Bills Promote Joe Brady To HC
The Bills have elected to take the internal route regarding their head coaching position. Offensive coordinator Joe Brady has been promoted to the role, as first reported by Ian Rapoport, Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. 
The news is now official, per a team announcement. This is a five-year agreement, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini adds. After a nine-year run with Sean McDermott at the helm, the Bills will hope a familiar first-time head coach will be able to get them over the hump in the postseason.
Once McDermott was fired in the wake of Buffalo’s latest divisional round loss, Brady was named as a logical replacement candidate the team knows well. Indeed, the Bills showed interest in former offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and ex-Josh Allen teammate Davis Webb while weighing their options. All three have received looks elsewhere on the market, but instead of departing Brady has elected to remain in place and take over Buffalo’s staff.
Brady interviewed twice with the Ravens and Raiders for their HC vacancies. He also arranged an in-person meeting with the Cardinals, but that will not take place. A promotion always loomed as a strong possibility in this case, and after working in Buffalo the past four years Brady will now take on a head coaching position for the first time in his career by remaining in a familiar spot.
The 36-year-old spent two seasons as a Saints assistant before joining LSU’s staff for 2019. Brady’s work with the national champions that year drew attention based on the Tigers’ remarkable offensive production and boosted his coaching stock to a large extent. It immediately landed him an OC gig with the Panthers. Things did not go according to plan during Matt Rhule‘s Carolina tenure, but Brady did not need to wait long to find a new opportunity once his two-year Panthers run came to an end. He joined the Bills in 2022 as their quarterbacks coach.
Ken Dorsey was in place as Buffalo’s offensive coordinator at the time. That remained the case until midway through the 2023 campaign, when Dorsey was fired. Brady took over for the remainder of the season and stayed in place as the team’s play-caller through 2024 and ’25. During his two full years as an OC, Buffalo ranked second and then fourth in the NFL in scoring. The Bills also posted top-10 finishes in total offense under Brady.
Expectations will no doubt remain high for the team on offense with Brady still in place and a core highlighted by Allen under contract. Buffalo remained strong as a rushing team this past season, but struggles in the passing game proved to be an issue. The Bills will presumably aim to bring in at least one notable pass-catcher this offseason, but in the meantime Brady will now turn his attention to building a staff.
An OC replacement will need to be sought out, with a decision on whether or not Brady will call plays being required as well. Defensive coordinator Bobby Babich remains in place at this time; Babich has worked as the team’s DC for the past two years but his Buffalo tenure dates back to 2017. It will be interesting to see how much Brady prioritizes experience as opposed to seeking out external options over the coming days.
As part of the decision to move on from McDermott, Bills owner Terry Pegula elected to promote general manager Brandon Beane to president of football operations. That elevated Beane’s standing in the organization and no doubt increased his sway during HC interviews. Allen also had input in the head coaching decision, and the coordinator in place from his 2024 MVP season will remain in the organization moving forward.
Candidates with a wide range of coaching experience interviewed with the Bills in the aftermath of McDermott’s dismissal. Other highly-regarded staffers such as Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak may have also received a look, but Buffalo was not eligible to speak with him until after the Super Bowl. Instead of waiting for Kubiak or any other external candidates, Pegula and Co. have decided to promote from within.
Titans Hire Brian Daboll As OC
11:28pm: The Titans announced Daboll’s hiring. It seems he’s no longer a contender to become the Raiders‘ head coach. Daboll agreed to a three-year contract, according to veteran Titans reporter Paul Kuharsky. The Raiders still have another HC interview left, per The Athletic’s Dianna Russini. It is not known which candidate will meet with the Silver and Black this week.
11:18am: The Titans are set to hire Brian Daboll as their next offensive coordinator, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports. However, Daboll remains a candidate for the Raiders’ head coaching job. He conducted a second interview with Las Vegas on Tuesday, per Schefter. Daboll will join the Titans if the Raiders don’t hire him.
Daboll had been in the running to fill the Bills’ head coaching vacancy, which he reportedly preferred, but that’s now off the table after they promoted offensive coordinator Joe Brady on Tuesday. The Raiders are now the only team the Titans will have to fend off for Daboll’s services.
