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Black Monday has arrived, and for some, it arrived much sooner than expected. Just after the stroke of midnight, the Atlanta Falcons announced they were firing Arthur Smith just hours after the team lost to the New Orleans Saints 48-17, making another NFL head coaching vacancy.
The Washington Commanders were a little more courteous and allowed for daylight before they canned Ron Rivera. The Commanders and Falcons were the only two teams to let go of their coaches on Black Monday, other than some assistant coaches and general managers from other teams across the league being fired. However, other NFL head coaching vacancies have come in the later days with the firing of Tennessee Titans Mike Vrabel and Pete Carroll stepping down to an advisor role with the Seattle Seahawks.
Well before Black Monday, there were already some teams that had moved on from their head coaches. In what could turnout to be a Jim Harbaugh sweepstakes, we rank the best head coaching vacancies in the NFL.
1. Los Angeles Chargers
Far and away the best NFL head coaching vacancy out there in the NFL is the Chargers job, and it's not even close. That mainly starts with starting quarterback Justin Herbert, who is a franchise guy, just recently signing a new contract. But there are also other parts that make up this roster that are good; however, the problem is that they are injury-prone, like defensive end Joey Bosa. Also, they're going to be close to $35 million over the salary cap in 2024, according to CBSSports. So there will be some tweaking that needs to be made to the roster one way or another. That's the biggest problem, really, which comes thanks to Herbert's lucrative contract. They have the No. 5 pick in the draft.
2. Atlanta Falcons
Atlanta had too good of a roster, at least offensively, to be as inconsistent as they were this season. However, they are without the main component to make a winning team: a franchise quarterback. Matt Ryan's replacement has been a revolving door of has-beens or never-weres, with three 7-10 years to prove it. The team finally got out of the restraints of salary cap issues that came before Arthur Smith, and they'll still have money to spend next season, plus they'll have the No. 8 pick in the NFL Draft once again.
3. Seattle Seahawks
In a bit of a surprise twist in the NFL head coaching vacancies, Pete Carroll is stepping down as the head coach of the Seahawks. While the Seahawks have some decent pieces in their roster, just missing the playoffs this season, they feel like a team stuck between good and bad, which is NFL purgatory. They're also only projecting to have $4.3 million in cap space in 2024, according to Spotrac. There's obviously room for cuts, which could significantly adjust their cap, but that will be priority No. 1 for the next head coach. They'll be a middle-of-the-pack team in the draft, picking 16th, although they could try to move up to find Geno Smith's replacement.
4. Las Vegas Raiders
There's some talent to work with already in Las Vegas, but the problem is that pesky quarterback situation that most teams in the league deal with. Aidan O'Connell was serviceable this season, but he's most likely not the future for the Raiders. Whoever takes this job has two major issues: 1. They have to make their way through the daunting AFC West every season that has Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. 2. The kooky ownership in Mark Davis that seems to be making some of the errant mistakes his father made toward the end. The Raiders will have the No. 13 pick in the draft, with a whopping $55 million in cap space to work with.
5. Washington Commanders
The best thing about this job now is that it's under new ownership, void of Dan Snyder. No one still knows what they quite look like as of yet, but they are making moves that portray them as taking it seriously. The intriguing part for whoever takes this job is that they'll have the No. 2 pick, which they can presumably use to get a potential franchise quarterback. Not only that, but they also will have $78 million in cap space to work with. This job could be ranked higher, but again, it's the fear of the unknown with the new ownership.
6. Tennessee Titans
The Titans job comes in at an interesting spot on this list. They may or may not have found their franchise quarterback in Will Levis, but only really got a small sample size from him due injuries suffered late in the season. However, they'll have just short of $80 million to spend in cap space in 2024, which is the second-most in the NFL. Plus, they have a top-10 pick (7th) in the NFL Draft. They'll need both to fix a very subpar roster. Minus the roster, the real problems come from a shaky, impulsive ownership, which, like many in the NFL, doesn't want to relinquish any sort of control to their head coaches.
7. Carolina Panthers
Panthers owner David Tepper may have a difficult time finding someone to fill his head coaching vacancy — and that's all his fault. Tepper has proven to be impetuous, firing two head coaches in two years, and not even allowing Frank Reich to complete a full season this year. Not many aspiring head coaches probably feel comfortable taking this job unless they're just wanting a good payday to sit at home after being fired a couple of months it. This is the least attractive head coaching job in the NFL.
