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NFL coaching carousel: Predicting where Mike Vrabel, Ben Johnson land in 2025
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- NFL coaching carousel: Predicting where Mike Vrabel, Ben Johnson land in 2025
The 2024 NFL regular season ended after the Detroit Lions beat the Minnesota Vikings 31-9 in the "Sunday Night Football" finale to clinch the NFC North and the conference's No. 1 seed.
Once that result was in the books, the NFL's coaching carousel began to spin in earnest ahead of the league's annual " Black Monday ."
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There weren't as many coach firings as usual on the first day after the regular season. The Jacksonville Jaguars let Doug Pederson go , but most vacancies had already opened. Three coaches were fired in-season while Jerod Mayo was dismissed shortly after the New England Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
The firings leaked into Tuesday when the Las Vegas Raiders relieved Antonio Pierce of his duties to create a sixth vacancy. There are plenty of high-quality candidates to fill those openings.
Which coaching candidates will ultimately land the available jobs across the NFL? Here are USA TODAY Sports ' predictions for the NFL's 2025 hiring cycle.
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NFL coach landing spot predictions 2025
Chicago Bears : Ben Johnson, Detroit Lions offensive coordinator
The first season of the Caleb Williams era in Chicago did not go as planned under the defensive-minded Matt Eberflus. First-year offensive coordinator Shane Waldron was ousted halfway through the season and interim offensive coordinator Thomas Brown eventually took over for Eberflus as the interim head coach, stretching him thin over the final five weeks of the season.
Entering 2025, the Bears need a better plan to capitalize on their offensive talent. That plan should include hiring a top offensive candidate, and Johnson has been among those options for the last few years. He just hasn't taken the leap to a head coaching role yet.
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That said, Johnson is intrigued by Chicago's coaching vacancy, according to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero . The 38-year-old has been picky in assessing his options thus far. Still, if Johnson likes the Bears' combination of offensive weapons and their $80 million in projected cap space (per OverTheCap.com ), he could end up taking command of Detroit's divisional rival.
Johnson could also be interested in the Jaguars or Patriots if he likes Trevor Lawrence or Drake Maye 's prospects of success better than Williams. As it stands, the Bears should be the favorites to land the NFL's white whale – unless Chicago prefers a more experienced coaching candidate like Pete Carroll.
BEARS COACHING CANDIDATES: Pete Carroll, Ben Johnson best options in Chicago
Jacksonville Jaguars : Joe Brady, Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator
Trevor Lawrence was viewed as a generational quarterback prospect coming into the NFL. He hasn't yet developed into a high-end star despite the Jaguars paying him like one.
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Lawrence enjoyed a breakout campaign in 2022 but since the start of the 2023 season, he has averaged 3,963 passing yards, 21 touchdowns and 14 interceptions per 17 games played. His 85.2 passer rating in 2024 ranked 28th in the NFL behind the likes of Joe Flacco (90.5), Aidan O'Connell (86.7) and well below the league average of 92.3.
All that's to say the Jaguars need to find a way to get the most out of Lawrence. The best way to do that may be to go after a coach like Brady, who has helped develop talented quarterbacks into stars during his career.
Brady was at LSU during Joe Burrow 's star turn and national championship run. After some lean years with the Carolina Panthers , Brady joined the Bills and has turned Josh Allen into a more efficient quarterback and a do-it-all MVP candidate.
Brady, 35, would become the NFL's youngest head coach once hired, but that's a risk Jacksonville can afford to take. He seems like one of the best fits for the Jaguars unless they can convince Johnson that he would have a better chance of succeeding in Jacksonville than Chicago.
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JAGUARS COACHING CANDIDATES: Who could be next up after Doug Pederson's firing?
New England Patriots : Mike Vrabel, former Tennessee Titans head coach
This feels like the biggest slam-dunk among the NFL coaching openings for the 2025 offseason. Vrabel is, in essence, a proven version of what New England hoped to get when it tapped Jerod Mayo as Bill Belichick's successor.
Vrabel is a former Patriots player who is intimately familiar with the franchise. He's also a defensive-minded coach who has consistently gotten the most out of his players on that side of the ball. That's how he led a middling Titans roster to a 54-45 record during his six years with the team and helped a Ryan Tannehill-led team to the AFC's No. 1 seed in 2021.
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Comparatively, the Titans finished an NFL-worst 3-14 in 2024, their first season since firing Vrabel. That helped further improve his stock even as he spent the season working as a consultant for the Cleveland Browns .
Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer reported that part of the reason the Patriots dismissed Mayo is they had concerns about his "ability to tactically manage the staff, and build a program." Vrabel would erase those concerns and give the Patriots a clear-cut direction and a tough-minded identity as they rebuild their roster around Drake Maye .
