back-to-back coordinator hirings and firings. I'm also watching Ulbrich, Saleh's pupil dating to their 49ers days. My understanding is San Francisco not only explored hiring Ulbrich last year but also put on the full-court press to recruit him. Ulbrich was under contract and the Jets shut the possibility down. Brandon Staley is a strong in-house candidate and could also be in the mix on other NFL coordinator jobs. There are other available, quality external candidates with 4-3 scheme expertise, from Allen to Eberflus to recently fired Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. This will be the top defensive coordinator job, at least based on current personnel.
Speaking of Allen, I'm sensing some Colts buzz and expect him to be a candidate in Indianapolis. Patrick Graham is a viable candidate for Cincinnati's defensive coordinator job, and Bengals coach Zac Taylor could also talk to Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden, a former Cincy position coach, and Eberflus.
Coordinator shuffling might not be done. Some people around the league are keeping an eye on Atlanta, where Raheem Morris was noncommittal on defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake in his end-of-year news conference.
Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka could garner coordinator looks if he's not hired as a head coach. Brian Daboll called plays for New York in 2024, so Kafka could perhaps find a playcalling opportunity elsewhere, if offered. Seattle could be one to watch. The Seahawks were impressed with him during their head coaching search before ultimately hiring Mike Macdonald, who tried to interview Kafka for OC before the Giants blocked him. On the defensive side, would Giants DC Shane Bowen join Vrabel if the former Titans coach is hired?
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman is firmly on the NFL radar entering the Fighting Irish's College Football Playoff semifinal against Penn State. Teams have done their homework on him.
People I'm talking to expect Browns coach Kevin Stefanski to lean back into his Gary Kubiak-style system after the firing of Ken Dorsey. Saints OC Klint Kubiak would be ideal, though New Orleans could try to pair him with a defensive-minded head coach. Returning to calling plays seems on the table for Stefanski as well.
Even with all that was reported above, some people I talked to in the league believe Johnson could return to Detroit. And it doesn't seem like a leverage play. That's where he has been the past two cycles, and that could be the case again if his ideal head coaching destination isn't there.