What NFL coaches are already on the hot seat?

An NFL head coach’s job can be one of the most unstable forms of employment, depending on the circumstances. While it’s still early in the season, some coach’s seats were pretty toasty before the first kick off of 2013. After two weeks of competition, whose seat is burning?

Rex Ryan, New York Jets

People in the media were calling for the firing of Ryan in the second week of the preseason so there’s no surprising that his seat is not only warm, but his pants should be burning up right now after two weeks. The Jets had a surprising victory in Week 1, but it was not error free, and they looked just about as expected against the Patriots in Week 2. The main reason why Ryan’s job is in jeopardy, aside from his turning the team into an absolute circus, is the fact that the team replaced fired previous GM Mike Tannenbaum in the offseason and brought in Jon Idzik, but didn’t change coaching personnel. Typically, a new NFL general manager wants to bring in his own guy so any team with a brand new GM and an existing coach has a hot seat under the coach. In Rex’s situation, his seat is on fire.

Ron Rivera, Carolina Panthers

Ron is under a similar circumstance as Ryan since Panthers owner Jerry Richardson fired Marty Hurney during the season last year and replaced him with Dave Gettleman. Rivera is more or less having an ongoing job interview this season with Gettleman to see if he’s the coach going forward or if Gettleman will bring in his own guy. Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson brought in new offensive coordinator Mike Shula to help with the offensive side of the ball, but if the team has another down year it’s Rivera who will be the scape goat.

Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions

In 2009 Schwartz turned the 0-16 Lions into a playoff team but since then it’s been a disappointment. Managing to win only 4 games last season with a healthy Matthew Stafford for the whole year put Schwartz on the hot seat coming into 2013. The fact that it’s clear the team still plays with no sense of discipline and is inconsistent from one week to the next will send Schwartz out of town by the start of the next season.

Jason Garrett, Dallas Cowboys

While Cowboys owner Jerry Jones insisted that Garrett was not coaching for his job in 2013, you never know what Jerry is going to do these days. Jason Garrett enters the 2013 season stripped of his play-calling duties and has even less of a hand in any personnel decisions.  It’s pretty clear that Garrett isn’t really coaching the Cowboys but I’d bet if they disappoint again this season, he’ll be blamed for it. If there’s any reason why Garrett could keep his job if the Cowboys turn in another sub-par season it’s because Jerry likes to keep a coach he can have total control over. The Cowboys aren’t likely to get a big name head coach (Cowher, Gruden, etc.) to replace Garrett  because those kinds of coaches aren’t going to deal with Jones as an owner.

Greg Schiano, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Greg Schiano inherited a project in Tampa for sure. But instituting his “no-nonsense” style of coaching and discipline can only help so much if it’s not translating to wins on the field. Now there are reports that he has issues with quarterback Josh Freeman and defensive back Darrelle Revis. If the Bucs have another bad year it’s likely they’ll move on from Freeman at quarterback but that doesn’t necessarily mean Schiano is in the clear as well.  They could very conceivably clean house all together and move on from both Freeman and Schiano.

Any coaches you’d add or take away from this list?