NFL Rumors: Latest Buzz Surrounding Top 2019 Head Coach Candidates

The first domino in the 2019 head coaching shuffle has fallen. Former Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur has accepted the Green Bay Packers' offer to become their next head coach.

This is an intriguing move, as LaFleur spent just a single season as the offensive coordinator in Tennessee, but it isn't a shocking one. The current leaguewide trend is to go after innovative offensive minds. Everyone is looking for the next Sean McVay, Matt Nagy or Kyle Shanahan.

"Ask anyone around the NFL and many will say Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay are the two brightest offensive minds in the game," ESPN.com's Rob Demovsky recently wrote. "With Matt LaFleur, the Packers now have a head coach connected with both."

Now that the Packers have found their man, we're likely to see other dominoes start falling sooner than later. Let's take a look at some of the latest head-coaching rumors outside of Green Bay.

John Harbaugh Expected to Stay

There has been a lot of chatter surrounding Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh. He has just one year remaining on his contract, and if the Ravens aren't sold on him long term, he could conceivably be traded to a coach-needy team.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, at least two teams are "strongly considering" offering a trade to acquire him.

Of course, teams' interests in Harbaugh means absolutely nothing if the Ravens aren't willing to part with him, and that seems to be the case. According to NFL Media's Ian Rapoport, Harbaugh and Baltimore are closing in on a contract extension.

This likely means that both Harbaugh and LaFleur are off the table for teams without a head coach. That's not the best news for those teams, but it's terrific news for other coaching candidates.

Kliff Kingsbury Getting His Chance

We typically see three types of candidates each offseason during coaching searches: head-coaching retreads like Harbaugh and Bruce Arians, up-and-coming coordinators like LaFleur and innovative college standouts like USC offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury.

Kingsbury, who was only recently let go as head coach at Texas Tech, is a former NFL backup quarterback with a penchant for the kind of offensive innovation that teams are seeking. As Albert Breer of The MMQB recently reported, scouts are not at all surprised that he's drawing NFL attention.

"I'm not surprised at all," one scout told Breer. "He's a really innovative offensive coach, he's charismatic, he has that kind of feel to him. I think he's kind of what the new age of these offensive coaches are now. Everyone's trying to find the next McVay. He produced a really good offense every year and fell victim to the same thing the rest of the conference falls victim to."

Teams certainly do appear to be interested in Kingsbury. He has already interviewed with the New York Jets, and according to Rapoport, the Arizona Cardinals' interest in Kingsbury isn't new:

With at least two teams interested in Kingsbury, we can expect one to hire him sooner than later if he emerges as a first choice.

Browns Not Jumping on McCarthy

Former Packers head coach Mike McCarthy is one of those retread types, but he is an attractive option based on his resume—Super Bowl-winning coaches are always going to attract attention.

From the moment he was fired in Green Bay, it was easy to draw a line between McCarthy and the Cleveland Browns. General manager John Dorsey, assistant GM Elliott Wolf and vice president of player personnel Alonzo Highsmith all have ties to the Packers and McCarthy.

However, Cleveland hasn't interviewed McCarthy, choosing instead to focus on candidates like interim head coach Gregg Williams, New England Patriots defensive play-caller Brian Flores and Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.

According to Demovsky, the Browns have been in touch with McCarthy but are putting things with him "on hold."

Rather than a front-runner for the Cleveland job, as he may have originally appeared, McCarthy is now looking more like a backup plan.