Daboll has given Titans HC Robert Saleh his word that he’ll go to Tennessee if he doesn’t land a head coaching gig, according to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. In the event the Raiders hire Daboll, the Titans would have to pivot to a different play-calling choice. Along with Daboll, former Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury, Packers OC Adam Stenavich and ex-Buccaneers QBs coach Thad Lewis have all interviewed with the Titans.
For now, Saleh appears poised to reel in an accomplished offensive coordinator to join his first Titans staff. It also pairs up a couple of of former New York head coaches. Saleh coached the Jets from 2021-24, while Daboll led the Giants from 2022-25.
If he heads to Tennessee, the 50-year-old Daboll will receive his fifth try as an NFL O-coordinator. He previously held the position with the Browns (2009-10), Dolphins (2011), Chiefs (2012) and Bills (2018-21). The Giants hired Daboll after an excellent run in Buffalo, where he helped quarterback Josh Allen go from raw prospect to superstar.
Daboll didn’t have nearly as much success in New York with Daniel Jones, another former first-round QB. Despite early flashes, Jones didn’t develop into the answer under center for the Giants, which played a key role in Daboll’s struggles. Daboll worked with yet another first-round signal-caller, Jaxson Dart, in 2025. While Dart performed well as a rookie, Daboll wasn’t around for the entire season. The Giants fired him after a 2-8 start.
Catching on with the Titans would give Daboll another chance to work with a prized young passer in Cam Ward. The Titans chose Ward first overall in last year’s draft, but he wasn’t in an ideal spot to succeed in 2025. The Miami product took a league-worst 55 sacks, tying him with the Raiders’ Geno Smith, lacked weapons in the passing game and didn’t enjoy stability on the sidelines during a 3-14 campaign.
The Titans fired head coach Brian Callahan in October, leaving Mike McCoy to take over for the rest of the season. QBs coach Bo Hardegree called plays, but Daboll is now primed to play a major role in developing Ward going forward.
Broncos Fire OC Joe Lombardi
A day after their season ended with a 10-7 loss to the Patriots in the AFC title game, the Broncos have fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, Dianna Russini of The Athletic reports.
This closes out a three-year tenure in Denver for Lombardi and ends a long-running partnership with head coach Sean Payton. Lombardi previously coached under Payton in New Orleans from 2007-13 and 2016-20. He was the Saints’ quarterbacks coach for the majority of his 12 years with the team.
[RELATED: Three Teams Send Davis Webb OC Interview Requests]
Also a former NFL offensive coordinator with the Lions (2014-15) and Chargers (2021-22), Lombardi took on a non-play-calling role in Denver. Payton has continued to handle those duties. The Broncos did not rank among the league’s cream-of-the-crop offenses in any seasons with Lombardi on the staff, though, and Payton has decided to make a change heading into the third year of quarterback Bo Nix‘s career.
The Broncos are coming off a season in which they finished a respectable 10th in yards, but they were closer to middle of the pack in scoring (14th). Losing running back J.K. Dobbins to a season-ending Lisfranc injury in mid-November didn’t help matters.
Over 10 games and 153 carries, Dobbins hummed along on 5.0 yards per attempt. Second-round rookie RJ Harvey stepped in as the Broncos’ primary back after Dobbins’ injury, but despite notching seven rushing touchdowns, he averaged a meager 3.7 yards on 146 tries. Harvey’s production went backward in the postseason, a pair of games in which he ran for just 57 yards on 19 carries.
Thanks largely to a premier defense that led the league in sacks, the Broncos went 14-3, ended the Chiefs’ nine-year run atop the AFC West and earned the No. 1 seed in the conference. The Broncos then got past the Bills in a 33-30 overtime shootout in the divisional round, but Nix suffered a season-ending ankle injury late in the game.
With Nix out of commission, the Broncos had to turn to backup Jarrett Stidham as their starter against the Patriots. Stidham looked good early and completed a 52-yard first-quarter pass to Marvin Mims that set up a touchdown, but the Broncos didn’t score again after that. On a day in which the weather dramatically swung during a snowy second half, Stidham went 17 of 31 for 133 yards, a TD, an interception and a costly fumble. The Broncos amassed just 181 total yards.
