Which Teams Won the 2026 NFL Coaching Cycle? Full Rankings and Analysis

1. Klint Kubiak, Las Vegas Raiders 

 

Las Vegas owns the number one overall pick in the draft, where they will presumably draft Heisman winner and National Champion QB Fernando Mendoza. It remains to be seen how he will fit in the NFL, but one thing to me is certain and that’s them hitting a homerun with this hire. Kubiak was my number one overall available candidate and he is next up on the long list of coaches attempting to turn around this franchise. The roster has too many holes for a Jaguars or Bears immediate turn around but I’m very confident they will be more competitive right away. 

 

2. John Harbaugh, New York Giants 

 

Harbaugh ranking as the second best hire in this cycle for me should tell you how underwhelming it was as whole, but if you’re a Giants fan you are at least excited for the upcoming season. I’m not sure where I would rank Harbaugh among active coaches right now, but he is certainly an upgrade over Brian Daboll and his overall Ravens track record was a success. The honeymoon stage will quickly end, if the results don’t follow. 

 

3. Kevin Stefanski, Atlanta Falcons 

 

I’ve always liked Kevin Stefanski as a coach and leader of men and I think he got an extremely raw deal in Cleveland. He has done well with teams with lower expectations in the past and after winning Coach of the Year twice during his Browns tenure I could see him right back in the mix for the award should the Falcons excel in what is a lackluster NFC South Division. 

 

4. Jesse Minter, Baltimore Ravens 

 

This one felt penciled in as soon as the Harbaugh news hit the timeline. I like Minter a lot, and I think was their best bet as an attempt to both appease Lamar Jackson and get their defense back to what we used to know when it came to the Baltimore Ravens. Minter is the most likely candidate to see an immediate top of the conference performance like we saw from both Ben Johnson and Liam Coen this past season. 

 

5. Mike LaFleur, Arizona Cardinals 

 

I don’t mind this hire at all, and had Kubiak not been on the board in this cycle he would probably be ranked a bit higher for me. Reaching for the McVay tree is never a bad shake, though I would have preferred Nathan Scheelhaase who will be at the top of my list after next season most likely. He already has his work cut out for him, figuring out what to do with Kyler Murray. 

 

6. Robert Saleh, Tennessee Titans 

 

I’m typically out entirely on any retread coaching hire that wasn’t good in his first go around because we have such a long track record of these second time coaches being equally as bad in their second attempt. If there is one guy I’m willing to look past that for though, it’s Saleh mainly because the Jets are just that much of a disaster. He’s very respected around the league and I do believe they have their QB of the future already on the roster which helps things. 

 

7. Joe Brady, Buffalo Bills 

 

I don’t think this is the “worst” hiring of this cycle but it’s probably the most underwhelming. Buffalo should have fired Sean McDermott years ago in my opinion and the fact that they didn’t, means they probably should have just kept him now. This feels a few years too late for me. I don’t see what the team can gain going from him to Brady but when you have Josh Allen on your team he can cover a lot of things up. 

 

8. Jeff Hafley, Miami Dolphins 

 

I didn’t really agree with the Dolphins firing Mike McDaniel, especially after they played hard for him down the stretch of the season. Hafley’s defense in Green Bay underachieved in my opinion but he does have a ton of overall coaching experience. He feels like the opposite of McDaniel mentality wise and I believe that’s why he was hired whether it ends up working out or not remains to be seen. 

 

9. Mike McCarthy, Pittsburgh Steelers

 

I’m not a big fan of this hire, and I thought it would rank last in this cycle for me until the Browns did their Browns-like things. Pittsburgh has been stuck in mediocrity for almost a decade, and hiring a veteran coach like this just to lure Aaron Rodgers back for one more season delays their inevitable rebuild yet another season. 

 

10. Todd Monken, Cleveland Browns 

 

I actually like Todd Monken systemically as an offensive coach, but this team hiring a 60 year old first time HC makes absolutely zero sense to me. It seemed like they wanted an older coach to retain Jim Schwartz as opposed to letting a younger HC hand pick his staff and they ended up losing Schwartz regardless. This was one of the most comically bad HC searches I’ve ever followed and trading out Stefanski/Schwartz for Monken just seems plain bad. I guess we will see.