Titans, Dolphins, Falcons' Top HC Candidates After John Harbaugh Reportedly to Sign Giants Contract

John Harbaugh, arguably the top head coaching candidate in this hiring cycle, is off the board, as the New York Giants are working to finalize a deal with the 63-year-old, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Assuming the two sides end up working things out, this directly impacts the coaching searches for the Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins and Atlanta Falcons. He was expected to have interviews with Atlanta and Tennessee this week. The Dolphins reached out to Harbaugh to gauge his interest in their opening.

Now, all three teams will have to pivot to other options on their respective candidates list. There is certainly some overlap among those choices between these clubs.

The Titans' list of interviews includes Jeff Hafley, Jesse Minter, Mike McDaniel, Brian Daboll and Mike McCarthy. The Dolphins candidate list includes Hafley, Minter, Klint Kubiak, Robert Saleh, Chris Shula and Kevin Stefanski.

Atlanta's situation is more complicated because it has to hire a general manager, as well as a head coach, but the club has been connected to Stefanski, Kubiak, Vance Joseph and Anthony Weaver.

Tennessee Titans Top Candidates

AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

Some of the names mentioned for the Titans wouldn't seem to inspire a lot of enthusiasm. McCarthy, Daboll, Stefanski, Jason Garrett and Matt Nagy are retreads without exciting resumes.

Minter and Robert Saleh are strong defensive-minded coaches and could do a good job, but their success would also be determined by who they brought in at offensive coordinator to help Cam Ward's development.

Considering that Tennessee's general manager Mike Borgonzi was hired after spending 15 seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, Nagy has been viewed as a "serious candidate" for the job.

Nagy, who is in his second stint as Kansas City's offensive coordinator, went 34-31 in four seasons as head coach of the Chicago Bears. The primary issue is the best team he coached in Chicago was the 2018 team that was carried by a defense that allowed the fewest points in the NFL.

There is also a similar argument to be made against Stefanski, but the Browns organization has seemed dysfunctional for a long time. It doesn't help their case when the owner of the team is using his end-of-season press conference to praise the front office for solidifying the kicker position.

Stefanski's system in his early years with the Browns did a good job of creating big plays down the field. Ward has rare arm talent and improvisational skills to make big plays that showed up at times this season.

With more talent and the right coaching around Ward, there is a very high ceiling for the Titans. Stefanski feels like the best fit for this job given his style and what the organization needs.

Miami Dolphins Top Candidates

AP Photo/Kyusung Gong

New Dolphins general manager Jon-Eric Sullivan spent his entire career up to this point with the Green Bay Packers.

If we assume that Sullivan wants to use some of the methods that have made the Packers so successful, Miami's next head coach will likely have an offensive background.

Sullivan originally joined the Packers in 2004 when Mike Sherman was head coach. Sherman was followed by McCarthy and now current coach Matt LaFleur.

One potential curveball could be Hafley, who has been the defensive coordinator in Green Bay for the past two seasons. He has received praise for being a strong interviewee when he gets in the room with a team's decision-makers.

The connection between Sullivan and Hafley is baked in, though it will be interesting to see if Hafley's candidacy gets dinged after Green Bay's defense collapsed after Micah Parsons tore his ACL in Week 15.

If the Dolphins want to go the defensive route for a head coach, Minter might be a stronger candidate than Hafley. He didn't have an All-Pro pass-rusher at his disposal, yet the Los Angeles Chargers ranked in the top 10 in points allowed in each of the past two seasons.

The Dolphins will likely have to do some sort of roster teardown this offseason, so having a coach like Minter who can do more without elite-level talent than a lot of coaches would make him a great fit.

Atlanta Falcons Top Candidates

AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File

Falcons owner Arthur Blank created a new president of football position that he used to add franchise legend Matt Ryan to the front office.

Blank also said the new head coach and general manager will report directly to the president, who "will set the vision and identity for our team."

If you want to connect some dots, Ryan's best season as a player was in 2016 when he won NFL MVP when Kyle Shanahan was Atlanta's offensive coordinator. Kubiak, the current Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator, worked on Shanahan's staff with the San Francisco 49ers in 2023 and runs a similar system.

The Falcons are also operating with some level of desperation because they need to find a way to maximize Michael Penix's ability in 2026 to determine if he is a long-term answer at quarterback.

Kubiak ticks any of the boxes that would seem likely to appeal to Ryan now that he has been tasked with being the figurehead for football operations in Atlanta.