NFL Rumors: Mike McCarthy's future, Bears take a gamble, Browns next steps

The 2024 regular season has come to a disappointing end for more than half of the league. While playoff teams are gearing up for the race to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, the remainder of the league are dealing with the aftermath of their losing campaigns. 

Players are cleaning out their lockers and going through the process of exit meetings. Many of them will not return to the same locker room next season, and for those that do, their team will likely be entirely different than the one they took the field with in Week 18.

While the free agency period and 2025 NFL Draft will bring plenty of change to rosters, teams are currently focused on assessing their front office executives and coaching staffs.

Mike McCarthy has interest in New Orleans Saints coaching job

Dallas Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy led the team to three consecutive 12-win seasons, but his poor postseason performances put his job at risk. After Dallas ended the 2023 season with a devastating loss in the NFC Wild Card Round, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones decided not to extend McCarthy’s contract beyond the 2024 season.

McCarthy’s contract expires on Tuesday, and he has already received interest from other teams with head coaching vacancies. McCarthy “could have some interest” in becoming head coach for the New Orleans Saints, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported on Thursday.

Heading into the 2024 season, it was believed that McCarthy’s job in Dallas would hinge on the Cowboys making a deep postseason run. Instead, Dallas finished with a 7-10 record. Still, the coach’s performance was impressive, especially after the team lost significant pieces in their dormant offseason and saw their roster ravaged by injuries throughout the season.

Fowler and Dan Graziano also noted that Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is still the favorite to become the next head coach in New Orleans, so McCarthy’s interest may not be entirely reciprocated. 

Bears may miss out on Ben Johnson by chasing experience

The Chicago Bears are desperately searching for an offensive-minded coach that can develop rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, and Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson seems like the ideal candidate for their head coaching vacancy. Not only would Chicago weaken a division rival, but they would also get the most coveted coaches in the league.

Still, the Bears may be leaning towards prioritizing experience after the team’s poor game management under former head coach Matt Eberflus, Fowler and Graziano reported. Former Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll is set to speak with Chicago on Thursday, and more than half of the coaches who the Bears will interview have previous head coaching experience.

Johnson has been one of the top candidates to land a head coaching job over the past two seasons, but he’s repeatedly passed up opportunities to take any available openings. 

Johnson is expected to finally accept an offer in his third offseason of coaching interviews, but he may prefer joining a team that offers him a better chance of success. After holding out on taking a job for three years, he likely doesn’t want to join a dysfunctional franchise that has a history of churning through coaches and quarterbacks. Coaches that struggle with poor ownership and dysfunctional front offices rarely get a second chance, and Johnson has made it clear he wants to land somewhere he can build sustained success.

Kevin Stefanski may take control of Browns offense

The Cleveland Browns have a long road to relevancy ahead, but general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski are running out of time. Although both will return for the 2025 season, their leashes are getting shorter after finishing with a 3-14 record.

Stefanski is likely going to assume a more active role with the offense in 2025. The Browns fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and offensive line coach Andy Dickerson after just one season. Under Dorsey and Dickerson, the Browns finished with the worst-scoring offense in the league.

Fowler reported that Stefanski is expected to return to his run-oriented scheme, which he learned from his time in Minnesota with coach Gary Kubiak. While Dorsey’s scheme utilized RPO plays from the shotgun formation, Kubiak’s offensive scheme relies heavily on establishing the run to open up a play-action passing attack.

Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak remains an option, but Fowler believes Stefanski could also take over play-calling duties. Regardless, the Browns will have to get it right. Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett has threatened to request a trade if the team can’t compete, and another poor season would certainly end Stefanski’s tenure in Cleveland.

The Browns will have to navigate through some choppy waters to construct a winning roster, especially since Cleveland remains bogged down by quarterback Deshaun Watson’s fully-guaranteed contract. Frequent injuries have kept Watson sidelined, but he has rarely played well when available. Dorsey’s scheme was expected to take advantage of Watson’s skillset, but Cleveland finished the regular season with a 3-14 record.