Bills suffer another heartbreaking loss, Rams win OT thriller vs. Bears
Prince Grimes is reacting to the chaotic NFL divisional round highlighted by Bo Nix’s season-ending injury and heartbreaking losses to the Bills and Bears.
Any notion that the NFL’s 2026 coaching hiring cycle would be gentler than previous years was quickly dispelled with the Baltimore Ravens’ decision to fire John Harbaugh after 18 seasons.
Following Harbaugh’s firing, the Miami Dolphins have decided to fire Mike McDaniel. Two more coaches have changed since then, with Mike Tomlin resigning from the Pittsburgh Steelers after losing to the Houston Texans in the playoffs, and the Buffalo Bills parting ways with Sean McDermott after losing to the Denver Broncos in the divisional round.
All the while, teams around the league are moving quickly to interview and hire the top candidates on the market. The New York Giants won the Harbaugh sweepstakes, and the Atlanta Falcons hired Kevin Stefanski shortly after.
The Dolphins and Tennessee Titans are also filling vacancies, with Jeff Hafley joining Miami for his first try as an NFL head coach and Robert Saleh getting a second chance to prove himself in Tennessee.
Six coaching vacancies remain unfilled, but it appears at least a few teams are nearing the final stages of the hiring process.
Where will some of the top coaching candidates end up in the 2026 NFL season? Here are the latest predictions from USA TODAY Sports.
NFL Coach Landing Prediction 2026
Arizona Cardinals: Vance Joseph, Denver Broncos defensive coordinator
The Cardinals are reportedly planning a second interview with Robert Saleh, 46, before he takes the head coaching job with the Tennessee Titans. Joseph is similarly a defensive-minded player, and with Saleh off the board Arizona could pivot to Joseph.
Joseph has established himself as one of the best defensive minds in the NFL over the past few seasons. In his three years on Sean Payton’s staff, the 53-year-old has transformed Denver’s pass rush into one of the best units in the league. According to NFL Next Generation Stats, the Broncos recorded a league-high 68 sacks in 2025 and ranked second in pressure rate.
Joseph has ties to the Cardinals, having previously served as the team’s defensive coordinator under Kliff Kingsbury from 2019 to 2022, and has previous coaching experience. His performance in his two seasons as the Broncos’ head coach (he finished with an 11-21 record) leaves a lot to be desired, but if Arizona is going to consider signing Saleh, it could definitely do the same for Joseph, despite his 20-36 record with the New York Jets.
Baltimore Ravens: Jesse Minter, Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator
The Ravens parted ways with head coach John Harbaugh after 18 years with the team, but there’s still a chance he could try to pull a branch from Harbaugh’s tree as the team looks for an organizational reset.
Minter spent four seasons on Harbaugh’s staff with the Ravens from 2017 to 2020 before moving up to college as defensive coordinator. He eventually took the defensive coordinator job with Jim Harbaugh at Michigan and led the Wolverines to a national championship in 2023 before returning to the NFL in the same role.
Minter found immediate success in Los Angeles, leading the Chargers to No. 1 in defensive scoring in 2024, while the team ranks eighth in defensive EPA per play this season, according to NFL Next Generation Stats. The Ravens should value the 42-year-old’s defensive acumen, as well as having a familiar face in the building to help ease the transition from Harbaugh.
Buffalo Bills: Davis Webb, Denver Broncos passing game coordinator
It seems likely that the Bills will focus on an offensive-minded coach after moving on from Sean McDermott. Three potential candidates, Joe Brady, Brian Daboll, and Davis Webb, are notable for their ties to the organization.
If the Bills want an experienced coach with ties to the franchise, Daboll, who helped develop Josh Allen and led Buffalo to back-to-back top-five offenses in 2020 and 2021, could agree. If the Bills want familiarity and upside, they could promote Brady, who led the team to No. 3 offense per play in EPA, to head coach during the 2025 season.
That said, Webb represents an interesting combination of familiarity and advantage. The soon-to-be 31-year-old spent the 2019-21 season as a backup quarterback for the Bills, but has quickly risen through the coaching ranks since joining Sean Payton’s staff with the Broncos in 2023.
Webb spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons as the team’s quarterbacks coach and added the title of passing game coordinator to his role in 2025. He squeezed a respectable 98 passer rating out of Russell Wilson in 2023, then developed Bo Nix into a solid starter and led Denver to playoff appearances in back-to-back seasons.
If the Bills believe Webb can get more out of Allen, they could attack him. They could also target him as offensive coordinator if they take one of the more proven candidates, Brady or Daboll, as their preferred coaching option.
Cleveland Browns: Nate Schielhaas, Los Angeles Rams passing game coordinator
The Browns brought in several super young coaching candidates for second interviews with the team: 35-year-old Schielhaas and 30-year-old Grant Wudynski. Both would make sense if Cleveland wants to turn around after six seasons under coach Kevin Stefanski.
That said, if the Browns are willing to be patient and wait out the Rams’ playoff run, Schielhase’s slightly more extensive resume and history working with Sean McVay could give him an advantage over Wudynski.
Schielhaas is in his first season as the Rams’ passing game coordinator and was instrumental in Matthew Stafford’s MVP-caliber season. The 37-year-old veteran completed 65 percent of his passes for 4,707 yards, a league-high 46 touchdowns, and just eight interceptions.
As long as the team continues to search for a franchise quarterback, the Browns may imagine Schielhaas achieving similar heights in Cleveland. Schielhaas has high-level quarterback experience himself, as he was a four-year starter at the University of Illinois from 2010 to 2013 and spent six seasons on Matt Campbell’s staff at Iowa State before making the jump to the NFL level.
Las Vegas Raiders: Sean McDermott, former Buffalo Bills head coach
The Raiders are undergoing yet another organizational reset after appointing Pete Carroll as the team’s newest one-and-done coach. McDermott could be the ideal candidate to provide stability to Las Vegas and get the team back on the right track.
McDermott has a strong defensive mind and led the Bills to consistently play at a high level throughout his nine seasons in Buffalo. The Bills had a top-four scoring defense four times during McDermott’s tenure and ranked ninth or higher in yards allowed five times. That should inspire belief that the 51-year-old can build a cohesive unit around Maxx Crosby, something Raiders coaches haven’t been able to do as of late.
McDermott has also been linked to several offensive minds that the Raiders are reportedly interested in, including Joe Brady, Brian Daboll and Davis Webb. If one of them can secure a position as offensive coordinator to help develop presumptive No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza, it will further convince Tom Brady and the Raiders’ minds that he is the right man for the job.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Brian Flores, Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator
While the Steelers have been mentioned as a possible landing spot for Chris Shula, Mike McCarthy also has connections to general manager Omar Khan and the city of Pittsburgh. But the team may ultimately choose the best combination of familiarity and upside to replace Mike Tomlin after 19 seasons.
Flores spent the 2022 season as a member of Tomlin’s staff after three years as the Dolphins’ head coach. Before joining the Minnesota Vikings, Flores served as the team’s linebackers coach, where he successfully turned around one of the league’s worst defenses over three seasons.
According to NFL Next Generation Stats, the Vikings led the NFL in pressure rate (41.4%) during the 2025 NFL season. It made it difficult to diagnose exactly what would happen in the play-in and play-out, thanks in large part to Flores’ high-pressure scheme that gave opposing quarterbacks a lot of heat and crowded the line of scrimmage.
Flores’ plan could help take the Steelers’ defense to the next level while ensuring Tomlin doesn’t see a major decline after his 19th consecutive undefeated season. Flores is also only 44 years old, so he fits the mold of young coaches that Pittsburgh has targeted to replace departing legends.
