The 10 NFL Teams That Have Gone Through The Most Coaches In The Past 25 Years

It’s hard to get too comfortable if you land a job as the head coach of an NFL team, as there are plenty of people waiting in the wings to replace you if you don’t live up to expectations. Most franchises won’t waste any time pulling the plug if you’re not producing results, and none of them have had a shorter fuse since the start of the new millennium than these.

These are the NFL teams that have had the most turnover at head coach since the season kicked off in 2000

The average tenure of an NFL coach ranges between just three and four seasons, and that is evidenced by the fact that the 32 teams that comprise the league have gone through an average of six head coaches over the past 25 years.

Some have had a bit more stability than others—Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin are the only two people who’ve served as the head coach of the Steelers during that span—but there are more than a few others that have had some trouble finding the right man for the job.

For the purpose of this list, I’m only including guys who were the head coach at the start of the season as opposed to those who were tapped to serve in an interim role after someone was kicked to the curb.

Bills: 8

• Wade Phillips (1998-2000): 29-19
• Gregg Williams (2001-03): 17-31
• Mike Mularkey (2004-05): 14-18
• Dick Jauron (2006-09): 24-33
• Chan Gailey (2010-12): 16-32
• Doug Marrone (2013-14): 15-17
• Rex Ryan (2015-16): 15-16
• Sean McDermott (2017-Present): 90-47

There are seven teams that have had eight different coaches over the past 25 years. The first (in alphabetical order) are the Bills, who didn’t have a coach last longer than four seasons before Sean McDermott rolled into Buffalo and turned them into contenders with some help from Josh Allen.

Broncos: 8

• Mike Shanahan (1995-2008): 138-86
• Josh McDaniels (2009-10): 11-17
• John Fox (2011-14): 46-18
• Gary Kubiak (2015-16): 21-11
• Vance Joseph (2017-18): 11-21
• Vic Fangio (2019-21): 19-30
• Nathanial Hackett (2022): 4-11
• Sean Payton (2023-Present): 23-18

The Broncos experienced an extended run of stability (and success) during the 14 seasons Mike Shanahan spent in Denver, but the end of his tenure marked the start of a fairly tumultuous era for a team that’s gone through seven head coaches since 2009.

Cardinals: 8

• Vince Tobin (1996-2000): 28-43
• Dave McGinnis (2000-03): 17-40
• Dennis Green (2004-06): 16-32
• Ken Whisenhunt (2007-12): 45-51
• Bruce Arians (2013-17): 49-30-1
• Steve Wilks (2018): 3-13
• Kliff Kingsbury (2019-23): 28-37-1
• Jonathan Gannon (2023-Present): 14-27

All signs point to this number rising to nine in the not-so-distant future. The Cardinals have struggled to get things clicking in the wake of the departure of Bruce Arians, and Jonathan Gannon hasn’t done much to suggest he has what it takes to turn things around.

Dolphins: 8

• Dave Wannstedt (2000-04): 42-31
• Nick Saban (2005-06): 15-17
• Cam Cameron (2007): 1-15
• Tony Sparano (2008-11): 29-32
• Joe Philbin (2012-15): 24-28
• Adam Gase (2016-18): 23-25
• Brian Flores (2019-21): 24-25
• Mike McDaniel (2022-Present): 29-29

The Dolphins got spoiled after getting to take advantage of Don Shula’s talents for 26 seasons—especially when you consider they’ve gone through eight different coaches over the same span since Dave Wannstedt took over for Jimmy Johnson in 2000.

Lions: 8

• Bobby Ross (1997-2000): 27-30
• Marty Mornhinweg (2001-02): 5-27
• Steve Mariucci (2003-05): 15-28
• Rod Marinelli (2006-08): 10-38
• Jim Schwartz (2009-13): 29-51
• Jim Caldwell (2014-17): 36-28
• Matt Patricia (2018-20): 13-29-1
• Dan Campbell (2021-Present): 44-30-1

Here’s a pretty wild stat: Prior to the arrival of Jim Caldwell, the Lions had not had a head coach who was able to post a winning record during their time in Detroit since Joe Schmidt went 43-34-7 between 1967 and 1972.

