{"id":419901,"date":"2026-01-17T21:41:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T21:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/419901\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T21:41:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T21:41:09","slug":"what-were-hearing-around-the-nfl-coaching-carousel-before-the-divisional-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/419901\/","title":{"rendered":"What We\u2019re Hearing Around the NFL Coaching Carousel Before the Divisional Round"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our pre-divisional round coaching notes \u2026<\/p>\n

What took John Harbaugh and the Giants so long<\/a>The Dolphins\u2019 coaching search<\/a>Falcons begin narrowing coaching options<\/a>What about the Titans?<\/a>Raiders still searching while already thinking about next QB<\/a>Matt LaFleur\u2019s negotiations with the Packers<\/a>Mike McDaniel could start a domino effect<\/a>Teams taking their time<\/a>What took John Harbaugh and the Giants so long<\/p>\n

The Giants have finalized a five-year deal to make John Harbaugh their next head coach.<\/p>\n

So what took so long?<\/p>\n

Over the past 48 hours, there was plenty of consternation over the pace of finalizing<\/a> (and officially anointing) Harbaugh as the new boss in New York. I get that. This isn\u2019t the way you typically see a coaching hire go down, where reports of an agreement lead to a deal, leading to an announcement and press conference in short order.<\/p>\n

And this was indeed a little different. With owner John Mara in a cancer battle, there are some moving parts organizationally within the Giants with Chris Mara, John\u2019s brother, having taken an elevated role amid his sibling\u2019s illness. They\u2019ve also had a mode of operation there that goes back decades\u2014where the coach reports to the general manager, who reports to ownership. That goes back to George Young and Bill Parcells, and existed, of course, most recently with Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a different structure than what Harbaugh had in Baltimore, where he worked with GMs Ozzie Newsome and Eric DeCosta, with both he and the GM reporting directly to ownership.<\/p>\n

In the end, Harbaugh got what he had in Baltimore. He\u2019ll report directly to the Maras.<\/p>\n

When Harbaugh agreed to take the Giants\u2019 job late Wednesday night, he did it with some clarity needed on all of that. The important thing is that they found that clarity, and he\u2019ll be the coach\u2014there was never any doubt he would be after he accepted the job Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Even if it took just a little longer than expected.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins\u2019 coaching search<\/p>\n

The Dolphins are moving into the second phase of their coach search, and have scheduled second interviews with former Browns coach Kevin Stefanski and Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, who was with new Miami GM Jon-Eric Sullivan the past two years in Green Bay.<\/p>\n

Miami\u2019s planning on setting up a couple more, too, as they work through it, and Sullivan\u2019s been in on every piece of it with owner Stephen Ross, Ross\u2019 son-in-law Danny Sillman, team president Tom Garfinkel, and cap chief Brandon Shore. The Dolphins\u2019 priority now is finding someone who fits in with the new three-headed structure (Sullivan, Shore, and the head coach), which is part of why the timing for Harbaugh in Miami wasn\u2019t quite right.<\/p>\n

Hafley\u2019s name is a name to watch there, and has been for a few days now. He\u2019s interviewed well just about everywhere, but he\u2019s been pretty consistently tied to Miami in league circles.<\/p>\n

\"Cleveland<\/p>\n

Kevin Stefanski has earned multiple second-round interview with teams looking to fill a head coaching vacancy this offseason. | Jeff Lange \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Falcons begin narrowing coaching options<\/p>\n

\u2022 Stefanski\u2019s a very popular man\u2014he\u2019ll arrive in Atlanta Saturday night for a second interview with the Falcons<\/a>. And just as Hafley has, for a few days now, been considered a strong candidate for the Dolphins\u2019 job, Stefanski has emerged as an important name in the Falcons\u2019 search.<\/p>\n

The plan, for now, is for Stefanski to meet with the Falcons Saturday night and Sunday in Atlanta, and fly tomorrow to Nashville to meet with the Titans, then sit down with the Dolphins (he already had an in-person interview with Miami). That said, Atlanta went into this weekend ready to compete for candidates if needed, which is why the Falcons are starting their second round before the first round ends (with Bills OC Joe Brady still slated for Sunday).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s also why the Falcons have backburnered the GM search, with plans to pick that up at the end of the coming week. If a coach is in place soon, that coaching would participate in the GM search.<\/p>\n

