The duality of this cycle's coaching hires, and the moves still to come, with Jourdan Rodrigue

The Athletic

22 January 2026

Nearly every coaching hire looks fine on paper. Many of them look good. Great, even! But we know not all of them turn out great or good or even fine. So how could each hire in this year's cycle go right, or go wrong? Robert Mays and Jourdan Rodrigue, Athletic NFL senior writer, go over all of them on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. After that, they play a game of "What this job is, and what this job ins't" with the openings still remaining, and highlight who they believe are the best candidates for each of those positions. Rundown (timestamps are approximate) 5:03 Where John Harbaugh and the Giants could go right, where it could go wrong 15:26 Where Kevin Stefanski and the Falcons could go right, where it could go wrong 30:09 Where Jeff Hafley and the Dolphins could go right, where it could go wrong 36:34 Where Robert Saleh and the Titans could go right, where it could go wrong 44:17 What is, and what isn't, the Cardinals job? 50:23 What is, and what isn't, the Bills job? 58:26 What is, and what isn't, the Ravens job? 1:02:33 What is, and what isn't, the Steelers job? 1:05:18 Mike McDaniel as the Chargers OC 1:11:17 Drew Petzing as the Lions OC 1:12:52 Robert on the Browns job 1:16:17 Robert on the Raiders job Connect with The Athletic Football Show Please take our listener survey: theathletic.com/survey26 YT: https://www.youtube.com/@TAFootballShow Podcasts: https://podfollow.com/the-athletic-football-show/view X: https://x.com/TA_FootballShow IG: https://www.instagram.com/tafootballshow TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tafootballshow Discord: http://discord.gg/theathleticfootballshow Call us: 847-448-0701 Email us: athleticfootballshow@gmail.com Host: Robert Mays With: Jourdan Rodrigue Executive Producer: Michael Beller Video Producer: Katy Duffy Audio Producer: Michael Beller Social Producer: Scott Krinch Follow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.social Follow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.social Follow Dave on Bluesky: @davehelman.bsky.social Follow Robert on X: @robertmays Follow Derrik on X: @QBKlass Follow Dave on X: @davehelman_ Theme song: Haunted Written by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love Songs Courtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.