Big hiring grade finally for the 2025 coaching cycle! Below will be all the FBS hirings.
https://fanspo.com/nfl/s/general/p/-cOh94hJfm4Q7c/2025-coaching-hiring-grades-link
Arizona Cardinals (2025 HC: Jonathan Gannon; 2026 HC: Mike LaFleur): C-
Out of every possible name I seen for this job, LaFleur was not my top three name for this job. The fact he was the OC for the Rams and brother one of the top current NFL coach feel like helped him get job a lot easier than some of the other names I liked. The Cardinals are also in a really big pickle and I don't see them turning it around so quickly based off of this hire.
Atlanta Falcons (2025 HC: Raheem Morris; 2026 HC: Kevin Stefanski): C
Of all the offensive minded coaches you could hire to help Michael Penix improve, why Stafanski? At Cleveland he has had a bad track record of QB's (you can blame FO, you can blame the Browns' QB history, but it is still partially Stefanski's fault no matter how you slice it) and the best QB under his system is apparently Joe Flacco. He ran Baker out of town and then wanted DeShaun Watson in and that fell flat on their faces. But then again, he did make two playoff appearances with the Browns. We'll see how he turns out but I am not optimistic at all.
Baltimore Ravens (2025 HC: John Harbaugh; 2026 HC: Jesse Minter): A
Jesse Minter was my favorite available candidate this cycle and am happy he ended up in a great situation. I expect Baltimore to go younger, especially on defense and Minter is one of the best developers in this coaching cycle. He is also a Harbaugh's assistant and a former Ravens assistant so there will likely be less schemes and play calling changes and more locker room vibe changes bringing in a more younger face than a guy in his 60's with fans and FO questioning how long he has left.
Buffalo Bills (2025 HC: Sean McDermott; 2026 HC: Joe Brady): C
If you fire your HC to start fresh, than why hire his OC? The hire is obviously a "make Josh happy" hire, but he doesn't improve anything for the Bills playoff hopes and nor does he really decrease anything. The hire is just keeping this team staying on the same float not really going anywhere which is not something most teams would want. Glad the Bills aren't most teams!
Cleveland Browns (2025 HC: Kevin Stefanski; 2026 HC: Todd Monken): B
I personally really like the hire and feel like this might be the best option the Browns could had hired even though I expected them to hire Schwartz or Scheelhaase. He has familiarity with the organization working there in 2019 as the OC and he does have some familiarity with Myles Garrett. What I like the most about his offensive style is the fact it is more run first and it takes a lot of pressure off the QB to have to do a lot of things, which is the reason Stetson Bennett thrived in Georgia and won two national championships. This off season, if they can just rebuild the OL and draft a WR then they can be a dark horse team to make the playoffs with insert random QB under center. That is all if the defense is as good as it was last season.
Las Vegas Raiders (2025 HC: Pete Carroll; 2026 HC: Klint Kubiak): B+
I feel like the Raiders had more of a FO issue than a coaching issue last year, but now they start fresh with a new QB and of course a new HC. I really like what Kubiak did with Darnold last season with Seattle and with a mediocre OL as well. This isn't a year one fix but I can see this working out as long as Vegas has patience.
Miami Dolphins (2025 HC: Mike McDaniel; 2026 HC: Jeff Hafley): B+
As I had Minter number one in player developer, Jeff Hafley was my number two and I gave him bonus points for being a former college HC. I am not fully sold on this being a home run hire like Minter, I feel like Hafley is in the same boat as Kubiak where it is a good hire but it won't be something that completely changes anything out of the blue. The offense, really, isn't that bad and just needs a few new pieces. If he can work with the defense and rebuild them, then work on the holes on the offensive side, in three to five years we could competing for the AFC East once again.
New York Giants (2025 HC: Brian Daboll; 2026 HC: John Harbaugh): B
This is a big name who has been there and done that who is now here to go there and do that for New York. Learning from other second time HC's (Pete Carroll a recent example), the second destination doesn't always work out as planned. He has his QB, he has three talented edge rushers, and two promising RB's who have been hurt throughout the season. Other than that, there isn't much going for them and they have to completely rebuild through FA to be able to say they are competing in the NFC East. A lot of new players are not on him to decide, but he wanted to go to a team that gives him more hands on on these kind of situations so there is more pressure on him then he ever had in Baltimore.
Pittsburgh Steelers (2025 HC: Mike Tomlin; 2026 HC: Mike McCarthy): C
I don't understand why, but what I can say is if the Steelers plan is to start a QB that was on their roster in 2025, then McCarthy is a good hire. McCarthy coached Rodgers in Green Bay and could talk him into staying for one more year or the goal is Will Howard is the future and they need a QB whisper which he has done a great job with Rodgers and Dak. Besides being a good QB coach, I feel like all he is good at now a days is get a team somewhere between 7-10 wins and go completely silent in the playoffs which is not what I would had expected from Pittsburgh to hire as this seems to be the same thing they just fired in Tomlin.
Tennessee Titans (2025 HC: Brian Callahan; 2026 HC: Robert Saleh): B
Initially, didn't really like the hire and mostly because I thought it was too early to give him a second chance and I thought they need more of a offensive minded coach for their rookie QB who is entering into his second season. That was until I saw they hired Brian Daboll as OC and I became a quick believer. You bring in Saleh's offense and Daboll's ability to coach a QB and I think this could be a dark horse AFC South contender... As long as the FO can find two or three new OL ASAP.
There is my list, let me know what you think down in the comment section!