ClutchPoints
Black Monday is the day after the NFL’s regular season ends. On this day, every NFL coach on the hot seat is twiddling their thumbs while hoping that their job is safe, as a number of coaches and front office members get fired directly after the regular season ends. This year, four coaches were fired on Jan. 5, in addition to two general managers. The Atlanta Falcons, Las Vegas Raiders, Arizona Cardinals, and Cleveland Browns all moved on from their coaches. The Falcons also moved on from their general manager, as did the Miami Dolphins. The Tennessee Titans and New York Giants are still looking for their next coach after they made mid-season firings, too.
That means that there are six teams that will be searching for a new coach, but how do these coaching vacancies rank in terms of how desirable they are for coaching candidates? Job security, state of the roster, ability to improve the roster, and organizational stability can all play a part in what makes a team an intriguing fit for a coach.
The Cardinals lost nine straight games to end the season. That is a scary trajectory for whoever the next head coach will be. Roster improvement will also be limited by Kyler Murray’s contract. It seems like the team is ready to move on from the former first overall pick, but teams will likely be hesitant to trade for a player on a $230.5 million deal with two years left.
Perhaps Murray will be back as the starter. He isn’t a bad player, but he certainly hasn’t met pre-draft expectations. Jacoby Brissett is a solid bridge option, but he doesn’t have the it factor required from an NFL quarterback, which is part of the reason the team lost so many games to end the season.
With Arizona picking behind the Raiders and the Jets in the 2026 NFL Draft, they will likely miss out on one of the top quarterbacks in what is somewhat of a two-man class, too. The Cardinals will be just middle of the pack in cap space, and there isn’t much optimism that general manager Monti Ossenfort will be able to do anything with the money they do have available.
Despite joining the team at the same time as former head coach Jonathan Gannon, Ossenfort kept his job. The roster is weirdly constructed and doesn’t fit together all that well. The Cardinals also play in an NFC West that is arguably the best division in the NFL. All of the Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams, and San Francisco 49ers will make a push for the Super Bowl. The silver lining is that the team does employ Trey McBride, arguably the best tight end in the NFL, but not even he can prevent the Cardinals from being the least appealing head coaching destination this year.
The Cleveland Browns have been a disaster of an organization ever since they rejoined the league in 1999....
