NFL coaching predictions 2025: Mike Vrabel, Ben Johnson land jobs

We’ll start off with what feels like the easiest of NFL coaching predictions. Former Tennessee Titans coach is the best coaching candidate available in 2025. The New England Patriots have the best coaching job in the NFL. Vrabel won three Super Bowls as a player with the Patriots and he’s beloved by both owner Robert Kraft and Patriots Nation.

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Vrabel brings the coaching experience that Jerod Mayo simply never had, which means significantly better in-game decisions, fewer instances of players and assistant coaches being thrown under the bus in post-game press conferences and simply a more well-coached team. Plus, Vrabel has struck gold (Arthur Smith and Matt LaFleur) with some of his offensive coordinator hires. This feels inevitable.

The New Orleans Saints have a lot working against them in the NFL coaching carousel. Because of the Derek Carr contract, New Orleans is essentially tied to the quarterback heading into his age-34 season. Making matters even worse, the Saints roster has fallen apart thanks to aging stars (Cam Jordan, Demario Davis, Tyrann Mathieu) and a recent lack of success in the NFL Draft (Bryan Bressee, Isaiah Foskey, Kendre Miller, Trevor Penning, Payton Turner). If all of that isn’t bad enough, New Orleans also has the worst salary-cap situation (-66.82 million) in the NFL.

• Buffalo Bills offense (2024): 6.1 yards per play (5th), 50.9% scoring rate (2nd), 31.8 PPG (2nd), 44.4% third-down conversion rate (7th), 70.8% red-zone touchdown rate (2nd), 35.9 yards per drive (7th), 3 points per drive (2nd)

New Orleans would probably love to have Aaron Glenn, but he’ll likely have better offers to choose from. Instead, working with a more limited pool of candidates, the Saints bring Joe Brady Back to Louisiana. He served under Sean Payton as an offensive assistant (2017-’18) before working as passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach when the LSU Tigers won the national championship. He learned from his mistakes in his first stint as an offensive play-caller with the Carolina Panthers, finding tremendous success in Buffalo (and more than his predecessor). Brady did a great job in 2024 getting his running backs involved in the passing game, so he could also help Alvin Kamara.

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The presence of Woody Johnson and his sons certainly doesn’t help make the New York Jets’ coaching vacancy more attractive. However, as we saw with the Houston Texans (DeMeco Ryans) a coach’s ties to a team can matter. Plus, this Jets roster still has Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson, Olu Fashanu, Sauce Gardner, Quinnen Williams, Alijah Vera-Tucker and Joe Tippman. Plus, Davante Adams could be flipped for more draft picks.

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This feels like the right landing spot for Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn. The Jets drafted him with the 12th pick in the 1994 NFL Draft and he played with the Jets from 1994-2001, earning two Pro Bowl selections. Glenn’s defensive mind and leadership can help turn around this defense pretty quickly. Plus, he can bring along Lions’ assistant general manager to serve as the Jets general manager for a united vision. As for who Glenn would pick as his offensive coordinator, Lions running backs coach Scottie Montgomery or passing-game coordinator Tanner Engstrand would be compelling options but Detroit likely promotes one of the two if Ben Johnson leaves.

We gave serious consideration to having Ben Johnson land with the Chicago Bears in our NFL coaching predictions. However, there are a few circumstances that pushed us towards the Jacksonville Jaguars landing the most coveted offensive play-caller in the last two years.

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First, the AFC South will be far easier to win division titles over the next few years than the NFC North. Winning divisions and hosting playoff games means more job security. Plus, Johnson gets to work with a very talented quarterback in Trevor Lawrence and he’ll have No. 1 receiver Brian Thomas Jr. along with tight end Evan Engram. If all of that isn’t enough incentive, a team located in a state without an individual income tax can make Johnson one of the highest-paid coaches.

Jacksonville did, however, lower its chances of landing Johnson with its decision to retain general manager Trent Baalke. Now, much like the Bears, Johnson would be tied to a general manager who he has no relationship with. We still think the rest of this job will be appealing, especially because of how winnable the division is, but this prediction no longer comes with any real confidence.

The Chicago Bears might’ve entered the NFL coaching carousel at a bad time, which falls on the front office for waiting too long to fire Matt Eberflus. Caleb Williams makes the Bears’ coaching vacancy attractive, but there’s some friction in the front office and the Bears don’t currently have a GM vacancy. Because of that, the Patriots (Mike Vrabel) and Jaguars (Ben Johnson) are in better positions to land the top head-coach candidates Chicago wants.

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So, the Bears have to pivot. Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores merits consideration, but his lack of success in hiring an offensive coordinator is too big of a risk. Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator and Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady also are worth interviewing, but they lack the head-coaching experience Chicago wants.

That’s why we believe Kliff Kingsbury will be the next Bears head coach. He already has an outstanding relationship with Williams and giving the second-year quarterback some familiarity with an offensive system would help a lot. Kingsbury might not be a home-run hire considering his lack of success as a head coach in college (35-40) and with the Arizona Cardinals (28-37-1). For what the Bears are looking for – experience and a QB-friendly coach – he checks the boxes.

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