Had Nix been available Sunday, there’s a good chance the Broncos would be preparing to face the Seahawks in Super Bowl LX. Instead, though, the Broncos are done for the year and shaking up their coaching staff. More changes could be in store, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, who mentions the possibility of the Broncos eventually promoting pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Davis Webb to replace Lombardi. For now, Webb is a candidate to become the Raiders’ next head coach. They interviewed Webb for the second time on Monday.
Jets, OC Tanner Engstrand Part Ways
After just one season, the Jets are moving on from offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand, Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network report. The two sides are parting ways.
This doesn’t come as a surprise after a weekend report indicated Engstrand’s future was in limbo. It nonetheless continues a major staff shakeup for Glenn, who has cleared out several coaches – including both coordinators – dating back to the mid-December firing of DC Steve Wilks.
While Glenn and Engstrand discussed a non-play-calling position for 2026, they ultimately decided to go in other directions, per Rich Cimini of ESPN. Glenn is now on the hunt for a veteran replacement for Engstrand, someone to serve as a “head coach of the offense,” a source told Connor Hughes of SNY . Former Colts and Panthers head coach Frank Reich looks like the frontrunner to take over, but the Jets will need to interview at least one external minority candidate before that could take place.
Glenn, previously the Lions’ defensive coordinator, worked with Engstrand in Detroit from 2021-24. Engstrand shifted from offensive quality control coach to tight ends coach/passing game coordinator to passing game coordinator during that four-year span. Glenn saw enough positives from Engstrand to bring the former Ben Johnson understudy to New York as a first-time NFL offensive coordinator last January. However, Engstrand’s hiring only came after Nick Caley turned down the Jets. Then the Rams’ tight ends coach, Caley became the Texans’ offensive coordinator in early February.
Several weeks after hiring Engstrand, the Jets added former Bears and Steelers quarterback Justin Fields on a two-year, $40MM deal in free agency. The Jets guaranteed Fields $30MM, but they’re already poised to move on this offseason after an unproductive 2025 in which Glenn benched him for the rest of the year in mid-November.
With Fields, journeyman backup Tyrod Taylor and undrafted rookie Brady Cook playing in at least five games apiece, the Jets averaged a paltry 140.3 passing yards per contest. They easily placed last in the league in that category, falling short of the 31st-ranked Browns by 25 yards per game.
To make matters worse for Engstrand, knee issues limited star wide receiver Garrett Wilson to seven games. With Wilson down for 10 games, running back Breece Hall was the Jets’ only established offensive weapon. Hall put up the first 1,000-yard season of his four-year career, and tight end Mason Taylor had a 44-catch rookie campaign, but bright spots were otherwise few and far between.
After ranking 29th in both total offense and scoring under Engstrand, the Jets will employ a 12th different offensive play-caller in a 16-year span in 2026 (h/t: Cimini). Although Glenn will return after posting a 3-14 record as a rookie head coach in 2025, his staff will take on a much different look next season.
Chargers Confirm Mike McDaniel OC Hire
Mike McDaniel will not take on a new head coaching position in 2026. After exploring options on that front over the past few days, the ex-Dolphins HC will indeed focus on his offensive coordinator agreement with the Chargers. 
The Bolts announced on Monday that McDaniel has officially joined the team. An agreement was reached last week which set him up to take on OC duties in Los Angeles. At the time, though, McDaniel was still a candidate for the head coaching gigs in Vegas and Baltimore. The Raiders have yet to make a hire, but one candidate has officially been removed from consideration.
The Bills are also among the four teams which still have a head coaching vacancy at this point. Buffalo was slated to interview McDaniel, but he withdrew from consideration on Saturday. According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, McDaniel was hesitant about meeting with the Bills shortly after working out an arrangement with the Chargers.
As of this weekend, McDaniel was still expected to ultimately take the job with Los Angeles (h/t Dianna Russini of The Athletic). No deal was formally in place at the time, but that has now changed. The Chargers have their Greg Roman replacement in hand. Roman was fired immediately after Los Angeles lost in the wild-card round for the second straight year.
