NFL coaching candidates 2025: Identifying top NFL head coach candidates, including Bill Belichick

Bill Belichick will understandably be atop many NFL coaching candidates list this offseason, but Mike Vrabel should be far more appealing to teams seeking a long-term answer. He’ll turn 50 next August and comes with a strong track record. He went 9-7 in his first two seasons as the Tennessee Titans coach, even reaching the AFC Championship Game. He followed that up with consecutive seasons with double-digit wins from 2020-’21 and made the playoffs in three of six seasons as the Titans’ coach. A finalist for the Los Angeles Chargers’ coaching vacancy this past offseason, Vrabel brings leadership, a sharp defensive mind and he’s well-regarded by players.

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Before he took over as defensive coordinator ahead of the 2023 NFL season, the Minnesota Vikings defense ranked 29th in yards per play allowed (5.9), 28th in opponents’ scoring rate (41.1 percent) and yards per drive allowed (34.4). Two years later, the Vikings have one of the best defenses in the NFL and Flores is well-regarded as one of the best defensive minds in the league.

Flores is one of the top NFL coaching candidates in 2025, but there are two obvious concerns teams will have. First, his treatment of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was unprofessional at best and how a head coach treats the franchise quarterback can’t be ignored. Second, he has an ongoing lawsuit against the NFL for discrimination. He has been hired twice since filing the suit, first by the Pittsburgh Steelers and then by Minnesota. Those are the blemishes on his resume that he’ll have to address in head-coaching interviews, but he did go 19-7 in his final two seasons when the Miami Dolphins were still rebuilding (2020-’21). The league has given second chances to plenty of others and Flores has earned the right to have his second shot.

Ben Johnson is the bell of the ball for NFL teams in the market for a new head coach. While some will knock the fact that he’s now backed down on two potential head-coaching gigs in consecutive years – Carolina Panthers in 2023 and the Washington Commanders in 2024 – that’s not going to matter much for desperate teams.

The resume speaks for itself. Jared Goff is playing at an even higher level than he did with Sean McVay and the warts that prevented the Los Angeles Rams from winning a Super Bowl are now gone from Goff with Johnson. He is a phenomenal offensive architect and the demand for his services means he will, once again, get to dictate what job he takes and his next salary. The two teams to keep a close eye on are the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles.

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Credit to Bill Belichick for using the 2024 NFL season to show off his personality on The Pat McAfee Show, the Mannningcast and a podcast. It’s shed a little light into the personality that he kept under wraps for decades, but one very clear thing is his passion for the game is as strong as ever. Plus, it’s not hard to see how his absence impacted the New England Patriots.

In 2023, the Patriots defense allowed the fourth-lowest yards-per-play average (4.7) and opponents’ scoring rate (31.5 percent) while ranking eighth in EPA per Play allowed (-0.059). In 2022, New England ranks 23rd (5.7), 24th (43.2 percent) and 29th (0.095) in those same categories. He can completely turn around a defense and provide a much-needed culture change for an organization. Plus for as bad as a head coach as Josh McDaniels was, he worked well as an OC. The only real drawback with Belichick, aside from that he’ll be 73 next year, is his need for personnel control. That could be a deal-breaker for some teams (Philadelphia Phillies), but maybe not so much for a desperate team like the Dallas Cowboys.

While Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen might not be one of the most well-known NFL coaching candidates, that could change pretty soon. He replaced Dave Canales, who turned a one-year stint as the Bucs’ offensive play-caller into a head-coaching job with the Carolina Panthers. Now, let’s compare the offenses.

In 2023 under Canales, Tampa Bay ranked 20th in yards per play (5.1), 20th in scoring (20.5 PPG), 10th in third-down conversion rate (41.5 percent) and 12th in EPA per Play (0.008). This season with Coen, prior to the Chris Godwin and Mike Evans injuries, the Buccaneers offense ranked fifth in EPA per Play (0.109) and it currently ranks sixth in yards per play (6.1) and third in scoring (29.4 PPG). Plus, another thing NFL teams will like, Coen spent time learning from Sean McVay (2018-’20, 2022).