It was a fairly brief respite, although Dan Campbell also has the distinction of being in the minority when it comes to Lions coaches who’ve been above .500.

Jaguars: 8

• Tom Coughlin (1995-2002): 68-60
• Jack Del Rio (2003-2011): 68-71
• Mike Mularkey (2012): 2-14
• Gus Bradley (2013-16): 14-48
• Doug Marrone (2017-2020): 23-43
• Urban Meyer (2021): 2-11
• Doug Pederson (2022-24): 22-29
• Liam Coen (2025-Present): 4-3

The Jaguars have only had eight coaches since the franchise played its inaugural season in 1995. Tom Coughlin and Jack Del Rio had fairly lengthy tenures, but the same can’t be said about the six men who’ve taken the reins in Jacksonville since then.

Jets: 8

• Al Groh (2000): 9-7
• Herm Edwards (2001-05): 39-41
• Eric Mangini (2006-08): 23-25
• Rex Ryan (2009-14): 46-50
• Todd Bowles (2015-18): 24-40
• Adam Gase (2019-20): 9-23
• Robert Saleh (2021-24): 20-36
• Aaron Glenn (2025-Present): 1-7

We’re closing out our group of teams that have gone through eight different coaches with the Jets, who also feature a couple of repeat offenders in the form of Rex Ryan and Eric Mangini.

Al Groh was thrust into his one-and-done stint as the head coach after Bill Belichick defected to the Patriots in 2000, and he’s the only person on this list who’s posted a winning record with the team.

Commanders: 9

• Norv Turner (1994-2000): 49-51-1
• Marty Schottenheimer (2001): 8-8
• Steve Spurrier (2002-03): 12-20
• Joe Gibbs (2004-07): 30-34
• Jim Zorn (2008-09): 12-20
• Mike Shanahan (2010-13): 24-40
• Jay Gruden (2014-19): 35-49-1
• Ron Rivera (2020-23): 26-40-1
• Dan Quinn (2024-Present): 15-9

The bronze medal in this particular category goes to a team that has had nine different head coaches and three different names since 2000: the Commanders, who currently have a coach who’s managed to post a record above .500 following a string of guys who ended up at or below that benchmark.

Browns: 10

• Chris Palmer (1991-2001): 5-27
• Butch Davis (2001-04): 24-35
• Romeo Crennel (2005-08): 24-40
• Eric Mangini (2009-10): 10-22
• Pat Shurmur (2011-12): 9-23
• Rob Chudzinski (2013): 4-12
• Mike Pettine (2014-15): 10-22
• Hue Jackson (2016-18): 3-36-1
• Freddie Kitchens (2019): 6-10
• Kevin Stefanski (2020-Present): 42-50

The Browns are probably best known for having dozens of different players serve as their starting quarterback over the past few decades, but they’ve also had a revolving door of coaches that finally stopped spinning at breakneck speed following Kevin Stefanski’s arrival.

Raiders: 13

• Jon Gruden (1998-2001): 38-26
• Bill Callahan (2002-03): 15-17
• Norv Turner (2004-05): 9-23
• Art Shell (2006): 2-14
• Lane Kiffin (2007-08): 5-15
• Tom Cable (2008-10): 17-27
• Hue Jackson (2011): 8-8
• Dennis Allen (2012-14): 8-28
• Jack Del Rio (2015-17): 25-23
• Jon Gruden (2018-21): 22-31
• Josh McDaniels (2022-23): 9-16
• Antonio Pierce (2023-24): 9-17
• Pete Carroll (2025-Present): 2-5

Last, and certainly not least, we have the Raiders, who firmly hold the distinction of being the NFL team with the most turnover since 2000 thanks to the whopping 13 coaches they’ve managed to go through (they’d still be in the lead even if you only counted John Gruden’s multiple tenures as one).