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It’s probably going to be a slow weekend for Green Bay Packers news, but the NFL coaching cycle has been churning all month. Since we have a little time here, I wanted to ask you all what you think of the recent coaching hires that have been made. Here are some of my thoughts.
It’s hard to talk about the Giants’ job without bringing up the fact that the primary owner of the team, John Mara, has been diagnosed with cancer. If the team is in win-now mode, it’s hard to imagine that there was a coach on the market better equipped to lead a team to the Super Bowl in the next couple of years than Harbaugh, despite his lack of playoff success.
Harbaugh is a CEO style head coach, which means that he’s going to need good coordinators and assistants under him — which is possibly one reason why some teams shied away from the opportunity to pay him $20 million a year for five seasons, a raise from his Baltimore Ravens rate, only to probably also turn around and pay one of the highest assistant pools in the league (on top of the buyouts for the last staff).
It also seems like Harbaugh gets to set the tone in the front office now, too, based on how dodgy general manager Joe Schoen has been when the question has come up. I think quarterback might be the biggest hurdle in Harbaugh’s way, but that’s not something he can really control for 2026.
I know that Stefanski is just 45-56 in his head coaching career, but you’ve got to give him some credit for the crapshow that Cleveland has been from a personnel standpoint. The Deshaun Watson trade (and deal) might end up being one of the worst in sports history. Honestly, considering the circumstances, I think Stefanski winning two NFL Coach of the Year honors speaks to what decision-makers think of him. I’m not surprised he was second off the board after Harbaugh.
Atlanta has some good pieces in place to make that offense go. Kirk Cousins’ dead cap is still higher than his cap hit, which will make him hard to trade this offseason. If Michael Penix isn’t 100 percent, Cousins did look much better in 2025 than 2024 (a low bar). Throw in Bijan Robinson, Drake London and potentially Kyle Pitts, and I get why there would be optimism about the 2026 squad. I also thought the Falcons’ front seven played a lot better last year than I would have expected coming into the year.
An in-the-booth defensive coordinator is so different from a sideline play-calling head coach that I’m not sure how much of what Hafley did in Green Bay translates, one way or another, to what he’ll do in Miami. I honestly don’t have a strong prediction here, but it’s not surprising to me that...