That decision came as little surprise given the Chargers’ struggles on offense during the playoffs under Roman. Nevertheless, it ensured head coach Jim Harbaugh would have someone else operating as his OC for the first time at the NFL level. McDaniel, 42, will certainly represent a notable change on the sidelines for Los Angeles as the team seeks improvement in efficiency.
At times during his Miami tenure, McDaniel guided a unit which thrived in a number of areas. The Dolphins posted a top-six finish in total offense in 2022 and ’23, the years in which Miami reached the postseason. Things did not go according to plan afterwards, with the team regressing in a number of categories. McDaniel is nevertheless regarded as one of the league’s top offensive minds.
That reputation was largely generated during a lengthy period which saw McDaniel work alongside Kyle Shanahan on multiple staffs. From 2017-21, he operated as a key figure in San Francisco. McDaniel was the 49ers’ run-game coordinator for four years before a single campaign in an OC role. That one did not include play-calling duties, but with the Chargers McDaniel will handle those responsibilities.
Several candidates interviewed with the Bolts for their offensive coordinator position, including three other former head coaches. In the end, though, the expected outcome has emerged with McDaniel heading to Los Angeles. His future head coaching stock will no doubt be tied in large part to his ability to maximize the potential of quarterback Justin Herbert and Co. moving forward.
Commanders To Hire Daronte Jones As Defensive Coordinator
The Commanders have found their new defensive coordinator. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Commanders are finalizing a deal to hire Daronte Jones as their new DC.
We learned just yesterday that Jones was set to interview for the job, marking his fifth DC interview during this year’s hiring cycle. Jones first emerged as a coordinator candidate during the 2024 offseason when he interviewed for the Giants DC job. His candidacy took another bump last year, as he interviewed for the Bears, Jaguars, and Saints gigs.
That interest seemed to culminate this offseason, as Jones was viewed as a DC in waiting. He was a candidate for the Cowboys, Packers, Giants, and Jets jobs before he ultimately landed the gig on Dan Quinn‘s Washington staff. He was also a candidate to take over as the Vikings DC if Brian Flores ended up leaving for a head coaching job. This will represent a bit of a homecoming for the coach, who grew up just outside of Washington and played college football at Morgan State in Baltimore.
Jones had a long stint coaching college football before taking his first NFL gig with the Dolphins in 2016. Since then, he’s quickly climbed the ranks, serving as a cornerbacks/DBs coach with the Bengals and later the Vikings. He’s actually completing his second stint in Minnesota, as Jones briefly left the organization to serve as LSU’s defensive coordinator in 2021. After returning as the Vikings defensive backs coach in 2022, he earned a promotion to defensive pass game coordinator in 2023.
The Commanders’ need for a new DC wasn’t unexpected. Joe Whitt was stripped of play-calling duties midway through the 2025 season, and he was ultimately dismissed earlier this month. Quinn had a long list of candidates, including Flores before the Vikings DC ended up re-upping with Minnesota, per Dianna Russini of The Athletic. Instead, the Commanders ended up pivoting and snagging someone from Flores’ staff.
In Washington, Jones will be tasked with turning around a defense that took significant steps back in 2025. While the Commanders were a respectable 12th in sacks, they finished 27th in points, 31st in takeaways and dead last in yards. Quinn took play-calling duties from Whitt after Week 10, though there’s a chance the head coach passes those responsibilities to his new DC. While Jones doesn’t have extensive experience, he did call defensive plays during his lone season at LSU.
While more changes are surely coming to Washington’s coaching staff, Jones will represent the most significant addition this offseason. With David Blough taking over for Kliff Kingsbury as the offensive coordinator, the Commanders will enter the 2026 campaign with first-time coordinators on both sides of the ball.
Packers To Hire Jonathan Gannon As DC
The Packers recently lost defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley when he took the Dolphins’ head coaching position. The search for his replacement has come to an end.
