7 NFL Coaches On The Hot Seat After Week 5

We were officially treated to our first coaching casualty of the 2024 NFL season when the Jets decided to fire Robert Saleh after getting off to a 2-3 start, but there are still a number of other coaches who are at serious risk of befalling the same fate.

There are plenty of NFL teams who haven’t even come close to living up to expectations now that we’re five weeks into the season, and the guys who are coaching them should probably be a bit worried about their job security as things currently stand.

Robert Saleh may have been the first coach fired this season, but there’s virtually no chance he’ll end up being the last.

Doug Pederson—Jaguars

I think most people assumed Doug Pederson would end up getting kicked to the curb before Saleh, but the hot seat is still absolutely scorching for a man who is on the verge of meeting the same fate.

Jacksonville did get its first win of the season with a 37-34  victory over the Colts, so while Pederson may have bought himself a little bit of time ahead of theoretically winnable games against the Bears and the Patriots, there isn’t really any reason to believe he has what it takes to salvage the season—and save his job—based on what we’ve seen so far.

Zac Taylor—Bengals

Joe Burrow summed up the state of the surprisingly hapless Bengals when he admitted they aren’t a championship team in the wake of a 41-38 loss to the Ravens in overtime, and it’s hard to argue with that assessment.

I don’t think many people expected Cincinnati to get off to a 1-4 start, but that’s exactly where they’re sitting, and at the end of the day, the bulk of the blame is going to get placed on the shoulders of Zac Taylor.

He may have led the Bengals to a Super Bowl and an AFC Championship in 2020 and 2021, but the NFL is a “What You Done For Me Lately?” League—and the answer in his case is “Not too much.”

Dave Canales—Panthers

Part of me doesn’t want to put Dave Canales on this list given his status as a first-year head coach, but the Panthers have shown they have little patience for skippers who aren’t able to produce the desired results—something he’s definitely failed to do so far.

Carolina fell to 1-4 on the season with a 36-10 loss to the Bears that was lopsided to the point where Bryce Young got the chance to see the field again to prevent Andy Dalton from getting too banged up.

Frank Reich was canned after getting off to a 1-10 start last season, and it doesn’t seem like a stretch to suggest Canales and the Panthers could find themselves with a similar record in a couple of months.

At some point, you have to wonder if Carolina will decide to give a head coach some time to find their footing, but recent history isn’t on his side.

Kevin Stefanski—Browns

Kevin Stefanski is easily the best coach the Browns have had in the new millennium, and you could argue a man who won Coach of the Year honors for the second time during his tenure last season should be on a fairly loose leash.

However, the Browns have once looked like the Browns NFL fans came to know and pity for decades after starting at 1-4.

It’s hard to envy the situation Stefanski has found himself dealing with courtesy of DeShaun Watson, and he may be able to convince the powers that be the QB should be viewed as the primary scapegoat.

However, that could be much easier said than done.

Antonio Pierce—Raiders

The Raiders fell to 2-3 with a 34-18 loss to the Broncos, and while Antonio Pierce had fans and the team on his side after earning a full-time gig following his stint as an interim coach last season, he may be slowly but surely falling out of favor.

It didn’t take very long for the fears about the quarterback situation in Las Vegas heading into the season to be realized (I’d argue there are no real winners in a QB battle when it involves Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell), and Pierce has stirred up some internal drama thanks to his comments about “business decisions” and his approach to the Davante Adams situation.

He still has time to turn things around, but his status is worth keeping an eye on as the season progresses.

Brian Daboll—Giants

Brian Daboll was able to take a little bit of heat off of himself after the Giants improved to 2-3 with a 29-20 victory over the Seahawks, but that win may just be delaying the inevitable.

New York is gearing up for a game against a Bengals team that’s listed as the favorite before turning their attention to the Eagles, Steelers, and Commanders, and there’s a very real chance they end up dropping the next four contests.

I can’t imagine the Giants will opt to keep him around if that ends up being the case, and even if they’re able to escape from that stretch fairly unscathed, Daboll is still going to be under the microscope.

Jonathan Gannon—Cardinals

Jonathan Gannon’s hot seat is probably the coolest comapred to every other coach on this list, but I think he still deserves a mention.

Gannon got his first gig as a head coach in the NFL after making a name for himself as a defensive coordinator for the Eagles, and there was really nowhere to go but up after going 4-13 in his inaugural season.

The Cardinals improved to 2-3 with a surprising win over the 49ers after mounting an impressive second-half comeback where they held San Francisco scoreless, and there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic due to that performance.

However, Gannon has yet to prove he can win on a consistent basis, and another lopsided record like last season could end up being the nail in his coffin.