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NFL Coaches Rank the Best, Worst Head-Coaching Jobs Available This Offseason

There were seven head-coaching jobs open this hiring cycle. Which one was considered the best in the coaching world? How about the worst?

Tom Dierberger

Mike Vrabel was officially introduced as the Patriots' head coach on Jan. 13.
Mike Vrabel was officially introduced as the Patriots' head coach on Jan. 13. / Eric Canha-Imagn Images
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As the NFL head-coaching carousel spins its final turns of this hiring cycle, the New Orleans Saints remain the only club without a head coach in line for the 2025 campaign.

Six teams—the New England Patriots, Chicago Bears, Las Vegas Raiders, Dallas Cowboys, Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets—have crowned new head coaches they hope will lead them to the promised land next season and beyond. The Saints, meanwhile, are reportedly down to a handful of candidates for their opening.

The Athletic's Diana Russini recently traveled to the East-West Shrine Bowl to get the latest scuttlebutt around league circles about the openings. The veteran insider asked anonymous coaches to voice their opinions on the best and worst jobs that opened up during and after the 2024 campaign.

"I had a couple coaches rank them all top to bottom for me," Russini said on the latest Scoop City podcast.

The consensus best job opening was the first to be filled.

"New England Patriots, and it wasn't even close," Russini said. "I had coaches who have jobs telling me, 'I want the Patriots job.' I was like, 'You have a job!'"

The Patriots hired former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel back on Jan. 12 to take the reins from the fired Jerod Mayo after one season. The Patriots are far from a complete team, but they do appear to have the quarterback position figured out in Drake Maye, the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NFL draft.

In 13 games (12 starts) this season, Maye threw for 2,276 yards, 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions—good for an 88.1 passer rating. He showed flashes of brilliance as a rookie despite not having a competent offensive line or many weapons to utilize in the passing game.

"They have so much work to do," Russini said of New England. "... Quarterback is the most valuable part of a team. And if you want to win, and you know that you're probably not going to get a lot of time, you need to go to a place that has a quarterback established. Drake Maye has shown enough to believe that, O.K., all we need to do is go get him a couple of wide receivers, get a couple of good players on defense, and the New England Patriots are back, baby."

Russini also noted that while the Saints' opening has taken the longest to fill, it wasn't the least sought-after job—at least among the coaches she spoke to. That belongs to the Las Vegas Raiders, who hired Pete Carroll, the franchise's fifth different head coach in the last seven years.

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Tom Dierberger
TOM DIERBERGER

Tom Dierberger is a staff writer and editor on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in November 2023 after stints at FOX Sports, Bally Sports and NBC Sports. Dierberger has a bachelor's in communication from St. John's University. In his spare time, he can be seen throwing out his arm while playing fetch with his dog, Walter B. Boy.

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