Ranking 2026 Head Coaching Candidates
A group of bottom feeders is forming in the NFL standings. Soon, coaches will start to be fired. These coaches have a chance to fill those voids in 2026.
The NFL is littered with coaching talent - as well as impatient owners. While we have yet to see a team fire their head coach during the 2025 NFL season, the time is coming.
Last season, the New York Jets were the first team to make the move, firing head coach Robert Saleh on October 8th. The two other in-season coaching changes took place in New Orleans (Dennis Allen) and Chicago (Matt Eberflus).
With many coaches already on the hot seat (I’m looking at you, Mike McDaniel & Brian Callahan), it’s time to look at who could be next up in terms of NFL head coaching jobs.
This is a ranking of who I view as the best future NFL head coaches - not necessarily those that are going to be the most coveted in the 2026 offseason.
Included is a way-too-early prediction at where each of the coaches end up.
1. Jesse Minter
Current Role: Defensive Coordinator, Los Angeles Chargers
Coaching Lineage: Jim Harbaugh, Jon Harbaugh
Jesse Minter got his coaching start in 2006 at Notre Dame as a defensive intern. He quickly rose throughout defensive coaching ranks throughout the 2010s at Indiana State and Georgia State before landing on Jon Harbaugh’s Ravens staff as an assistant coach.
From there, Minter became a coordinator at Vanderbilt - followed by Michigan, where he would then follow Jim Harbaugh to the NFL.
Minter is going to have a natural disadvantage in head coaching interviews as he does not have a background calling offensive plays - arguably the number one trait that decision-makers are looking for, but what Minter does have is a defensive scheme that consistently makes the most of the players on the roster.
Between the Chargers’ top-10 ranked defense in 2024 as well as a red-hot start to 2025 (all with talent that doesn’t scream ‘elite’), Minter is almost assuredly going to be in the conversation for some of the top head coaching roles in 2026 - assuming his unit doesn’t fall off a cliff.
Way-too-early prediction: Jesse Minter is hired by the Tennessee Titans
2. Joe Brady
Current Role: Offensive Coordinator, Buffalo Bills
Coaching Lineage: Sean McDermott, Sean Payton, Ed Orgeron
Joe Brady’s NFL career thus far has been one of redemption. After being hired as the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator under Matt Rhule, Brady’s offense produced three receivers with 1,000+ scrimmage yards with Teddy Bridgewater at the helm.
His second season in Carolina lacked a little bit more sauce, and he was fired before the end of the year. In 2022, he joined the Buffalo Bills staff under then-OC Ken Dorsey. Brady would eventually inherit play-calling duties in the middle of the 2023 season.
The Bills were 3rd in EPA/play in 2024 while being notably good at both passing and rushing - despite a receiving corps that didn’t have a standout player. That offensive output has continued into 2025 (and will likely remain that way so long as NFL MVP Josh Allen is healthy.
It’s incredibly rare that we get a young play-caller that’s produced an MVP and two top-5 offenses (so long as 2025 holds) not get a head coaching position in today’s NFL. So it’s only a matter of time before Brady is poached from this Bills staff.
Way-too-early prediction: Joe Brady is hired by the Atlanta Falcons
3. Klint Kubiak
Current Role: Offensive Coordinator, Seattle Seahawks
Coaching Lineage: Kevin Stefanski, Mike Zimmer, Kyle Shanahan, Gary Kubiak
This is the biggest leap I’ll take throughout this entire piece, I think Klint Kubiak is going to be a prime head coaching candidate in 2026. Thus far, his Seattle Seahawks offense ranks in the top half of the league by most metrics despite playing three of the tougher defenses in the league through four games (49ers, Steelers, and Cardinals).
Through those four games, Seahawks QB Sam Darnold is 8th in EPA/DB and 7th in passer rating with the 3rd-highest yards per attempt in the league. As stated, the easiest way to get hired as head coach is to be the offensive play-caller of a good team - and the Seattle Seahawks are 3-1 to this point in the season.
While Kubiak may not be the shoe-in that Joe Brady and Jesse Minter are, I still think he will at least interview for most head coaching jobs in 2026 - as most teams look for young offensive coaches to become “the next Kyle Shanahan.”
Way-too-early prediction: Klint Kubiak is hired by the Cincinnati Bengals
4. Anthony Weaver
Current Role: Defensive Coordinator, Miami Dolphins
Coaching Lineage: Rex Ryan, Jon Harbaugh, Doug Marrone, Bill O’Brien, Mike McDaniel
Okay - look - I understand what you’re thinking.
“Why is the guy who is the coordinator of the worst defense in the league a head coaching candidate?”
And I hate to do that “not his fault” thing here, but this is a Dolphins team that hasn’t exactly maintained it’s personnel over the past few years - they’ve lost Jalen Ramsey, Andrew Van Ginkel, Christian Wilkins, Jevon Holland, and more over the span of the past two offseasons. And while there have been efforts to replace those guys through the draft, there’s only so much you can do with Chop Robinson and Kenneth Grant.
I mean, just look at this defensive back room:
But Anthony Weaver is an incredibly respected coach - and would be more of a CEO-type coach (think Dan Campbell, Aaron Glenn) than a scheme-guru coordinator regardless.
Even in 2024, the Dolphins ranked 4th in yards allowed per game and 9th in EPA/play - so it’s not like Weaver is a slouch as a coordinator. The slow trickle of talent leaving the building seems to finally have caught up with the Dolphins, unfortunately.
So while a promotion feels wrong in some sense, Weaver was knocking on the door of potentially being the Washington Commanders head coach before the team hired Dan Quinn. Weaver also interviewed with the Saints and Bears last offseason for their openings.
Way-too-early prediction: Anthony Weaver is hired by the New York Giants
5. Mike McCarthy
Current Role: Unemployed, but former Packers and Cowboys head coach
Coaching Lineage: Marty Schottenheimer
I think there are going to be many teams this offseason interested in bringing in Mike McCarthy. He’s been a consistently above-average head coach for multiple teams over the span of nearly 20 years. His philosophy has changed quite a bit in that time, but his evolution as a coach speaks to his longevity.
That consistency is why McCarthy will be back on an NFL sideline in 2026 - it’s just a question of where, to me. And frankly, leaving the train wreck that is the 2025 Dallas Cowboys might have been the best thing for him.
In 2024, the Cowboys - despite not having Dak Prescott most of the season, never quit on McCarthy - and nearly made a run spectacular enough to actually make the playoffs with Cooper Rush at QB.
It seems the only reason McCarthy even left Dallas was a contract dispute with Jerry Jones.
Way-too-early prediction: Mike McCarthy is hired by the Miami Dolphins
Other Notable Head Coaching Candidates
In no particular order:
John Morton, Offensive Coordinator, Detroit Lions
Todd Monken, Offensive Coordinator, Baltimore Ravens
Patrick Graham, Defensive Coordinator, Las Vegas Raiders
Brian Flores, Defensive Coordinator, Minnesota Vikings
Josh Grizzard, Offensive Coordinator, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Declan Doyle, Offensive Coordinator, Chicago Bears
Kevin Patullo, Offensive Coordinator, Philadelphia Eagles
Jeff Hafley, Defensive Coordinator, Green Bay Packers
Ejiro Evero, Defensive Coordinator, Carolina Panthers
Kelvin Sheppard, Defensive Coordinator, Detroit Lions
Nick Rallis, Defensive Coordinator, Arizona Cardinals
Tanner Engstrand, Offensive Coordinator, New York Jets