Green Bay is hiring Jonathan Gannon to fill the DC position, as first reported by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. The former Cardinals head coach has thus managed to find a new opportunity not long after his Arizona firing. Gannon was one of three candidates known to have interviewed with the Packers. 
Interest in multiple D-coordinator openings was present in Gannon’s case. The Commanders interviewed him once, while the Cowboys conducted a follow-up with him last week. Gannon was also among the candidates who spoke with the Titans about their head coaching position, but a return to the DC ranks has long been expected in this case. Both the Chargers and Giants were interested in Gannon, ESPN’s Rob Demovsky reports. Green Bay moving quickly with this hire may have been a reaction to the threat of other DC offers being made shortly.
Gannon spent three seasons leading the Cardinals. Hired alongside general manager Monti Ossenfort to oversee a rebuilding effort, Arizona went 4-13 during his first year on the sidelines. The team’s win total doubled in 2024; that encouraging campaign saw the Cardinals in contention for a playoff berth for much of the season. A poor showing after the bye produced only a pair of wins down the stretch, however.
Expectations were high for Gannon’s team to at least match its success from the prior year entering 2025. Things did not go according to plan, however. Following a 2-0 start, the Cardinals lost five consecutive one-score games. A win coming out of the bye seemed to offer the potential for a turnaround, but as injuries across the roster piled up Arizona ended the year on a nine-game losing streak. Leading up to ‘Black Monday,’ it increasingly appeared as though Ossenfort would be safe while Gannon would be dismissed. That was indeed the path ownership took.
Prior to his Cardinals tenure, Gannon coordinated the Eagles’ defense for two years. Philadelphia ranked top 10 in yards allowed during the 2021 and ’22 seasons; the team improved from 18th to eighth in scoring defense under Gannon. With the Eagles reaching the Super Bowl during Gannon’s final year in Philadelphia, it came as little surprise when he received a head coaching opportunity. Expectations will no doubt be tempered if Gannon, 42, is to get another HC look in the future.
Upon returning to coordinator duties, however, Gannon could once again see quick success. Green Bay largely thrived on defense during Hafley’s two-year run leading the unit. Injuries midway through the 2025 campaign – highlighted of course by Micah Parsons‘ ACL tear – proved to be impactful, and the Packers struggled on defense through the end of the season and in the wild-card round. That did not stop Hafley from being among the top HC candidates during this year’s hiring cycle, and few were surprised when he followed Green Bay colleague Jon-Eric Sullivan to Miami.
Gannon had a lengthy track record of NFL coaching gigs prior to his Eagles coordinator opportunity. Much of that time was spent as a position coach working with defensive backs, and the secondary looms as a unit which could see considerable attention from the Packers this offseason. Gannon will be tasked with overseeing improvement on the back end in particular for Green Bay in 2026 as he takes charge of a defense for the second time in his career.
Giants To Hire Dennard Wilson As DC
John Harbaugh‘s Giants staff had a number of vacancies entering the weekend. One of the most important positions is now being filled, though. 
Dennard Wilson is set to join New York as the team’s new defensive coordinator, as first reported by Mike Garafolo, Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. Wilson has worked with Harbaugh in the past. It thus came as no surprise when he was confirmed earlier today as a finalist for the gig.
The Athletic’s Ian O’Connor named Wilson as a finalist for the Giants on Sunday afternoon. The was also true of Broncos defensive backs coach Jim Leonhard and Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver. In the end, Wilson has lined up a new opportunity shortly after it was confirmed he would not return to the Titans in 2026.
Tennessee’s head coaching search resulted in Robert Saleh being hired. Neither Wilson nor Nick Holz was retained, leaving both coordinators on the lookout for a new opportunity. Wilson interviewed with the Chargers and Commanders for their DC vacancies. Interestingly, he had not yet taken part in an interview with the Giants entering Sunday. Nevertheless, Wilson represents a familiar face for Harbaugh given their previous time together.
In 2023, Wilson worked under Harbaugh as the Ravens’ defensive backs coach. He joined Baltimore’s staff after a two-year Eagles tenure which helped his coordinator stock. In 2024, Brian Callahan hired Wilson, 43, to take on DC duties with the Titans. Scoring totals were an issue during both of Wilson’s two Tennessee campaigns, although the team ranked No. 2 in yards allowed during his first year in place.