\u2022 One other interesting piece of the Falcons\u2019 search is sitting defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, who\u2019s been blocked by the team from interviewing for coordinator jobs elsewhere.<\/p>\n

The Falcons would love for him to be a part of the equation with the next coach, I\u2019ve heard he wouldn\u2019t mind staying, and it sounds like Stefanski is amenable to him staying on as DC. And that would make for a pretty intriguing staff, should Stefanski choose Atlanta, potentially with Ulbrich as DC and, maybe, former Titans coach Brian Callahan as OC.<\/p>\n

What about the Titans?<\/p>\n

The Titans will finish their first round of interviews on Sunday, with former Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon coming in, and 49ers DC Robert Saleh interviewing virtually.<\/p>\n

Stefanski\u2019s joined on the second-interview list by Hafley and Chiefs OC Matt Nagy, who was with Titans GM Mike Borgonzi in Kansas City. That list, of course, could grow, with Saleh considered a solid candidate for that job.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Callahan, for what it\u2019s worth, is very much in the mix for the Chargers\u2019 OC job, and there\u2019s a cool connection there. His dad, legendary line coach Bill Callahan, gave Jim Harbaugh his first full-time job in NFL coaching, bringing him to the Raiders staff way back in 2003.<\/p>\n

Broncos QBs coach Davis Webb and former Giants coach Brian Daboll would be two other names to potentially watch there.<\/p>\n

\"Fox<\/p>\n

Tom Brady remains a major factor in the Raiders\u2019 search, which also includes early scouting for a quarterback to select with the No. 1 pick in April\u2019s NFL draft. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Raiders still searching while already thinking about next QB<\/p>\n

The Raiders are wrapping up their first round of interviews\u2014they had Rams assistants Mike LaFleur, Nathaan Scheelhaase and Chris Shula over Zoom on Friday, with Joe Brady and 49ers OC Klay Kubiak set for Sunday\u2014before heading to Miami on Monday to see Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza play in-person in the national title game.<\/p>\n

One interesting name to watch would actually be Webb. He\u2019s got a relationship in passing with Tom Brady, and he has two coordinator candidates on his list\u2014Kliff Kingsbury and Daboll\u2014who were together with the legendary quarterback in New England.<\/p>\n

Vegas has\/had a third of its first-round interviews over this weekend (the three Friday and two Sunday), so there\u2019s still plenty to be determined. But the handling of the quarterback will be a piece to this puzzle, with the likelihood that Mendoza winds up being the first overall pick, so it\u2019ll either be a quarterback guy like Webb, or a defensive guy with a strong plan for the quarterback. (Tom Brady\u2019s own experience, where the system didn\u2019t change from Charlie Weis to Josh McDaniels to Bill O\u2019Brien to McDaniels again, is instructive there.)<\/p>\n

Matt LaFleur\u2019s negotiations with the Packers<\/p>\n

Negotiations between Matt LaFleur\u2019s camp and the Packers are ongoing\u2014and a number of teams have kept their eye on it, just in case something went the wrong way, given the uptick in what established head coaches are making. For now, the overwhelming likelihood is LaFleur\u2019s there on a fat new deal, with GM Brian Gutekunst being rewarded as well.<\/p>\n

Mike McDaniel could start a domino effect<\/p>\n

Mike McDaniel has become a big domino for teams seeking OCs. He\u2019s a prominent name in the searches of both the Lions and Buccaneers, and looms as a potential OC for his close friend Robert Saleh, should the 49ers DC land a job like the one in Tennessee.<\/p>\n

Teams taking their time<\/p>\n

This will be an action-packed week with second interviews starting to roll and names coming off the board. Still, a lot of folks feel like the Steelers and Ravens are the two that can move at their own pace. I\u2019d expect both to be thorough, and while it\u2019s possible either goes with an established name, it also wouldn\u2019t be surprising to see both go their own way\u2014as they once did with Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh, respectively.<\/p>\n

More NFL on Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Our pre-divisional round coaching notes \u2026 What took John Harbaugh and the Giants so longThe Dolphins\u2019 coaching searchFalcons…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-419901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}