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Ranking the best and worst NFL head coach hires made so far
The NFL coaching carousel has spun hard this year. Ten head coaches were replaced, tying the league’s all-time record, and at this point, it barely even registers as shocking.
This is the 16th straight year in which at least five teams have decided the answer wasn’t tweaks, patience, or another coordinator shuffle, but a full reset at the top.
With four recent hires made during playoff season, we took a step back to look at how each of them stacks up.
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First: John Harbaugh, New York Giants
The second it became clear Harbaugh was leaving Baltimore, the league reacted the way it always does when a proven, Super Bowl–winning coach suddenly becomes available: phones lit up.
Harbaugh didn’t rush it, and he didn’t land somewhere random. He chose the Giants, stepping into a franchise with talent but without direction.
Over 18 seasons with the Ravens, Harbaugh won 180 regular-season games and built something most organisations never manage: year-after-year relevance.
Six division titles, four trips to the AFC Championship Game, and a Super Bowl ring are the kind of track record that gets coach-needy teams and their fanbase excited.
The Giants are betting on Harbaugh's ability to groom quarterbacks. In his time with the Ravens, Joe Flacco reached his ceiling and Lamar Jackson turned into a multiple-time MVP.
Now, the task is Jaxson Dart, who didn’t exactly inherit an easy situation as a rookie but showed flashes of the talent Harbaugh clearly coveted.
More than anything, this hire is about steadiness. Since Tom Coughlin stepped away in 2016, the Giants have burned through head coaches at an alarming rate. Only Brian Daboll made it past Year Two. None came close to sustained success.
Harbaugh isn’t being asked to fix everything overnight. His initial task is to stop the bleeding. But with an offense boasting Dart, Malik Nabers, Cam Skattebo, Andrew Thomas, and considering the Giants hold the fifth-overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, would we be surprised if he achieved more?
Second: Kevin Stefanski, Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons didn’t need flash. They needed competence. And for all the noise around his Cleveland tenure, Stefanski has proven he can organise a football team - even when things around him aren’t ideal.
This is also the first major stamp of the Matt Ryan era in Atlanta’s front office, and it's one that brings structure, balance, and someone who won’t panic at the first sign of turbulence.
Cleveland’s 46-58 record under Stefanski doesn’t tell the whole story. He squeezed playoff appearances out of flawed rosters, oversaw a legitimately elite defense, and somehow dragged a lost 2023 season back from the dead with Joe Flacco. That doesn’t happen without skill.
Atlanta is a different challenge, and in some ways a better one. Bijan Robinson, Drake London, Kyle Pitts - the tools are there. Question marks remain at quarterback, but Stefanski finally gets to work with offensive talent that doesn’t need everything to be perfect to function.
The defense, though, is where this hire could quietly pay off. In a division as wide open as the NFC South, taking that unit and elevating it even further could have early rewards.
Third: Robert Saleh, Tennessee Titans
This one feels like a philosophy hire. Saleh’s 20-36 Jets record is what it is, and nobody’s pretending otherwise, but his abilities with a defense are what made him sought-after.
San Francisco’s unit last suffered key injuries, with Nick Bosa out early and Fred Warner missing most of the year. And yet, somehow, the unit performed admirably.
Tennessee is clearly thinking long-term here. They want Cam Ward to grow without being asked to win shootouts every week, and Saleh’s background gives them a chance to build a defense that actually supports a young quarterback instead of exposing him.
It didn’t work in New York, but the Titans aren’t asking the same questions. They’re asking him to build something functional with the key position already in place.
Fourth: Jeff Hafley, Miami Dolphins
Hafley didn’t take the easy job. Miami is in a mess with quarterback uncertainty and problems on the offensive line, and that's before we even get into the cap headaches and looming contract decisions.
The optimism comes from Hafley’s defensive track record. Green Bay improved almost immediately under him. Over two seasons, the numbers were strong enough to suggest that when given time, he can build something solid.
This hire isn’t really about whether Hafley can coach. It’s about whether any coach could walk into this situation and stabilise it quickly enough. Between the quarterback questions, the offensive line issues, and a cap situation that limits flexibility, the margin for error is thin.
Hafley can probably improve the defense. Whether that’s enough to keep everything else from wobbling is the question that will define this hire.
