Top five hottest NFL head-coaching seats at quarter mark of season

Even before the 2024 NFL season began, a handful of coaches were already on the hot seat following last year’s performances.

Some of them — Chicago’s Matt Eberflus, Minnesota’s Kevin O’Connell, New Orleans’ Dennis Allen — have done enough to cool things down, while others have only made things worse for themselves.

Here are the five head coaches with the hottest seat roughly one-quarter of the way through the NFL season:

5. Robert Saleh, New York Jets

It feels like Saleh has been on the hot seat since he took the Jets job in 2021. He’s 20-35 in three-plus seasons with the team, but ownership kept him around this year to see what he could do with a healthy Aaron Rodgers at QB. Things looked great in wins over the Tennessee Titans and New England Patriots, but the Jets put forth an embarrassing performance in a 10-9 Week 4 loss to the Denver Broncos.

New York is 2-2, so there’s time to rebound, string some wins together and make noise in the playoffs. Saleh is being observed carefully, and if the season gets away from him, owner Woody Johnson may want to start making changes before it’s too late.

4. Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys

Few would have predicted the Cowboys would be a .500 team heading into their Week 5 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, that’s where they find themselves after getting embarrassed by New Orleans in Week 2 and falling short in their comeback bid against Baltimore in Week 3.

Yes, McCarthy’s hands have been tied with the lackluster run game he was given — the team let 1,000-yard rusher Tony Pollard walk in free agency and replaced him with past-their-prime free-agent signings Ezekiel Elliott and Dalvin Cook — but the defense ranks 26th overall and the team doesn’t look like a playoff-caliber team right now. With Bill Belichick still lurking, Jerry Jones might be tempted to cut bait with McCarthy and go all-in on Belichick if the team falls out of playoff contention.

3. Brian Daboll, New York Giants

Like the Jaguars, the Giants could just as easily be 3-1 as they are 1-3. Their 21-18 loss to the Washington Commanders and 20-15 defeat to the Dallas Cowboys probably should have been won. But aside from the obvious, New York ranks 21st in total offense despite having the early Rookie of the Year front-runner in Malik Nabers. 

The team also looks quite foolish for letting Barkley hit free agency considering the red-hot start he’s had in Philadelphia — he’s third in the league in rushing (435 yards) and is tied for the second-most touchdowns (four) — and while Daboll didn’t make the call to get rid of him, he is the one who’s giving his replacement Devin Singletary only 14 carries per game. Things are bad in New York, and while having Daniel Jones as his QB certainly limits him, Daboll will likely be the fall guy if they don’t improve.

2. Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles

Sirianni was nearly fired during the offseason after Philly’s late-season implosion, so, surprisingly, he remains employed. The Eagles are 2-2 and coming off an embarrassing double-digit, blowout loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that seemed to accentuate everything wrong with Sirianni’s tenure — his questionable sideline antics, the offense bottoming out for seemingly no reason, and losing to teams the Eagles should beat.

Eagles management reportedly told Sirianni he needed to make sweeping changes, or he was gone. So he hired new offensive and defensive coordinators, and the team signed Barkley, one of the top running backs in the NFL. Nothing appears to have changed regarding the team’s status as one of the NFL’s biggest circuses. If Philly doesn’t start stringing together some wins, Sirianni may find himself out of a job.

1. Doug Pederson, Jacksonville Jaguars

The Jaguars are 0-4 but could just as easily be 3-1. All three of their losses came in one-score games, and it could be argued that two of them — Week 1’s 20-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins and Week 4’s 24-20 loss to the Houston Texans — should have been won (they were both lost in the final 20 seconds of the fourth quarter.) That falls on coaching.

Pederson was hired three years ago to help mold Trevor Lawrence into an elite QB and build the Jags into perennial playoff contenders. He’s failed to deliver on both (though Jacksonville did make the playoffs in his first season), and after investing $275 million in Lawrence this offseason, owner Shad Khan may start looking for a new mentor for him if the team loses a few more games.