The Giants will obviously look for a repeat of that showing from Wilson. Shane Bowen was fired by Brian Daboll during the 2025 campaign shortly before his own dismissal. The defensive coordinator spot has faced uncertainty since, but once the team’s full-throttle efforts to hire Harbaugh succeeded it became clear several ex-Ravens staffers would receive consideration for numerous positions. Wilson fits the bill, although his work as an NFL coach dates back to 2012 and largely includes work outside of Baltimore.
The Giants struggled in several defensive categories despite their free agent investments in the secondary last spring and other moves such as the selection of edge rusher Abdul Carter third overall in the draft. Carter improved late in the year, but further development in his case and many others will be needed if New York is to meet Harbaugh’s stated goal of reaching the playoffs during his first season at the helm. Wilson will be tasked with overseeing the team’s defense for at least that initial campaign.
Steelers Hire Mike McCarthy As HC
The Steelers have found their successor to longtime head coach Mike Tomlin. The team plans to hire Pittsburgh native Mike McCarthy, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports. It’ll be McCarthy’s third head coaching opportunity in the NFL. A five-year deal has been agreed to, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette adds.
Known for remarkable organizational stability under the Rooney family, the Steelers have now hired just four head coaches since 1969. Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Tomlin combined for 57 years on the job.
As an offensive-minded 62-year-old with significant HC experience, McCarthy brings a much different profile than the Noll-Cowher-Tomlin trio. The Steelers handed the keys to each of those coaches when they were in their 30s. They were all first-timers with defensive backgrounds. This is the first time the Steelers have hired a head coach with an offensive background since Bill Austin in 1966.
Noll, Cowher and Tomlin each won at least one Super Bowl in Pittsburgh, while McCarthy hoisted the Lombardi Trophy at the Steelers’ expense 15 years ago. Then the Packers’ head coach, McCarthy guided the team to a 31-25 win over the Tomlin-led Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. That remains the high point of McCarthy’s career, but he has enjoyed plenty of success over 18 years as a head coach. At 174-112-2, McCarthy sits 15th on the all-time wins list. His .608 winning percentage ranks 39th.
As Green Bay’s sideline leader from 2006-18, McCarthy posted a 125-77-2 regular-season record with nine playoff berths. He followed that up with a 49-35 mark and three playoff appearances in a half-decade in Dallas, where he was at the helm from 2020-24. McCarthy’s Cowboys went just 1-3 in the postseason, however, and they stumbled to a 7-10 mark during an injury-limited campaign for quarterback Dak Prescott last year. Owner Jerry Jones then allowed McCarthy’s contract to expire. While the Bears and Saints showed interest in McCarthy last January, he didn’t coach anywhere in 2025.
McCarthy will now grab the reins of yet another iconic franchise in Pittsburgh, which didn’t record a single sub-.500 season during Tomlin’s 19-year reign. Although the 53-year-old Tomlin won his eighth AFC North title and went to the playoffs for the 13th time this season, he resigned after the Texans routed the Steelers in the wild-card round. It was the seventh straight postseason loss for Tomlin, who won just eight of 20 playoff games in Pittsburgh. McCarthy owns an 11-11 record in the playoffs.
Tomlin spent the majority of his tenure teaming with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, but the Steelers have lacked stability under center over the past few years. Since Roethlisberger retired after 2021, Kenny Pickett, Mitchell Trubisky, Justin Fields, Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers have each started at least five games in a season. The team still managed its third straight 10-win showing in 2025, which could go down as the 42-year-old Rodgers’ only season in Pittsburgh.
Between his age and his status as a soon-to-be free agent, it’s unclear whether Rodgers will continue his career next season. However, the obvious connection to McCarthy may make it more likely.
Rodgers was McCarthy’s starter for almost all of the coach’s time in Green Bay. Along with winning the only Super Bowl of his career under McCarthy, Rodgers took home a pair of MVPs, among numerous other accomplishments.
