More than a quarter of the NFL changed coaches this offseason, with a record-tying 10 jobs opening up. Two of those changes shook up the top of his annual midyear list. Mike Tomlin resigned as Steelers head coach after 19 seasons, doing so days after the Ravens ended John Harbaugh‘s tenure after 18. Andy Reid is now the NFL’s longest-tenured HC — by a wide margin.
The three-time Super Bowl-winning Chiefs leader is entering his 14th season in Kansas City and 28th as an NFL HC. The former Eagles honcho — now fourth on the NFL’s all-time wins list (307) — will have split his head coaching career evenly between Pennsylvania and Missouri after this season. As the 68-year-old Reid will attempt to become the oldest NFL HC to win a Super Bowl — a mark Bruce Arians holds at 66 — he is the only active sideline boss to be hired before 2017.
Tomlin fell a few years short of Chuck Noll‘s storied 23-season Pittsburgh tenure, and playoff losses mounted for a coach that established one of the highest floors in the history of professional sports. A one-sided wild-card loss to the Texans preceded a quick Tomlin exit, and the charismatic leader is now at NBC. As Tomlin completed his 19th non-losing season, his team handed Harbaugh what became a tenure-closing defeat. The Ravens moved on from their Super Bowl-winning leader not long after Tyler Loop‘s Week 18 missed field goal.
Harbaugh received interest from just about everywhere on the coaching market, but he only met with the Giants and Falcons. The Giants quickly closed a deal, albeit taking a few days to finalize it, and started this year’s hiring cycle. The Falcons then scooped up Kevin Stefanski, whom the Browns fired after six seasons.
Stefanski is responsible for two of Browns 2.0’s three playoff berths since the franchise’s 1999 rebirth, but he took the fall amid Cleveland’s persistent struggles over the past two seasons. The Browns hired Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken — who was not a candidate anywhere else — to replace Stefanski. This is Monken’s first NFL HC opportunity, but he had been the Browns’ OC in 2019. The Ravens hired Jesse Minter, one of Harbaugh’s former assistants.
Having hired defensive-minded 30-somethings to fill each of their previous three HC vacancies, the Steelers went with Pittsburgh native Mike McCarthy. The offense-oriented leader is now a third-chance HC; overall, this is the former Packers and Cowboys head coach’s 19th season in charge of an NFL team. Beyond the Atlanta and New York hires, Tennessee was the only other team to go with a retread option. The Titans, who had been closely connected to ex-Mike Borgonzi Chiefs coworker Matt Nagy, hired Robert Saleh. The two-time 49ers DC is back on the HC tier after just one season away.
Sean McDermott had joined Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan as a 2017 HC hire, but the Bills canned their longtime leader after an overtime divisional-round loss in Denver. Like Tomlin, McDermott is out of the NFL presently.
The nine-year Buffalo boss produced eight playoff berths, ending a 17-year Bills drought, but experienced a few agonizing losses in January. In an attempt at ensuring some continuity while aiming to clear a troublesome hurdle, the Bills promoted OC Joe Brady. The 36-year-old staffer has risen from QBs coach to interim OC to full-time OC to head coach with the Bills.
The NFL now has two LaFleurs in HC chairs, with the Cardinals having hired Mike LaFleur seven years after the Packers hired older brother Matt. The former Jets and Rams OC is part of a rebuild in Arizona, which was closely tied to Klint Kubiak. The second-generation NFL leader chose the Raiders as his first HC landing spot, taking that job — ahead of Las Vegas’ Fernando Mendoza draft choice — shortly after the Seahawks won Super Bowl LX.
On the extension front, Matt LaFleur has joined McVay and Sean Payton in receiving new deals this offseason. The Broncos, Packers and Rams each extended both their HC and GM, Denver and Los Angeles doing so after berths in conference championship games. This will be Payton’s fourth year in Denver, though given all the turnover in the HC ranks this offseason, he is back among the top 10 in terms of tenure with his current team. This will be Payton’s 20th year as an NFL head coach.
Here is how the NFL’s coach tenure list looks heading into the 2026 season:
Andy Reid (Kansas City Chiefs): January 4, 2013; signed extension in 2024
Sean McVay (Los Angeles Rams): January 12, 2017; signed extension in 2026
Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco 49ers): February 6, 2017; signed extension in 2023
Matt LaFleur (Green Bay Packers): January 8, 2019: signed extension in 2026
Zac Taylor (Cincinnati Bengals): February 4, 2019; signed extension in 2023
Dan Campbell (Detroit Lions): January 20, 2021; signed extension in 2024
Nick Sirianni (Philadelphia Eagles): January 21, 2021; signed extension in 2025
Kevin O’Connell (Minnesota Vikings): February 2, 2022; signed extension in 2025
Todd Bowles (Tampa Bay Buccaneers): March 30, 2022; signed extension in 2025
Sean Payton (Denver Broncos): January 31, 2023: signed extension in 2026
DeMeco Ryans (Houston Texans): January 31, 2023
Shane Steichen (Indianapolis Colts): February 14, 2023
Jim Harbaugh (Los Angeles Chargers): January 24, 2024
Dave Canales (Carolina Panthers): January 25, 2024
Mike Macdonald (Seattle Seahawks): January 31, 2024
Dan Quinn (Washington Commanders): February 1, 2024
Mike Vrabel (New England Patriots): January 12, 2025
Ben Johnson (Chicago Bears): January 20, 2025
Aaron Glenn (New York Jets): January 22, 2025
Liam Coen (Jacksonville Jaguars): January 23, 2025
Brian Schottenheimer (Dallas Cowboys): January 24, 2025
Kellen Moore (New Orleans Saints): February 11, 2025
John Harbaugh (New York Giants): January 17, 2026
Kevin Stefanski (Atlanta Falcons): January 17, 2026
Jeff Hafley (Miami Dolphins): January 19, 2026
Robert Saleh (Tennessee Titans): January 19, 2026
Jesse Minter (Baltimore Ravens): January 22, 2026
Mike McCarthy (Pittsburgh Steelers): January 24, 2026
Joe Brady (Buffalo Bills): January 27, 2026
Todd Monken (Cleveland Browns): January 28, 2026
Mike LaFleur (Arizona Cardinals): February 1, 2026
Klint Kubiak (Las Vegas Raiders): February 9, 2026