49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh is currently in Nashville for an in-person interview with the Titans. He is scheduled to head to Arizona next.
NFL Media reports Saleh has a second interview with the Cardinals on Tuesday.
Saleh is in his second stint as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator, rejoining the staff before the 2025 season. He previously served in that role from 2017-20 before becoming the Jets’ head coach.
Saleh has also spent time with the Jaguars, Seahawks and Texans.
Other candidates for the Cardinals are Patriots passing game coordinator Thomas Brown, Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, former Falcons head coach Raheem Morris, Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith and Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver.
When the Patriots fired Bill Belichick two years ago, most assumed he’d land on his feet with another NFL team.
In the third hiring cycle since his firing by the Patriots, Belichick has been publicly linked to only one job (the Falcons, in 2024).
This year, with 10 total openings, Belichick’s name has not come up. Except, of course, when he brought it up on his own.
In November 2025, Belichick issued a statement declaring he won’t pursue the opening with the Giants “despite circulating rumors.” (None were circulating.) The Giants, as we hear it, weren’t pleased with the pre-emptive announcement, since they had no intention of pursuing him.
If any other team has even kicked the tires on the Tar Heels coach, the interest has been kept tightly under wraps. Nothing has leaked about any inquiries or conversations or even basic background work (like, for example, figuring out the depth of and basis for his lingering animosity toward his former NFL employer) associated with making a potential hire.
The Buffalo job would be the one to watch, given the presence of quarterback Josh Allen and the ongoing rivalry with the Patriots. Belichick is regarded as the greatest game-day coach in league history. Yes, other factors have potentially complicated things, to say the least. Still, given the craziness of the past few weeks in the NFL, it would be foolish to completely rule out anything.
For now, though, the key word as it relates to Belichick’s NFL prospects is “nothing.” In three cycles, he’s had one announced interview. And while he has said he doesn’t want to return to the NFL, few in NFL circles believe it. The more reasonable interpretation would seem to be that it’s his way of dealing with the fact that no NFL team wants him.
The Cowboys will interview former Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon on Tuesday, Todd Archer of ESPN reports. They have Eagles passing game coordinator Christian Parker scheduled for an in-person interview on Wednesday.
The team has already interviewed Vikings defensive passing game coordinator Daronte Jones in person.
The Cowboys also have interest in Broncos passing game specialist Jim Leonhard, though his interview will have to wait, with the Broncos still in the postseason.
The Cowboys are seeking to replace Matt Eberflus, who was fired after one season.
The Cardinals fired Gannon last week after three seasons as the team’s head coach. He was 15-36 in his tenure with the team, including a 3-14 record in 2025.
Gannon earned his head coaching job after two seasons as the Eagles’ defensive coordinator. He has also worked for the Falcons, Titans, Vikings and Colts, although his time with the Eagles is his only experience as a defensive coordinator.
Parker has spent the past two seasons in Philadelphia working under defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. The Eagles have finished as a top-10 defensive unit against the pass with Parker on staff.
After several college jobs, Parker landed his first role in the NFL with the Packers as a defensive quality control coach in 2019.
After two seasons in Green Bay, Parker joined the Broncos as the defensive backs coach.
The Lions are hiring Drew Petzing as their new offensive coordinator, according to multiple reports.
Petzing served as the Cardinals’ offensive coordinator the past three seasons, with Arizona ranking 24th (2023), 12th (2024) and 23rd (2024) in scoring. They were 19th (2023), 11th (2024) and 19th (2025) in yards.
Petzing does not have ties with Lions head coach Dan Campbell, who replaced John Morton as the team’s offensive play-caller midseason. Petzing, though, coached with Ben Johnson at Boston College, and Petzing served as one of Johnson’s groomsmen, according to Field Yates of ESPN.
Petzing began his NFL coaching career in 2013 with the Browns. He has also worked for the Vikings (2016-19) and Browns (2020-22). He was the Browns’ quarterbacks coach in 2022 before leaving for the Cardinals.
Dysfunctional teams do dysfunctional things. And, thanks to plenty of the perennially dysfunctional teams, the league is a current dysfunction mess.
The current hiring cycle, which at one point seemed like it could be quieter than usual, has sparked turnover with 10 teams. Nearly one third of the league. Two jobs have been filled; with Monday’s termination of Bills coach Sean McDermott, the number of vacancies is back to eight.
Here’s how one current NFL head coach put it, in a Monday morning unsolicited text message to PFT: “At this very moment, [this is] the worst collective of 32 owners in league history.”
It’s a strong statement, but the proof is, if anywhere, in the pudding. Bad teams stay bad. They think that they can turn it around by firing the current coach and hiring a new one, because for other teams it happens.
But the cycle of hiring and firing and hiring and firing contributes to the situation. When the owner has an itchy trigger finger, the coach spends way too much time looking over his shoulder and wondering whether the next decision that doesn’t pan out will be his last.
There’s no competence test to pass in order to qualify to own a team. The paths remain simple (if not easy): (1) have enough money to buy a team; or (2) get your name in the right spot in the will.
While some of the currently vacant jobs are open for reasons unrelated to membership in the gang that couldn’t own straight, most trace to owners who feel like they need to do something, so they fire the coach. In plenty of cases, three years or less after firing the last one.
Meanwhile, the teams with capable owners will benefit. Rash decisions aren’t made. Patience is displayed.
Aaron Rodgers recently blamed the media for the presence of certain coaches on the “hot seat.” The blame goes to those who don’t know what to do (because they secretly don’t know what they’re doing), so they do the easiest thing — fire the coach.
Even if the coach isn’t the biggest part of the problem. Of course, for the truly dysfunctional franchises, the biggest part of the problem isn’t subject to a pink slip. Because owners can’t be fired for general incompetence when it comes to the on-field performance of the team.
Financially, they’re all performing well. They’re all winning, even when they’re losing. And those who are losing will feel compelled to keep the fans believing that the future will be brighter (or less bleak) by dumping the current coach, and by moving to the next coach in who inevitably will be the next coach out.
