John Harbaugh interviews, Matt LaFleur uncertainty fuel wild NFL coaching cycle

Super Bowl-winning head coach John Harbaugh wants to keep coaching. There is little doubt that he will keep coaching in 2026. And this week will provide more clarity for Harbaugh and interested teams about just where that will be next season.

Harbaugh will soon put together his interview schedule for this week, sources tell CBS Sports. Sources from multiple teams say they are proceeding with their own searches but are waiting to hear from Harbaugh so that they can work around his schedule.

There are eight head-coach vacancies across the league, including the Baltimore Ravens that fired Harbaugh last week after nearly two decades at the helm. And there could be more.

Two sources on interested teams said their belief is Harbaugh’s top choices among the vacant jobs are the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons in some order. Those sources added the Tennessee Titans are in third place, while a third, different source said there is real and mutual interest between Harbaugh and the Cleveland Browns.

Reports of Harbaugh’s demands are inaccurate, according to a source with knowledge. Harbaugh will command a high salary based simply off his resume, and some level of roster say is inherent in attracting a coach of that caliber. But a demand of $20 million in salary and full roster control are not required to land Harbaugh’s services.

Other teams will do what they can to work their way into the Harbaugh mix. And, of course, the biggest question is if other jobs will become available.

Matt LaFleur’s future in Green Bay is center stage in the NFL. He is 76-40-1 all-time in Green Bay, and he’s been to the playoffs in six out of his seven seasons there. But he’s been the seventh seed each of the past three years with just one victory, and he’s coming off a brutal loss to the rival Chicago Bears on Saturday where his team blew a 21-3 halftime lead.

Next season is the last on LaFleur’s contract, and new Packers CEO Ed Policy has said he doesn’t wish for someone to coach in a lameduck year. So the Packers will seemingly either extend LaFleur or part ways with him, via a firing or a trade.

In theory, time is ticking on Green Bay’s decision. With a fourth of the league’s head-coaching jobs available and everyone else already in the interview process, the Packers wouldn’t want to get started too late if they had to do a coaching search this cycle. And trading LaFleur would present other challenges that are also based on timing.

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To trade LaFleur would mean the Packers would have to trade the rights to his contract to another team for what would surely be a first- or second-round draft pick. And since he’s entering the final year of his contract, an extension with the new team would have to be in place. LaFleur, who is not able to speak with other teams, would have to evaluate that team himself. Such a maneuver could not take place in mere days following the playoff collapse.

“Firing him instead of trading him would be asinine,” one NFC executive said Sunday. “I just don’t really know who you’re hiring that’s better if you’re Green Bay. But certainly shouldn’t pay him to work for someone else next year.”

If the Packers and LaFleur part ways, both would be at or near the top of their respective rankings. In Green Bay, the organization presents as one of the most successful and stable franchises in all of sports with a bona fide quarterback and pieces that make them a perennial playoff contender. LaFleur, 46, would be a hot coaching candidate with his success in Green Bay and ability to call offensive plays as the head coach.

Currently, multiple sources surveyed across the league have the Ravens, Giants and Falcons as the top three jobs in some order.

The NFL has aimed to slow down the hiring process in recent years, and that has worked with general success. Coaches on playoff teams still must balance preparing for their postseason opponent and interviewing for a life-changing opportunity, but teams have been hiring later in January (and February) than even four or more years ago.

Only one of the eight with vacancies can even hire a head coach right now based off NFL rules, which mostly center on in-person interviews with diverse coaches.

As part of the Rooney Rule, the NFL requires teams to interview at least two external candidates who come from diverse backgrounds. Instituted in 2002, the Rooney Rule has been tweaked and expanded in recent years as a way to help qualified minority candidates get the opportunities they deserve. (The Giants have already interviewed Raheem Morris and Antonio Pierce in person and could hire a coach at any point now.)

In-person interviews with coaches currently employed by other teams cannot begin until Jan. 19, just after the divisional round of the playoffs. Recent history suggests the hires will begin in earnest that week. But a team can strike sooner than that.

Last year the Patriots hired Mike Vrabel on Jan. 12. New England finished their season on Jan. 4, fired Jerod Mayo within hours of the season ending, and then quickly rushed through two interviews with external minority candidates who were not in the league then — and still are not today — in order to clear the way to hire Vrabel. Though they landed one of the top candidates on the market who has led them to a big turnaround in Year One, the Patriots were heavily criticized publicly and privately for how they handled the search.

In order for a team to hire Harbaugh, or any other coach, or potentially trade for a coach like LaFleur, they would have to have conducted at least those two in-person interviews. That has not yet happened with any club yet.