NFL Coaching Matchmaker: One perfect fit for every team in need of a new coach

There are three head-coaching vacancies already and more surely to come. There figure to be at least five open jobs by Black Monday on Jan. 6. Some around the NFL think the number could reach seven or eight.  

And while the coaching carousel hasn’t officially started spinning yet, even the teams just thinking about a change have surely compiled a list of possible replacements.

And if history is any indication, most of them will get it wrong.

But there is one right choice, one smart choice, for every NFL team potentially looking for a new head coach (and no, it’s not Bill Belichick — at least not anymore). The right person who can turn their fates around, fix their problems and be a perfect fit is really there.

So NFL owners and general managers would be wise to pay attention to this list and save themselves years of aggravation. Because here are the coaches that every NFL team with an opening — and even those with a potential opening — should hire when the coaching carousel begins to spin:

New York Jets

The perfect match: Former Titans coach Mike Vrabel

The Jets are surely going to look at all the big names, and draw interest from just about everywhere. Rex Ryan, their former coach, has already started begging for the job. Another former coach, Eric Mangini, had his name oddly leaked, too. And they’ll try for the hottest assistants, like Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, but this job doesn’t make a lot of sense for him or for them.

What they are so desperately crying out for is leadership and experience. And while they could be happy with a former head coach like Matt Nagy, the real prize is Vrabel. He not only had a mostly successful tenure in Tennessee (54-45 record, three playoff berths in six seasons), but he brings more toughness and credibility than any coach on the market. The Jets have a talented team that is badly underachieving and poorly coached, and their window for winning is closing.

The Jets still need a viable quarterback, but if they find one, Vrabel can fix their other problems in Year 1.

Chicago Bears

The perfect match: Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson

He’s going to cost a fortune, but the Bears will have to pay up because he’s a brilliant offensive mind, had quite a track record with the Lions, and surely learned a lot about leadership working for the inspirational Dan Campbell. The leadership part is important, but what the Bears need more than anything is someone who can turn rookie Caleb Williams into a franchise quarterback. The talent is there. They need to make sure the coaching is there, too.

If they can’t land Johnson, Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury would be a nice fallback option. But they have to try to win the Johnson Sweepstakes. And honestly, if Johnson won’t take a job this time — especially with a franchise like the Bears, with a quarterback like Williams — maybe he just doesn’t want to sit in the big NFL chair.

New Orleans Saints

The perfect match: Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn

They probably need to think a little outside the box and move away from Sean Payton’s former assistants. But Glenn is really much more than that. His ties to New Orleans, as a former player (briefly) and coach, matter. And he not only was a successful assistant for the Saints, but he proved his worth in Detroit, with former Saints assistant Dan Campbell, too.

And honestly, the Saints have some rebuilding to do, so why wouldn’t they want someone who was part of the incredibly successful rebuilding project in Detroit? They’ll probably look at Vrabel too and maybe even Joe Brady, the former LSU passing game coordinator and current offensive coordinator of the Bills. But Glenn has the necessary experience and everyone who knows him lauds his leadership and toughness.

Yes, he’s another branch of the Payton tree. But maybe that’s not so bad.

Jacksonville Jaguars

The perfect match: Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken

They were expected to dive deep into the Bill Belichick chase if — or almost certainly when — they fire Doug Pederson. That’s no surprise since owner Shahid Khan is prone to big swings. But he’s not likely to go back to the college ranks again after the Urban Meyer fiasco, and unless Mike McCarthy or Kevin Stefanski are fired, there are not a lot of big-name coaches on the market.

He’ll try for Mike Vrabel, but really he might be better going a lesser-known route. Monken has been offensive gold everywhere he’s coached, including at Tampa when Jameis Winston was his quarterback. The Jags offense has weapons. It just needs someone to get quarterback Trevor Lawrence back on track. Monken has the ability and experience to do that.

It wouldn’t be the sexiest hire Khan has ever made. But who cares, as long as he wins?

Las Vegas Raiders

The perfect match: Boston College head coach Bill O’Brien

With Tom Brady on as part owner and expected to have a large influence in the direction of this lost franchise, everyone assumes he’ll be looking for his own version of the "Patriot Way." That obviously won’t be Belichick (who was probably a non-starter anyway before taking the UNC job). The most likely candidate is Vrabel, who figures to be the top name on their list.

But as bad as the Jets are, they’re way closer to winning than the Raiders, which is why the smart bet is that Vrabel heads East. And if that happens, Brady and owner Marc Davis should try to lure O’Brien away from the college ranks. Brady knows him well since he’s a former New England quarterbacks coach (2009-10) and offensive coordinator (2011). He also had a successful six-plus-year run as the coach of the Houston Texans (52-48 record, four trips to the playoffs).

The biggest obstacle is that he just finished his first season at Boston College. But if Brady calls, it might be hard for him to say "No."

New York Giants

The perfect match: Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores

Brian Daboll wasn’t a completely unanimous choice inside the Giants organization when general manager Joe Schoen hired him in 2022. There was a lot of internal support for Brian Flores, who was the runner-up. The Giants loved his coaching ability, his leadership and pretty much everything about him.

Yeah, since then he’s filed a racial discrimination against the NFL and the Giants, among others, claiming their interview with him was a "sham" just so they could comply with the Rooney Rule. But people drop and/or settle lawsuits all the time and move on with their lives. And if the Giants fire Daboll — which seems increasingly likely — that’s what the two parties should do here.

Because Flores deserves another shot at a head coaching job. And the Giants need someone with his toughness, leadership and experience. The Dolphins made a mistake letting him go back in 2021. The Giants shouldn’t make the same mistake twice. He’s the type of coach they need to stabilize their floundering program and start to turn it around.

Dallas Cowboys

The perfect match: Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury

First of all, they shouldn’t fire Mike McCarthy — not after he went 36-15 the previous three years. Second, if they do, they should find a coach with experience. The Cowboys aren’t a place to let someone learn on the job.

Their other priority has to be their offense, because they’ve got a lot of the key pieces, including the franchise quarterback. They’ll need someone who can make it work as well as, or perhaps a little better than, McCarthy did. That makes Kingsbury perfect, given his success with Kyler Murray in Arizona and Jayden Daniels in Washington. Imagine what he can do with a quarterback he doesn’t have to build.

Also, don’t forget his Texas ties. He was born and raised in the Lone Star State, played at Texas Tech, broke into the coaching ranks at the University of Houston, then Texas A&M, and then was a successful head coach at his alma mater. That will make him a pretty easy sell for owner Jerry Jones.

Cincinnati Bengals

The perfect match: Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady

This pairing makes too much sense, since Brady has a short, but illustrious history with Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. They were together at LSU in 2019 when Brady was the offensive coordinator who helped Burrow become a Heisman Trophy winner, a national champion, and the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft.

Brady is only 35, but so was Zac Taylor when the Bengals hired him. That paid immediate dividends too with a trip to the Super Bowl in their first full season together. But the bloom is off that rose, Burrow seems frustrated, and Taylor can’t seem to win even though he’s got one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL and two electric receivers in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

Brady could inject the kind of enthusiasm, offensive creativity and energy that Burrow needs, and that Taylor once had.

Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.