With the historic NFL news that broke this morning we now know that Bill Belichick and The New England Patriots are mutually parting ways with the coach still planning to move else where. There are now 8 openings in the NFL at head coach and the coaching carousel madness is already picking up steam in the first week of off season for non playoff teams.
Not to mention Nick Saban, the greatest coach of all time in college football retiring, The NFL has had som e major firings and movement for head coaches going back to the middles of the season.
Las Vegas Raiders
The first coach to be fired was Josh McDaniels in the middle of the year. After his firing, interim head coach Antonio Pierce has been sensational and many players have given him their vote to be the next head coach of the team next season.
However, there is still a coaching opening there for now and other teams have also approached Pierce to see if he would be a fit for them. While many players want him back it will be up to the organization if they want to move in that direction, so for now there is a opening in Vegas.
Carolina Panthers
Frank Riech was the nest to be fired after starting 1-10 with the Panthers this year and that was hardly his fault as the team traded everyone and all their picks for their rookie quarterback Bryce Young. This is probably one of the least enticing head coaching openings as they do not have their first round pick and have tons of issues at many positions.
However, they will still interview many of the coaches looking for jobs as any head coaching gig in the NFL is a tremendous opportunity and although the Panthers need a huge rebuild, when we look at playoff teams like the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns who were awful teams only 5 seasons ago, it is definitely possible in this league to rebuild an awful roster to a playoff one.
Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers fired Brandon Staley in the middle of the season after another mediocre year for them with a star studded roster. This job opening is a big one as they have a lot of the right pieces to succeed right now. The Chargers also have the 5th pick in the draft so look for many of the top coaches that just left their job to interview here.
There has been a lot of chatter that perhaps National college champion Jim Harbaugh may be interested in the job, but there should be a bunch of coaches that would be thrilled to move to LA to coach Justin Herbert. This team has a lot of potential and the nest coach hired would walk in to a great position.
The Atlanta Falcons and Washington Commanders
Both Ron Rivera and Arthur Smith are also out of their jobs as these teams are looking to go in a different direction. Both teams have not made the playoffs in quite a while and it is time for both teams to go in different direction. For Ron Rivera he may get another job more quickly but for Smith it will be interesting to see if he will have a head coaching job next season or a coordinator roll in 2024.
The Commanders have the 2nd overall pick and a bunch of pieces to play with so it is definitely not the worst opening for coaches and the Falcons have been competitive in their division as well they just need to figure out the quarterback position.
Tennessee Titans
Mike Vrabel was shockingly fired this week and he is sure to get another job elsewhere. The Titans went 6-11 this year and have taken a huge fall from the winning teams they had just a few years ago. Vrabel is one of the best coaches in the league and is sure to find another job elsewhere.
The Titans fired him because they thought looking for a trade will take too long and they want to focus on next year. Vrabel may be the number one option for the Patriots to look at for their next head coach but many other teams will be looking to get him too. The Titans however are not the most exciting job opportunity as Derrick Henry will probably be leaving and they will be in a full rebuild.
Seattle Seahawks
The shocking Pete Caroll news came this week as well, that the Seahawks are moving off of Pete and he will stay with the franchise in some upper management capacity. We will have to wait and see if Caroll is actually ok with that when tons of teams will probably start calling to see if he would rather a head coaching job at one of the many openings.
Pete has accomplished everything you can in football and he’s the youngest 70 year old in the world, so we will have to wait and see if he will not be coaching next year. The Seahawks job though is a big one as they may just be missing a quarterback to be one of the top teams in the NFC.
New England Patriots, NFL
Finally, the New England Patriots announced today that the legendary and all time coach Bill Belichick and the franchise are mutually parting ways after 24 years. Bill has had unprecedented success with this franchise, but it has come to halt the last four seasons since Tom Brady left. The Patriots do not have the best roster and this would be a major rebuild.
However, Robert Kraft is one of the best owners in the league and the Patriots are a historic franchise with tons of good players on the defensive side of the ball. So this job opening is not nearly the worst of the bunch. For Bill, he is just 15 wins away from the most all time and many franchises will look to interview him for the job. We will have to wait and see which sideline Bill will be on nest season it just wont be the Patriots.