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Coming into the season, we would’ve viewed Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter as one of the top NFL head coach candidates for 2026. After all, the 2024 season would be his first as a defensive play-caller at the NFL level. While he did have NFL experience before that, it was reasonable to think there would be a multi-year transition with an undermanned Chargers defense.

• Los Angeles Chargers defense (2023): 5.5 yards per play (26th), 36% opponents’ scoring rate (18th), 96.4 average QB rating allowed (27th), 113.2 rush ypg (18th), 0.019 EPA per Play (24th)
• Los Angeles Chargers defense (2024): 5.1 yards per play (7th), 23.4% opponents’ scoring rate (1st), 75.9 average QB rating allowed (1st), 107.9 rush ypg (8th), -0.159 EPA per Play (1st)

He’s going to be a hot name in 2025. Minter played an integral role in the Michigan Wolverines’ 2023 championship and, despite Los Angeles not making any significant offseason additions to its defense, he’s turned this into an elite unit. Plus, he’s part of the Harbaugh coach tree (Jim and John). If he isn’t hired as a head coach in 2025, Minter will get a gig in 2026.

We touched on Aaron Glenn as a head-coaching candidate for the New Orleans Saints last year and he’s probably one of the leading candidates for the job in 2025 now that Dennis Allen has been fired. With that said, New Orleans is going to face significant competition for him and his previous ties to the organization – 2016-2020 under Sean Payton – might not be enough to land him.

Glenn, who will be 53 years old next season, has orchestrated one of the best NFL defenses in 2024. What’s noteworthy about his work this year is that, even after the Aidan Hutchinson injury, the Lions’ defense ranks second in EPA Per Play allowed (-0.155). He’s beloved by players and his years spent under Dan Campbell will positively influence how he approaches his first head-coaching gig. With two of the top NFL coaching candidates, Detroit could lose both its offensive and defensive coordinators.

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Former offensive line coaches aren’t always among the most popular NFL coaching candidates among fans, but you can always guarantee they’ll generate interest from teams. Everyone knows Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich isn’t the play-caller in Green Bay, but he served as the Packers offensive line coach from 2019-’21. During that time, Green Bay had one of the best offensive lines in the NFL and Stenavich developed them better than almost anyone. He’s spent years learning from Matt LaFleur, who will probably soon have a coaching tree of his own that NFL clubs want to tap into. While Stenavich lacks play-calling experience, his track record merits interviews.

Plenty were skeptical when the Arizona Cardinals hired Jonathan Gannon as their head coach in 2023 and his decision to name Drew Petzing as his offensive coordinator raised eyebrows. Prior to joining Arizona, Petzing spent the 2022 season as the Cleveland Browns quarterbacks coach and before that he coached Browns’ tight ends (2020-’21), Vikings’ receivers (2016-’17, 2019) and quarterbacks (2018).

• Arizona Cardinals offense (2022): -0.135 EPA per Play (30th), 39.4 percent Offensive Success rate (28th), -0.132 Dropback EPA (30th), -0.143 Rush EPA (25th)
• Arizona Cardinals offense (2023-’24): -0.017 EPA per Play (14th), 42.3 percent Offensive Success rate (18th), -0.039 Dropback EPA (25th), 0.014 Rush EPA (5th)

Petzing transformed the Cardinals’ rushing game, even before Kyler Murray returned midway through the 2023 season with an ACL tear. Since Murray returned, Arizona has had one of the best rushing offenses in the NFL. He’s not perfect, as his passing concepts and usage of Marvin Harrison Jr. are areas that need work. However, he’ll be just 38 years old in March and with rushing offenses becoming important again in the NFL, Petzing will have suitors.

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It hasn’t been a banner year for Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik, who was one of the most talked about NFL coaching candidates this past season. That came off a massive turnaround for this Texans offense, with improvements in yards per play (4.7 to 5.6), third-down conversion rate (30.32% to 37.93%) and red-zone touchdown rate (47.92% to 54.72%).

While the Texans offense has taken a step back in 2024, it’s not hard to see why. Houston has arguably a bottom-five offensive line this season with both Joe Mixon and Nico Collins missing at least 3 games apiece. Now, Stefon Diggs is out for the year. The circumstances explain the decline and Slowik’s success in 2023 paired with his years spent under Kyle Shanahan will land him interviews in 2025.

