NFL Exec Says Owners Made 'Big Push' to Stop Firing Coaches to Avoid Eating Dead Money

There was no shortage of turnover when it came to NFL head coaches from 2024 to 2025, but at least one league executive believes that might not always be the case moving forward.

"There is a big push by the owners to stop firing people and eating all this dead money with coaches," the executive said in a Thursday piece by Mike Sando of The Athletic. "Some owners are paying credence to that."

While that may be the case for some owners, it's not like there weren't a large number of firings stemming from the 2024 campaign.

In fact, seven different teams changed their head coach before the 2025 season, which is nearly one-quarter of the entire league.

The New Orleans Saints (Dennis Allen), Dallas Cowboys (Mike McCarthy), Las Vegas Raiders (Antonio Pierce), Jacksonville Jaguars (Doug Pederson), New York Jets (Robert Saleh), Chicago Bears (Matt Eberflus) and New England Patriots (Jerod Mayo) all moved on from their 2024 coaches and will have new ones in place for the upcoming campaign.

Sando highlighted the New York Giants as one team that decided to keep head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen despite a disappointing season.

Giants team president John Mara told reporters in January building a contender "better not take too long because I've just about run out of patience."

But he did show some patience in maintaining Daboll and Schoen after a 3-14 season instead of eating the dead money and starting over with a new coach and G.M. Perhaps he will be an example for other owners around the league in the near future, especially if the Giants quickly turn things around and start competing in the NFC East.

Still, New York is just one example.

There are far more examples of teams running out of patience either during or after the 2024 season and moving on from their head coaches, even if that meant eating some dead money in the process.