And then there were four. The Pittsburgh Steelers shocked the NFL world on Saturday afternoon by hiring former Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys head man (and Pittsburgh native) Mike McCarthy to replace Mike Tomlin as the team's head coach. That leaves the Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns and Las Vegas Raiders as the lone remaining head coach vacancies — with now one fewer notable name to chose from in a field of candidates that was already as wide open as any in recent memory.
Where will each of the four go from here? Who are the remaining options with McCarthy off the board, and who fits what this quartet needs most moving forward?
Arizona Cardinals: Anthony Weaver
Arizona might be tempted to go with a more offense-minded choice here on the heels of the Jonathan Gannon era. But this cycle is light on attractive OC candidates, and really, what the Cardinals need most as a franchise right now is stability — an adult in the room who can establish a healthy culture and get things back on firmer footing.
Weaver would seem to fit that bill pretty perfectly. For starters, he's much better at the podium than Gannon ever was, a clear and charismatic communicator both in front of the media and the locker room. He also did good work over the last two years as DC in Miami: He oversaw a top-10 unit in 2024, and while they regressed in every category this season, that had more to do with the personnel at his disposal than anything. (Really, it's a miracle he kept the Dolphins afloat given all the dysfunction swirling around.) If a real splash hire isn't in the cards, a high-floor candidate with a broad base of experience from which to build a coaching staff feels like the next best thing.
Buffalo Bills: Brian Daboll
That sound you hear is a single collective groan from the Western New York area. And yet, despite how uninspired a choice this would be given Daboll's well-documented shortcomings as head coach of the New York Giants, I can't help but feel like that's where the wind is blowing right now.
It seems hard to believe that Buffalo would fire Sean McDermott just to replace him with another defensive coach. But with the likes of McCarthy and Mike McDaniel off the board, there aren't a ton of offensive candidates right now; the next-best choice might be Joe Brady, but will the Bills really opt for a continuity candidate under the circumstances?
Daboll has his prior work with Josh Allen to lean on, not to mention his prior relationship with GM Brandon Beane — the latter of which looms large given the power play Beane appears to be waging behind the scenes. And speaking of which: After Beane and owner Terry Pegula just knifed McDermott on his way out the door, what candidate in their right mind is going to jump at this job? The Bills might be drawing from a limited pool, and if that's the case, they might well lean back on the devil they already know.
Cleveland Browns: Grant Udinski
The Cleveland Browns might be the single toughest nut to crack of the four remaining openings, not least because it's hard to ever know just what it is that owner Jimmy Haslam wants. But the guess here is that, after the listlessness of the later Kevin Stefanski years and with young QBs in need of development, the Browns will look for a young up-and-comer on the offensive side of the ball — someone who can not only shepherd the likes of Shedeur Sanders (or whoever Cleveland picks high in the 2027 draft) but inject a little energy into a moribund franchise.
Udinski checks both of those boxes, at least on paper. Of course, there's risk involved: He's just 30 years old, and he has exactly one season of experience as a play-caller at the NFL level. Then again, it was quite the season, unlocking a new level of play from Trevor Lawrence and guiding the Jacksonville Jaguars to the No. 3 seed in the AFC. Udinski, a native of central Pennsylvania, also sat at the right hand of Kevin O'Connell for three years in Minnesota before heading to the Jags.
If any franchise is in need of taking a high-variance swing right now, it's Cleveland. If it hits, it could alter your trajectory. If it busts, well, you'll be back at it again soon enough, hopefully with a better QB situation with which to entice another candidate.
Las Vegas Raiders: Klint Kubiak
All signs point to the Raiders going offense with their next head coach — understandable, considering the disaster that was the Pete Carroll year and the fact that they're about to take a new franchise quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, at No. 1 overall in next spring's draft.
Mendoza's ceiling feels like something akin to a rich man's Jared Goff, a big body with a good arm and good anticipation who's not afraid of operating over the middle of the field. Kubiak's play action-heavy scheme would seem to be a great fit based on what we've seen from Sam Darnold this year (and Derek Carr in New Orleans before him), and Mendoza plus a boatload of cap space figures to be pretty enticing regardless of past organizational dysfunction. Pairing Mendoza with the right mind is paramount, and there aren't a ton of obvious alternatives.