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What’s The 2nd Best Coaching Hire of the NFL Offseason?
The best coaching hire is practically unanimous, so what’s the 2nd best coaching hire of the NFL offseason? So much change, but only one winner.
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After covering all of the former New York coaches in new places, as well as the AFC North turnover, there are still more new hires in the NFL for 2026. With so much change this NFL offseason, it can’t all be great and its not.
Joe Brady was promoted from within to be Buffalo’s head coach. Klint Kubiak departed the champion Seahawks to coach Las Vegas. Miami hired former Green Bay coordinator Jeff Hafley as its new head coach. Robert Saleh is now head coach of the Titans. Kevin Stefanski will lead the Falcons this season, plus the Giants hired John Harbaugh.
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Combined with all the aforementioned moves of the previous weeks, what is the best hire of the entire NFL offseason? Scratch that, what is the 2nd best hire of the offseason? We must remove John Harbaugh from the discussion to avoid bias, but also because he is unanimously considered the best hire. In other words, we’ll tell you who the second-best hire was!
The 2nd Best Coaching Hire of NFL Offseason
Falcons Are Best with Stefanski
Todd Salem: My choice came down to Robert Saleh in Tennessee or Kevin Stefanski in Atlanta. Both hires hit a number of checkmarks I look for. These are head coaches in their second stint. Saleh struggled in his first stint with the Jets but re-proved himself to be one of the elite coordinators in the league. Stefanski succeeded wildly with Cleveland before petering off over the past few seasons as his quarterback room disintegrated around him.
Both guys seemed to develop good relationships with their coaching staffs and really it was only the relationship with ownership that failed. No one could blame Saleh for having Woody Johnson turn on him. And with Stefanski, he seemed to try to take both his coordinators with him to Atlanta. Tommy Rees did follow, but Jim Schwartz stayed in the hopes of being hired as Cleveland HC instead (which didn’t materialize, leading to Schwartz resigning from Cleveland anyway).
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Both coaches are joining rosters with high upside. A lot of neutral folks love Tennessee’s future potential with Cam Ward, and those same neutral folks love Atlanta’s roster and felt they underachieved last season. Obviously, the QB position is quite up in the air for the Falcons for 2026, which has me leaning toward Stefanski as my winner.
Saleh is a defensive guy; the Titans’ success is really going to come down to Ward’s development under offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. If the coordinator hire is more important than the HC hire, how can the latter be my top pick?
That brings me back to Stefanski. He is an offensive guy. Early in his time with the Browns, that seemed to be on display. 2020 was Baker Mayfield’s first great season in the pros. He then got solid contributions out of elderly vets Jacoby Brissett and Joe Flacco over the next couple seasons, all while being weighed down by Deshaun Watson. As the years went by and the QB options got worse, Stefanski was unable to overcome the hole he was dug into.
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But Atlanta needs that expertise right now. Michael Penix had a wishy-washy 2025 and then got hurt. Whether he can be saved or new addition Tua Tagovailoa is the answer and the team cuts the cord on Penix, Stefanski is being given the reins of one of the more talented offensive units in football. The skill players here are better than he had in Cleveland, buoyed by perhaps the best running back in the NFL. His teams in Cleveland always leaned on the run game to supplement the pass, not the other way around.
Atlanta made the decision to stake its future on Stefanski’s ability to create an offense, and I think they made the right one. He is the best hire of the NFL Offseason.
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Black and Yellow and Mike McCarthy
Dan Salem: Harbaugh is my favorite hire, mainly because he was the best coach available and has the highest chance of creating immediate success with his new team. The Giants got to him first, so they appear to be the big winner. Since this is a reasonably unanimous opinion among NFL fans, I too will speak to my second favorite head coaching hire of the offseason.
Stefanksi and Saleh are likely to do very well on their new teams. I love both hires, but regarding which new coach excites me the most and may truly alter his new team for the better without regressing from where the team left off, there is only one other name. Mike McCarthy in Pittsburgh is a great hire.
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You can tell me how he failed in Dallas and how he’s been out of the sport too long, or he’s too old and has lost his touch, but can you prove any of that? McCarthy is a Super Bowl winning coach who wore out his welcome during his previous tenure with the Cowboys. He wasn’t failing exactly, but he also was not reaching the levels ownership expected. Does this sound familiar, because it should? Harbaugh was ousted for many of the same reasons.
McCarthy brings the same respect and pedigree to Pittsburgh, with an additional chip on his shoulder to prove he’s great all over again. Assuming Aaron Rodgers is still the quarterback, he inherits a playoff caliber team that has a new coach only because Tomlin wore out his welcome. Consider my interest highly piqued.
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What truly excites me about McCarthy and the Steelers is that the glove fits just right, especially with Rodgers under center. I’m no fan of the Steelers, but they should be very good this season and I like the McCarthy hire for them.
Meet our Sports Writers:
Dan Salem is Lead Editor and Co-owner of BuzzChomp. He’s an award winning Actor, Director and Producer. Visit M Square Productions for his film work, or get lost in his old-school comedy on Pillow Talk TV. You can follow him on X, TikTok and Instagram. His latest film ‘Alone’ is now on Amazon.
Todd Salem is a Staff Writer and Contributing Editor at BuzzChomp. He’s also a champion of fantasy football and fantasy baseball, dominating leagues for over two decades. Comment below on his unfiltered opinions.
NFL Offseason 2nd Best Hire – This Is The End
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