The Arizona Cardinals were one of 10 NFL franchises that were without a head coach after the 2025 season. The first step after their head coach was fired, was to compile a ledger of qualified candidates. Then, whittle that down to a short list.
Next, submit requests to interview to other clubs that have these men employed. For guys who weren’t in football this past year, simply call their agent. Then schedule an interview. In today’s NFL, that is usually done virtually instead of flying in guys to meet. Not that candidates aren’t brought in. They are. This means the prospect can look over the facilities, offices, tour the home stadium, meet front office personnel, and then share a meal or two before flying back home.
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The in-house visit is a key ingredient to the interview. The Cardinals brass gets to know the man personally whom they sometimes only got to know each other at the Combine, Senior Bowl, and other off-season events. The meal is the bonding time.
And the coach gets to see what he is dealing with as far as facilities, weight room, training rooms, and meet scouts and his prospective future bosses.
Several NFL teams have already hired their next head coach. As of Thursday, the number of vacancies has dwindled down to five teams: Cleveland, Arizona, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Las Vegas.
Three teams are located in cold-weather cities, while both Vegas and Arizona have domed stadiums.
The Cardinals have been in contact with potential coaches. They have conducted interviews. They have also requested second interviews from several prospects and, in addition, have been turned down with a “no, thank you.”
John Harbaugh never accepted a phone call to interview. Green Bay Packers DC Jeff Hafley decided to take the Miami Dolphins position before doing his second interview. San Fran DC Robert Saleh had a second interview scheduled with Arizona, then skipped the meeting and accepted the job at Tennessee instead of weighing all his options. After being fired, Sean McDermott took the express lane to the front line of every vacancy, including Arizona, but word is he isn’t interested.
The Athletic surveyed a panel of coaches and top team executives to rank the openings.
Here’s what they said:
https://t.co/1hTGvgwxbo
— The Athletic NFL (@TheAthleticNFL)
January 21, 2026
The Athletic had a poll recently where they asked NFL play-callers and high-up execs to rank the league’s 10 head coach openings before any club had filled their opening. The poll had the Cardinals ranked #10. That’s out of 10.
Yahoo! Sports ranked the five remaining openings
and released their findings on Thursday. Arizona came in at #5. They categorized the Cardinals’ position as “a dead-end job for many years, and there’s not much reason to believe that will change soon.”
Why?
There are only 32 NFL head coaching jobs. And the Cardinals have one of them wide open for the right candidate. Why aren’t these coaches running in droves to try to become the next head coach in the desert?
Here are three reasons.
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They haven’t spent big money on coaches
The Cardinals are worth $5.5 billion, up 28% since 2024. And it’s not like the franchise has done anything new to increase its value. It just exists and gains value annually.
In 2024, Arizona generated $571 million in revenue, according to
Forbes. That’s in one year. This past season, the Cardinals had an operating income of $62 million and paid players $361 million.
The franchise made another $571 million. That is largely due to the profit-sharing the league handles with its member franchises. Sponsors such as Oakley generate profits, and then split 32 directions. Plus, the TV revenue is huge.
And yet, with making that much money, Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill prefers not to pay his head coach top-tier money. Jonathan Gannon was at the bottom level of coaching salaries during his three seasons at approximately $5 million a year. Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs makes $20 million a year. It’s not like the salaries are even close.
Harbaugh inked a five-year deal for the same money as Reid. Arizona wasn’t even in the conversation because they don’t pay for top coaches. Bidwill low-balls every candidate. So, the better-talented guys simply avoid any number calling from a 623 or 602 area code.
The attitude is: someone less qualified will take it. And next year, let’s look at those job openings instead.
The odds-on favorite is Denver Broncos DC Vance Joseph will be named as soon as the Broncos play their final contest. Whispers state that Joseph will take a lot less to become a head coach once again.
Part of this issue is that Bidwill is paying coaches who aren’t even with the team any longer, like Kliff Kingsbury, and is strapped with those dumb decisions.
And because Bidwill won’t pay good money for his head coach, this means the talent of the assistant coaches will also drop. Usually, a new head man will bring in guys that he has worked with and is used to. If the head coach is an offensive-minded guy, he has to have a well-documented stud mind to handle the defense. But not if management isn’t paying. This means the head coach has to settle for lesser talent at the helm and often has unproven abilities.
If you saw the demands that Harbaugh had after he was let go from Baltimore, he wanted so much a year for his own salary, and then a $10 million budget for his assistant coaches. That guaranteed that he could bring in some of the best at their coaching positions. Which does what? Makes the entire team exceptional. Yes, every WR coach wants to be an OC. But don’t bring in a WR coach to be your OC just because there isn’t anybody left.
Which all means right out of the gate, the roster isn’t going anywhere, and more losing seasons pile up.
The division
Right now, the NFC West Division is the bully of the NFL. Three of its four members went to the postseason dance this year. The NFC Championship Game is between two of these clubs. Which means one will be playing in this year’s Super Bowl and have a very good chance of winning it all.
When will this diminish? It isn’t.
From the 1986 NFL season through the 1995 year, the NFC East won seven Super Bowls with the likes of the Giants, Redskins, and Dallas Cowboys. That’s seven out of 10 seasons. A truly dominant division.
It very well may happen with this NFC West. The Seattle Seahawks are a monster. The Los Angeles Rams have no quit. The San Francisco 49ers came back to prominence. All have great offensive units. The Seahawks have their dominating defense back in the fold.
The Cardinals are the bottom feeders. What coach wants to come into this mess and expect to compete and play each of these clubs twice a year? That is usually six losses before the season even begins.
That’s not an easy job at all.
Quarterback in flux
Coaches will look at a team’s roster and decide if they want to take on the team and its problems. He can evaluate both sides of the ball, plus the status of special teams. Then, if he is an offensive guy, for example, and the team he is exploring doesn’t feel right or has too many issues to fix, he will simply pass and wait for another opportunity.
The Cardinals’ QB room is a mess. Why is it still unsettled?
Any defensive-minded coach will want the QB situation to be a non-factor right off. Even if this type of coach brings in a good offensive coach, they don’t want to spend so much energy and time on the quarterback.
Especially with a roster such as Arizona. There are too many issues that need to be addressed, and the next new guy wants the most important aspect to be fixed instead of another item on the honey-do list.
Jacoby Brissett is already under contract and will be back for one more season if he doesn’t get an extension. The Kyler Murray situation just keeps festering. The team needs to find a resolution instead of waiting for the new head coach to deal with it. Trade Murray or keep him for that final contract year, but at least make a decision.
Will the franchise keep project Kedon Slovis or draft a young buck in this year’s NFL draft as a developmental plan? Who is the starter? Who is the backup?
Other teams have their QB situation already situated. Saleh took the Titans’ job with rookie Cam Ward ready to go. The Giants had another rookie, Jaxson Dart, settled when Harbaugh was gazing at their roster. Sean Minter has Lamar Jackson in place with the Baltimore Ravens. Kevin Stefanski with the Atlanta Falcons has two signalcallers he can start Week 1 and can work on issues in other areas.
The Raiders are a lock to draft QB Fernado Mendoza first overall in April’s draft, so their vacancy is attractive.
Coaches don’t want drama, and they don’t want a laundry list of issues on the first day on the job.