Eight years after they last paired up, McCarthy and Rodgers could reunite in Pittsburgh. The Steelers didn’t hire McCarthy to keep Rodgers from retiring, but he may be the one coach the QB would consider playing for at this stage of his career, according to Pelissero.
Whether it’s Rodgers or someone else, finding an answer under center will be among the most important tasks of the offseason for McCarthy and general manager Omar Khan. There’s familiarity between McCarthy and Khan, who overlapped in New Orleans from 2000-01. McCarthy was the Saints’ offensive coordinator then, while Khan was in their football operations department.
As the Steelers’ GM since 2022, Khan has overseen four straight seasons of at least nine wins. The Steelers have made the postseason three years in a row, and replacing Tomlin with a coach who’s almost a decade older suggests they don’t intend to take a step back in 2026. That’s no surprise after owner Art Rooney II spoke out against a potential rebuild on the heels of Tomlin’s exit.
With the Steelers becoming the sixth team to hire a head coach this month, there are only four openings left. The Bills, Browns, Cardinals and Raiders are still in the market. McCarthy was not a candidate for any of those jobs, though he did interview with the Giants and Titans before they chose John Harbaugh and Robert Saleh, respectively.
Dolphins Promote Bobby Slowik To OC
Newly hired Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley has found his offensive coordinator. The Dolphins are promoting senior passing game coordinator Bobby Slowik to the OC role, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports.
This will be the second NFL offensive coordinator job for the 38-year-old Slowik, who held the position with the Texans from 2023-24. Slowik got off to an auspicious start in Houston, which orchestrated an impressive turnaround under then-rookie head coach DeMeco Ryans.
The Texans’ offense finished 2023 11th in scoring and 14th in yards, helping the team to 10 wins and an AFC South title. Quarterback C.J. Stroud, the second overall pick in the 2023 draft, earned Offensive Rookie of the Year honors and a Pro Bowl nod.
On the heels of a successful first year in Houston, Slowik drew serious head coaching consideration in January 2024. The Panthers, Titans and Seahawks all interviewed Slowik, who emerged as a finalist for openings in Atlanta and Washington. Slowik didn’t get any of those jobs, but another strong offensive showing in 2024 may have convinced someone to hire him.
While the Texans put together a second straight 10-win, division-winning campaign last year, their offense took steps backward. With Stroud’s numbers declining to a noticeable degree, the Texans ranked an underwhelming 19th in scoring and 22nd in total offense. After the unit mustered a mere 14 points in a loss to the Chiefs in the divisional round, the Texans fired Slowik exactly one year ago today.
A couple of weeks after his Texans tenure ended, Slowik reunited with then-head coach Mike McDaniel in Miami. The two first worked together on Kyle Shanahan‘s staff in San Francisco from 2017-2021. Slowik spent the first two of those seasons in a defensive quality control post before joining McDaniel, then the 49ers’ run game coordinator, as an offensive assistant.
The Slowik addition didn’t do much to help the Dolphins in 2025. The team sputtered to a 7-10 record, ending McDaniel’s four-year run as its head coach. A feeble passing attack was among the reasons the Dolphins’ offense slumped to a 25th-place mark in points and ranked an even worse 26th in yards.
With quarterback Tua Tagovailoa at the helm for most of the year, the Dolphins had the game’s eighth-worst passing offense. During the sixth (and worst) year of his career, Tagovailoa finished 26th out of 28 qualifying passers in QBR and posted a mediocre 88.5 passer rating.
With Tagovailoa’s 15 interceptions leading the league through Week 15, McDaniel benched him for seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers. Tagovailoa didn’t play again in 2025, and the Dolphins have since replaced McDaniel with Hafley and Frank Smith with Slowik.
Before the Dolphins promoted Slowik, the Eagles showed interest in him for their vacant OC gig. Landing that job would have given Slowik a chance to work with a more talented offense and a clear-cut starting quarterback in Jalen Hurts. The Dolphins have at least a couple of legitimate weapons in running back De’Von Achane and wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, but the futures of Tagovailoa and wideout Tyreek Hill are up in the air as the offseason approaches.