Plenty of names have emerged in the 11 days since the coaching carousel started to spin on high speed. One has yet to surface.
In July, Jon Gruden said he’s “working hard to maybe get one more shot” at coaching. If any of the eight teams with current vacancies are interested in Gruden, they’re keeping things very quiet.
Gruden last coached in 2021. He resigned after someone made multiple (apparently strategic) leaks of inappropriate emails sent while he worked at ESPN. He quickly sued the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell for engineering his ouster.
Gruden’s lawsuit has been successful, so far. The Nevada Supreme Court ruled that year that his case is not required to be resolved by the NFL’s secret, rigged, kangaroo court of arbitration. That will only continue to make him persona non grata at 345 Park Avenue. Indeed, the NFL still omits the episode featuring the 2002 Buccaneers (and Gruden) from its annual July 4 America’s Game marathon.
So that’s the real question. Will a team do business with a coach with whom the NFL desires to do no business whatsoever? As one source explained it within the past year to PFT, the emails themselves are not believed to be an impediment to Gruden’s ability to resume coaching. The roadblock, if any, is the lawsuit.
Then there’s the fact that Gruden, now 62, has a regular-season record of 117-112, only five games above .500. Since winning the Super Bowl in 2002, Gruden has two one-and-done playoff appearances. (Interim coach Rich Bisaccia led the 2021 Raiders to the playoffs after Gruden stepped down, exiting in the wild-card round against the Bengals.)
The question, all things considered, is whether the juice is worth the squeeze. Even without the complication created by his lawsuit (which shouldn’t be an issue, but will be), does a team think Gruden can recapture the magic from years gone by?
Given that he’s currently unattached to any NFL team, every team with a vacancy is free to talk to him, formally or informally, publicly or privately. If anyone currently is, no one is talking about it.
And here’s the bottom line. With 25 percent of the NFL’s head-coaching jobs still open, this seems to be Gruden’s last, best shot at getting another job.
The most nagging question for some is whether the Raiders would do it. If so, it would be a call made by owner Mark Davis, possibly over the objection of Tom Brady — especially since it was Gruden (according to Davis) who objected to signing Brady when he became a free agent in 2020.
John Harbaugh is set to be the next head coach of the Giants and one of his top assistants from Baltimore may be making the move with him.
Multiple reports on Thursday have Todd Monken as a top choice to be the offensive coordinator. Monken held the same job on Harbaugh’s Ravens staff for the last three seasons.
The Giants will have to conduct a full search to comply with NFL hiring rules before naming Monken or anyone else their coordinator.
Monken interviewed for the Browns’ head coaching vacancy and has been seen as an offensive coordinator option for several teams, but sticking with Harbaugh and working to continue quarterback Jaxson Dart’s development in New Jersey appears to be the likely next step in his career.
49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh will be trying to beat the Seahawks on Saturday night and he’s got other things lined up for Sunday whether his team wins or loses.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Saleh is set for a couple of head coaching interviews. Saleh will meet with the Ravens and the Titans about their vacancies.
The Cardinals and Falcons have also requested interviews with Saleh, but there’s no word about when or if interviews with those teams will take place as well.
Saleh was 20-36 over three-plus years as the Jets’ head coach. He returned to run the 49ers defense this year and has managed an injury-riddled unit well enough to help them to the divisional round of the playoffs.
John Harbaugh left the Giants building after interviewing with the club on Wednesday, but it sounds like he’ll be back soon.
According to a late-night Wednesday report from Adam Schefter of ESPN, Harbaugh and the Giants are working to finalize a deal to make him the franchise’s next head coach. Barring a setback, the two sides are expected to come to an agreement.
Schefter adds that the two sides have not yet finalized the deal with Harbaugh’s contract still being negotiated. But without any setbacks, Schefter reports, “Harbaugh is ready to accept the Giants’ deal and the Giants are expected to hire him as soon as possible.”
New York is able to make a hire immediately, having satisfied the Rooney Rule by holding two in-person interviews with minority candidates.
Harbaugh was expected to meet with the Titans and Falcons later this week. But there was always a chance for the Giants to make a strong enough impression to get those interviews off of Harbaugh’s agenda.
Officials from Tennessee were reportedly set to fly to Baltimore on Thursday morning to meet with Harbaugh.
Harbaugh’s interview with the Giants on Wednesday reportedly included spending time with quarterback Jaxson Dart.
Fired by the Ravens last week after an 8-9 finish in 2025, Harbaugh accumulated a 180-113 regular-season record with the Ravens and a 13-11 postseason record in 18 years with the franchise. He coached the Ravens to their second Lombardi Trophy, defeating the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII to cap the 2012 season.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson wants a new contract. Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti wants to give him one, before the start of free agency.
In theory, it shouldn’t be difficult. In practice, it was a struggle the last time around.
In early 2023, Jackson had no existing contract. The Ravens, after months of failed negotiations, eventually extended a five-year, $262.5 million offer. It made him, at the time, the highest-paid player in the league, with an annual average of $52.5 million.
Since then, the market has moved (as to new money) to $60 million per year (if we ignore the new-money analysis regarding Josh Allen’s latest deal). And so the goal presumably will be to get Jackson beyond Dak Prescott’s current high-water mark.
Jackson has two years and $104 million left on his current contract. To get to a new-money average of, say, $61 million, the Ravens would have to offer a three-year extension at $183 million.
But there are no actual “extensions” in the NFL. The old contract gets ripped up, and a new one takes its place. With the two remaining years at $104 million, the Ravens could offer five years, $287 million. That would boost the new-money average to $61 million, even if the true average from signing would be $57.4 million.
Getting the right structure would be the issue. Last time, Jackson got a signing bonus of $72.5 million. If he receives $80 million up front on a new deal, his cap number (coupled with a minimum salary of $1.3 million) would be $17.3 million plus the $22.5 million in 2026 allocation from his prior contract. That’s $39.8 million — creating cap space of $34.7 million in advance of 2026 free agency.
They’d also have to figure out how much of the new contract would be guaranteed. In 2023, he wanted all five years to be fully guaranteed. He ultimately agreed to a deal with three years of full guarantees.
From a big-picture standpoint, there’s a fairly simple path to get Jackson under contract for five more years, to make him the highest-paid quarterback again (based on the new-money fiction), and to fully guarantee all pay in 2026, 2027, and 2028.
The question is whether Jackson wants to leapfrog Prescott by $1 million per year, or whether Jackson wants to push the bar even higher. The deeper into the sixties Jackson wants to go, the trickier it becomes.
If all else fails, the Ravens (as Bisciotti said Tuesday) can exercise their right to restructure the deal again, kicking the salary-cap can down the road.
Regardless of where it goes, the Ravens eventually will be taking significant cap charges whenever the relationship with Jackson ends. Currently, they have him under contract for two more years. (After that, he’ll become a free agent; he has a no-tag clause in his deal.) Whether the two sides extend it beyond that remains to be seen.