It’s not often that first-year playcallers who experience immediate success are hired as head coaches the following offseason, especially on the defensive side of the ball. While Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson is likely to experience that in 2025, he will still be one of the top NFL head coach candidates brought in for multiple interviews.

• Tennessee Titans defense (2023): 5.2 yards per play average (12th), 43.2% opponents’ scoring rate (30th), 38.5% third-down conversion rate (17th), 32.3 yards per drive (24th), 0.032 EPA per Play (27th)
• Tennessee Titans defense (2023): 4.7 yards per play average (2nd), 41% opponents’ scoring rate (21st), 31.3% third-down conversion rate (2nd), 23.7 yards per drive (1st), -0.026 EPA per Play (8th)

Turning 43 in March, Wilson did outstanding work as the Philadelphia Eagles passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach in 2022 when they had one of the best defenses in the NFL. A year later, he coached the Baltimore Ravens defensive backs when they had the No. 1 defense. The track record speaks for itself and it’s only a matter of time until Wilson becomes an NFL head coach.

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When the Philadelphia Eagles collapsed in the second half of last season, their offense after the Week 10 bye ranked 13th in EPA per Play (0.013) including 17th in Dropback EPA (0.022). It’s what prompted the organization to hire Kellen Moore as play-caller, taking control away from Nick Sirianni.

Fast forward to 2024, Philadelphia has the sixth-highest EPA per Play (0.088) in the NFL with the ninth-highest Dropback EPA (0.146). Moore is also helping Hurts average career-highs in completion rate (69.8%), QB rating (102.4) and yards per attempt (8.3). While he wouldn’t be one of our top choices among this year’s NFL coaching candidates, he deserves interviews and NFL teams have been eyeing him since his time with the Dallas Cowboys.

Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, age 44, isn’t having quite as much success as his former Ravens colleague (Dennard Wilson). However, Miami’s defensive play-caller is doing an excellent job squeezing the most production he can out of a defense that has been decimated by injuries. Weaver has also been coaching in the NFL for more than a decade, spending three seasons under John Harbaugh and several years learning from Bill O’Brien. We’d bet he probably doesn’t get hired as a head coach in 2025, but Weaver is making a name for himself this year and head-coaching interviews will come this spring.

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Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady epitomizes the winding road coaches can go through. He was the talk of the football world in 2019 when he was hired as the LSU Tigers passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach. His involvement in one of the best offenses in college football history led Sean Payton’s former offensive assistant (2017-’18) back to the NFL as the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator (2020-’21).

• Buffalo Bills offense (2024): 5.8 yards per play (9th), 47% scoring rate (5th), 28.9 PPG (5th), 64.1% red-zone touchdown rate (6th), 32.6 yards per drive (12th), 2.71 points per drive (4th)

The Panthers offense was a mess and Brady was fired before finishing his second season. Months later, the Buffalo Bills hired him as Josh Allen’s quarterbacks coach and then promoted him to play-caller in November 2023 to replace Ken Dorsey. He used that offseason to make adjustments and it’s resulted in one of the best NFL offenses in 2024. Brady is only 35 years old and he’s had the benefit of learning from his mistakes and ‘failures’. For the leader of a football team, that’s a valuable experience to have in addition to the offensive mind he offers.

With Jim Harbaugh already with the Los Angeles Chargers and Lincoln Riley putting himself on the hot seat at USC, there probably won’t be many NFL coaching candidates coming from college football this year. If there’s one name to keep an eye on, it’s Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell.

Campbell landed his first head-coaching job at Toledo before the 2012 season. He went 9-4 in his first season and recorded three 9-win seasons in four years. Iowa State then hired him in 2016, hoping he could fix a problem that went 8-27 from 2013-’15. From 2017-2024, Campbell’s Cyclones have won at least 7 games in all but one year (2022) and the program is in the midst of its best season since 1906. There’s an undeniable risk in hiring a head coach without any NFL experience, but NFL teams reached out to him in 2019 and 2021.

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