NFL Confidential: Which Head Coach Opening Do Execs, Scouts Think Is the Best?

The 2026 NFL head coaching carousel is already off and running, with interviews taking place for head coach vacancies around the league as six head coaches have been fired this week. 

Those six teams (Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, Las Vegas Raiders, Miami Dolphins) joined the New York Giants and Tennessee Titans in the head coaching search. With a quarter of the teams in the league seeking a new head coach, which opening is the top job?

Well, FOX Sports' Eric D. Williams and Ralph Vacchiano asked that question to executives, scouts and personnel people around the league. They also surveyed their sources on what to think about the Dolphins' situation, where John Harbaugh could end up next and what teams are looking for in a head coach hire.

Here's what they learned from those conversations.  

***

Eric D. Williams: A surprise addition to the head coaching hiring cycle after John Harbaugh’s firing, the Baltimore Ravens head coaching job quickly ascended to the top head coaching vacancy available, according to league sources I spoke with this week.

"It’s No. 1, but will have high expectations right away," a league source told me. "It’s boom or bust."

Added an NFL coach: "The organization alone puts them at the top."

League sources I spoke with ranked the Ravens, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns and New York Giants as the top four head coaching jobs available of the eight teams currently looking to fill vacancies as we head into the first week of the postseason.

"Cleveland let a good coach go," a longtime NFL scout told me. "Good landing spots for coaches are Atlanta, Arizona and the New York Giants. But young coaches have to learn the old scouting process and not just be