PATRIOTS COACHING CANDIDATES: Mike Vrabel, best options to replace Jerod Mayo
New Orleans Saints : Aaron Glenn, Detroit Lions defensive coordinator
Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer reports "familiarity will be a factor for the Saints " in their coaching search. That could help Glenn vault to the top of New Orleans ' list.
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Glenn spent the final season of his 15-year playing career with the Saints and later spent five seasons on Sean Payton's staff as a defensive backs coach from 2016-20. After that, Glenn was hired to work as Dan Campbell's defensive coordinator with the Lions; they have worked in tandem to turn Detroit from a bottom-barrel squad to a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
Glenn's overall numbers with the Lions don't look great on paper, but it's important to remember that Detroit had a dearth of defensive talent in his early years with the team. As Lions general manager Brad Holmes has improved the roster, Glenn's unit has also improved. Notably, it finished the 2024 NFL season allowing the seventh-fewest points per game despite seeing countless injured players – including Aidan Hutchinson , Alim McNeill and Carlton Davis , among others – miss significant time.
Glenn's Lions also had a signature game in Week 18 against the 14-win Minnesota Vikings . Despite being shorthanded at cornerback, Glenn schemed ways to pressure Sam Darnold relentlessly and limit Justin Jefferson with 5-9 corner Amik Robertson . That allowed Detroit to shut down Minnesota and hold the Vikings to just nine points in a blowout win.
Given his game-planning abilities, the Saints should see an upside in Glenn. They should also like bringing in a coach who brings a lot of energy to the sidelines, like Campbell does in Detroit. Pairing Glenn with a young secondary featuring Alontae Taylor and Kool-Aid McKinstry could be the first step in New Orleans' rebuilding as it seeks a new identity.
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SAINTS COACHING CANDIDATES: Aaron Glenn, Joe Brady among best options
New York Jets : Brian Flores, Minnesota Vikings defensive coordinator
The Jets may not be run by a teenager , but they are operating their coaching search like a lovelorn one assessing their list of crushes over the last four years. From respected options like Brady and Vrabel to head-scratching ones like Arthur Smith and Rex Ryan , there appears to be a plethora of options on the table.
Where the Jets will settle remains to be seen, but Flores could ultimately be the best fit for the Jets. Flores' blitz-heavy defensive scheme has proven challenging to figure out in his stops with the Patriots, Miami Dolphins and Vikings. His work in Minnesota has been particularly impressive.
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When Flores replaced Ed Donatell during the 2023 NFL season, the Vikings had ranked bottom-five in both yards and points allowed. By Flores' second season, they improved to 16th in yards allowed, fifth in scoring and first in takeaways.
Flores' attacking but disciplined style would pair well with New York's defensive talent, highlighted by Quinnen Williams and Sauce Gardner . This combination could allow the Jets to become one of the NFL's best defenses again. That would give the team time to figure things out on offense, which will be needed as the team assesses the next steps at quarterback with Aaron Rodgers ' future once again looking uncertain.
Perhaps Flores' strained relationship with Tua Tagovailoa will give the Jets pause in bringing him aboard, but the 43-year-old Flores has admitted there are things he will try to do better if he gets a second chance to be an NFL head coach. He went 24-25 during his three-year run with the Dolphins.
Either way, there's little doubt Flores would get the most out of New York's defensive players, which never quite happened during the Saleh era.
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Las Vegas Raiders : Kliff Kingsbury, Washington Commanders offensive coordinator
The Raiders had arguably the worst quarterback situation in the NFL during the 2024 season. They started Gardner Minshew , Aidan O'Connell and Desmond Ridder at the position. The trio produced just a combined 80.05 passer rating with 19 touchdowns and 16 interceptions on the season.
Las Vegas figures to address its quarterback woes during the 2025 NFL offseason, and it may want to bring in an offensive-minded coach to work with its new passer. Kingsbury would qualify, as he helped build a successful offense around rookie Jayden Daniels , who completed 69% of his passes for 3,568 yards, 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions while leading Washington to a 12-5 record.
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Kingsbury's offense is viewed as quarterback-friendly, and he has found success with mobile quarterbacks like Daniels and Kyler Murray during his two NFL starts. Kingsbury's record of 28-37-1 as an NFL head coach may not inspire much confidence. Still, he could prove to be a better investment for a Raiders team that needs coaching stability more than a younger coach with higher upside, like Johnson, Brady or Liam Coen.
The Raiders are moving onto their fifth different coach (interims included) since the 2021 season when Jon Gruden stepped down amid a scandal after emails containing racist, homophobic, and misogynistic remarks he sent while working for ESPN were leaked to the media.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Predicting new NFL head coaches 2025: Where top candidates will land
