Predicting the Hires For Each Open NFL Head Coaching Job in 2025 Offseason

There are six head coach position openings across the NFL, and there are several quality candidates for those jobs.

At the end of the 2024 season, the New England Patriots fired Jerod Mayo and immediately replaced him with Mike Vrabel.

According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the Dallas Cowboys and Mike McCarthy disagreed on contract length in negotiations. As a result, the two sides parted ways, which opened up the sixth job on the market.

As teams seek top coordinators to fill vacancies, a couple of former head coaches could also land jobs.

Which candidates will fill these head-coaching openings in the next few weeks?

Let's break down the most likely fit for each position.

Editor's Note: The Bears hired Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson as their new head coach on Monday.

The Chicago Bears have interviewed top candidates Ben Johnson and Mike McCarthy, though the veteran lead skipper makes more sense for a franchise that needs a proven stabilizing presence.

The Bears have fired three of their last four coaches within three years. Matt Eberflus didn't finish his third term this past season.

While Johnson may be a more intriguing candidate because he's a 38-year-old offensive play-caller who's led a top-five scoring offense in all three of his seasons as a coordinator, McCarthy has a winning track record, going 174-112-2 in 18 years as a head coach for the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys.

McCarthy has also led his teams to the playoffs in 12 out of 18 years. On his watch, the Cowboys went 12-5 in three consecutive campaigns between 2021 and 2023, winning two NFC East titles in that stretch.

McCarthy helped mold a young Aaron Rodgers in the mid-2000s, and under his tutelage, Dak Prescott threw for 4,400-plus yards in two seasons and led the NFL in touchdown passes (36) for one of those terms.

Based on McCarthy's resume, he can pull the Bears out of the basement of the NFC North while developing rookie quarterback Caleb Williams. He's the best fit for a franchise that needs someone who can get the most out of the offense and build a winning culture.

As of Monday, the Dallas Cowboys haven't requested an interview with Ron Rivera, but he's made his rounds during the hiring cycle and could get a request from owner Jerry Jones.

Rivera has met with the Chicago Bears, Las Vegas Raiders and New York Jets for their openings.

After a nine-year stint with the Carolina Panthers, Rivera won a division title in his first season with the then-Washington Football Team. In the following three years, Washington finished third or fourth in the NFC East while struggling to find a franchise quarterback.

In Dallas, Rivera wouldn't have to worry about the quarterback position, with Dak Prescott entrenched as the starter. He could use his expertise to strengthen the Cowboys defense, which gave up the second-most points and fifth-most yards this past season.

With the swirling rumors surrounding Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, Rivera would be a conservative option with low buzz. That said, the Cowboys brought in retreads with three of their last four head coaching hires: Mike McCarthy, Wade Phillips and Bill Parcells.

Editor's Note: The Bears hired Johnson as their new head coach on Monday.

Though multiple NFL insiders have linked the Las Vegas Raiders to Ben Johnson because of Tom Brady's involvement and the allure of aligning with a new general manager, the Jacksonville Jaguars can make a move to seal the deal with the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator.

The MMQB's Albert Breer believes Johnson is interested in the Jaguars but wants to join a team with his own general manager (h/t Paul Bretl of Jaguars Wire).

"I think he finds the job attractive," Breer wrote. "My feeling, and this is just me talking, I think he'd want to bring in his own general manager. So I think you have the chance to be the most attractive job to him but I think it would be under certain circumstances."

Breer also speculated that the Jaguars could fire general manager Trent Baalke for the right candidate.

"Jaguars owner Shad Khan has expressed some flexibility to coaching candidates on his decision to retain GM Trent," Breer wrote. "And my read on that is this: If a coach has the leverage to get what he wants from the team, then Khan could still pull the plug on Baalke."

As the Raiders did at the beginning of the hiring cycle, Jacksonville could fire its general manager to attract top candidates like Johnson.

Baalke is 25-43 as the Jaguars' general manager, so it wouldn't be a crippling loss to relieve him of his duties to align Johnson with his choice of a front-office executive.

If the Jaguars fire Baalke, they would be on equal ground with the Raiders in organizational structure, minus Brady. However, they have a starting quarterback in Trevor Lawrence, which could tip the scale in their favor.

If Ben Johnson goes to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Las Vegas Raiders can pivot to an alternative and more proven candidate, Pete Carroll.

Last week, Carroll interviewed for the Raiders' position, per NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. Aside from Mike McCarthy, he's the only other candidate in this hiring cycle whose resume compares to what Andy Reid, Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh have done in their coaching careers.

Carroll led the Seattle Seahawks to back-to-back Super Bowls, winning one. He's one of three coaches who have won titles on the collegiate and pro levels.

Carroll will turn 74 in September, which may raise concerns about the long-term stability of his head-coaching role. However, he's assembled quality coaching staffs with the Seahawks. His disciplines from Seattle, Dan Quinn and Dave Canales, are head coaches for the Washington Commanders and Carolina Panthers, respectively.

Though shifting focus from a young coordinator who runs a high-level offense to a much older, defensive-minded retread seems like a deflating transition, Carroll is far more accomplished than Johnson and has a track record of building winning cultures at his previous career stops.

Joe Brady's coaching career could come full circle if he takes the New Orleans Saints job.

At 28, Brady served as an assistant under former Saints head coach Sean Payton for two years. After a term at LSU as the passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach, he became the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator, but within two seasons, the team fired him in December 2021.

In three years, Brady worked his way up from the Buffalo Bills' quarterback coach to their offensive coordinator, helping Josh Allen post MVP-caliber numbers in 2024.

Brady doesn't have the pro experience compared to Ben Johnson, but his work with Allen over the last two years helps raise his profile.

Though Brady would work with a less dynamic quarterback in Derek Carr, he can exercise his play-calling creativity with the pieces around the veteran signal-caller, particularly with Alvin Kamara, Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed.

Brady is only 35, and the Saints have a veteran-laden roster that's $52.3 million over the cap threshold. Yet he can leave the personnel decisions to longtime general manager Mickey Loomis and focus on getting the most out of his team on game days.

The New York Jets could follow the former player-to-coach blueprint like the New England Patriots, who recently hired Mike Vrabel.

Vrabel played eight seasons with the Patriots and invested his blood, sweat and tears into the team's early dynasty years. Glenn played the same number of seasons with the Jets and earned two Pro Bowl nods with the club.

In his post-playing career, Glenn coached defensive backs for seven years with the Cleveland Browns (2014-15) and New Orleans Saints (2016-2020) before he became the defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions in 2021.

Over four years, Glenn's defensive units improved, from 31st in scoring in 2021 to seventh this past season. Despite several key injuries, the Lions ranked fifth in rushing yards allowed, gave up the second-fewest touchdown passes and finished fourth in pressure rate (26.2 percent).

Now, Glenn reportedly has his sights set on the Jets' head coaching job.

According to Brian Costello of the New York Post, via Justin Tasch, the 52-year-old has "told people the Jets are his first choice if he were to be offered a head coaching position."

Because of the uncertainty around Aaron Rodgers' future, the Jets defense may be much stronger than the offensive unit for the foreseeable future.

As a team that may be led by its defense, Gang Green could favor a candidate who can get the best out of a talented unit that features Quinnen Williams, Sauce Gardner, Jermaine Johnson, Will McDonald IV and C.J. Mosley.

If that's the case, the Jets should go with someone who led one of the league's stingiest defenses despite losing key starters.

Maurice Moton covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @MoeMoton.