Week 14 in the NFL means we're a little more than a month away from the annual head-coaching carousel. Three teams -- the Jets, Saints and Bears -- have already fired coaches this season, and more openings are expected when the regular season concludes in early January.
People spend a lot of time talking about which coaches might be fired, but it's important to also talk about who might be hired to replace them. To that end, I put together a list of the top 10 head-coaching candidates for this cycle, based on chatter around the league.
To be clear: This is not intended as a comprehensive list of candidates. There are names who aren't on this list but will get interviews -- virtual sessions can begin after the season, but in-person interviews can't begin until after the divisional round of the playoffs -- and possibly even jobs. There's also a chance the top names on this list won't get jobs. A lot of season remains, and a lot can happen between now and the time interviews begin. The ranking is loosely based on conversations I've had with people around the league, be it front office executives, other coaches, scouts or agents.
Here are the 10 hottest names right now. Treat this list as predictions if you like, but it's an inexact science, so it's probably better to treat this as a guideline to what could happen next month.
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Top offensive coordinator
Top defensive coordinator
Top candidate not currently coaching