How many head coach openings will there be?

While the Rams don’t expect to lose a coordinator this year, they could have assistants poached again

Whether or not the Rams lose any assistant coaches after the season could depend on how many head coach openings there are in January. Even if the Rams do not lose one of their coordinators, Mike LaFleur or Chris Shula, which is not necessarily something that most fans are concerned about, any of Sean McVay’s high-priority assistants could be called for promotions around the league and that is a concern because of how good he is at recruiting the best coaches.

With so many former McVay coaches running teams around the league, there are so many ties back to L.A. that it would be surprising if the Rams coaching staff didn’t undergo more changes in 2025.

For example, a popular name on the head coaching circuit should be Vikings offensive coordinator Wes Phillips, who worked for McVay from 2019-2021 prior to following Kevin O’Connell to Minnesota. Would Phillips try to poach a Rams assistant, like offensive line coach Ryan Wendell, should he get a head coaching job?

Many Rams fans are also NFL fans, so here are the current openings and potential openings.

OPEN: SAINTS, JETS, BEARS

With Matt Eberflus fired last week and former McVay assistant Thomas Brown promoted to interim head coach, the Bears became the third team to fire its coach midseason but not the last. With almost no mystery left in the playoff races, what do the bad teams have to gain by waiting until the actual end of the season?

The Saints haven’t had a real coaching search since they hired Sean Payton in 2006.

This will be the Jets’ sixth coaching search since 2006, and the fourth time for the Bears since 2013.

ALL BUT OVER: JAGUARS, RAIDERS

It was funny to watch social media attempt to pressure the Raiders into hiring Antonio Pierce because it was a “great story”, as if Mark Davis wasn’t always planning to Pierce, but not for the reasons that they think. Pierce was hired to be fired and the season is playing out exactly as Las Vegas expected it to play out: Lose, get a high draft pick, fire Pierce, then lure in a head coach in 2025 when Tom Brady would be the team ambassador, and pair the new guy with a young quarterback.

Teams don’t hire head coaches because “the players asked for him”, but if that’s what the media wants to think then it sure makes it easier for the owner to hire a patsy.

Doug Pederson should be out too, although it’s tough to see how Jacksonville is going to get anybody better than him to agree to coach the Jaguars.

VERY HOT SEATS: GIANTS, COWBOYS

The only reason that Brian Daboll is here instead of with Pierce and Pederson as all but gone? The Giants have not been taking this year seriously whatsoever, they aren’t trying to win, so does owner John Mara see Daboll as a better fit for the next quarterback than the best coach the team could hire to replace Daboll?

New York hired Daboll to make something out of Daniel Jones, and he kind of did for a while, but is that really the only opportunity the Giants are going to give to the coach who was ONLY HIRED BECAUSE OF HIS WORK WITH JOSH ALLEN?

We talk about surprise firings every year, but Brian Daboll could be the surprise keeping. Unless the Giants have a guarantee that Lions OC Ben Johnson will jump ship to come to New York — and if we know anything about Johnson, it’s that he’s unpredictable and not easy to lure — Mara could feel that Daboll’s the best offensive coach on the market.

Basically the same story with the Cowboys.

It doesn’t seem like Dallas is losing because of Mike McCarthy. And if he’s fired, owners with job openings are going to look at the Cowboys record the previous three seasons and someone’s going to convince themselves to hire McCarthy, including potentially the Giants if they fire Daboll. These point differentials — +194, +125, +172 — would be Sean McVay’s #1, #2, and #5 best point differentials in his career if they were on the Rams:

If the Bengals fire Zac Taylor and McCarthy is available, then Cincinnati could pick up McCarthy and the AFC North could have three Super Bowl-winning head coaches with Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, and Russell Wilson.

YOU TOO: DOLPHINS, BENGALS, BROWNS, BUCS

• Is Mike McDaniel just a genius coordinator but a horrible head coach? Or is it just that Miami has an old, injury-prone roster?

• Zac Taylor’s been as successful as any head coach in Bengals history, are they really going to let him go when the team has the number one passing offense? I highly doubt that, these losses are usually close nail-biters to playoff teams

• Kevin Stefanski is a two-time Coach of the Year, so that alone should make the Browns realize how crazy it would be to fire their best hire since Bill Belichick when we all know the problem is the commitment made to Deshaun Watson

• Todd Bowles probably should be fired, but the Bucs are going to go 9-8 probably and that might make it a tough sell to fire a .500 coach (8-9 and 9-8 in his first two seasons) when the alternatives aren’t appealing

NOT YOU TOO: 49ers, RAMS, TITANS, PANTHERS, PATRIOTS

I don’t expect any first-year head coaches to be fired, although that’s a possibility in New England because Jerod Mayo’s been so bad, and I wouldn’t expect the season to go so poorly that Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVay have anything to worry about.

HOW MANY HEAD COACH OPENINGS DO YOU EXPECT? WHAT SURPRISES?

Put your predictions in the comments below.