NFL head coaching vacancies ranked

The current NFL coaching vacancies run the gamut of desirability. From Super Bowl contenders to bottom feeders, there’s already a lot available just one day after the regular season ended.

You can keep track of the candidates linked to the vacancies with our handy tracker.

Here’s a look at the openings so far from worst to best.

Aside from owning the second overall pick in the 2017 draft, and playing in a brand new stadium in California, it’s hard to get excited about the future of the 49ers. Which isn’t to say the team can’t return to being the championship contenders they were just a few years ago, but whoever steps in here is going to have a long-term project ahead of them with a fairly short leash.

Jed York is now looking for his fourth head coach in as many years. The previous two didn’t last more than one season. And he’s going to have to hire a new general manager as well. There’s dysfunction up and down the franchise and that’s before you begin to even look at the roster. The new coach will have to choose between starting Colin Kaepernick or Blaine Gabbert at quarterback, unless he identifies a steal in the draft. Even with the No. 2 pick this year, there isn’t really a franchise QB prospect to snag. The Niners ranked 31st in total offense and last in defense.

With expectations as high as they are in San Francisco, the 49ers don’t need a coach so much as a miracle worker — and Bill Belichick isn’t likely to leave New England any time soon.

While every other team in the AFC West was turning into a Super Bowl contender, the Chargers were watching their star players age, their stadium get overrun by visiting fans and their threats to leave town get met with a “meh” attitude from the city.

The franchise isn’t anywhere near as unstable as the 49ers, but there’s just as many uncertainties. To start with, whoever takes this job might want to hold off on getting a place to live in San Diego for a bit. The Chargers can opt to move to Los Angeles this month.

Philip Rivers just completed his 13th season and turned 35 years old, and while he did throw for 33 touchdowns, his QB rating has been dropping for the last four years. As too is his completion percentage. He’s by no means the problem with San Diego, but whoever takes over the team will need to at least game plan for how the Chargers eventually move on from him — the same goes for tight end Antonio Gates, but it appears his successor has already been found in Hunter Henry.

Fortunately, running back Melvin Gordon turned in a sophomore season that showed his true potential. He finished with nearly 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns in 13 games. The Chargers also boast a top 10 rushing defense and tied for the most interceptions (18) in the league this year.

Things aren’t as bad as they looked this year in San Diego, but 2016 did show a lot of what’s bubbling under the surface. Combine that with an AFC West seeing the rise of the Raiders, continued success of the Chiefs, and a Broncos team one season removed from a title run. It won’t be easy turning these Chargers around. Keeping them going in the right direction might be even harder.

Rex Ryan poured gasoline on the Bills, tossed a match on the pile, threw on some sunglasses, and strolled away.

Buffalo had a chance to make the playoffs this year, then it wasted every opportunity. The Bills found a quarterback with Cam Newton-like abilities who could run their offense, then feuded with him over the final few games of the season. They faltered against every contender they faced.

Buffalo is what every team fears becoming: mired in mediocrity. And that usually means a rebuild is on the way. For the Bills, it’s becoming all too familiar.

They still have Sammy Watkins and LeSean McCoy to anchor the offense, but relying on just two playmakers in a division where the Patriots constantly set the standard won’t work.

Add that to a Miami Dolphins team that’s starting to look like it could become an AFC contender, and you’ve got a Bills franchise with a lot to fight through. Buffalo holds the 10th pick in the draft. There’s not much to get excited about.

Maybe it was Gus Bradley. Maybe he was holding the Jaguars back. One week after Bradley was fired, Jacksonville took down Tennessee, 38-17, and looked awfully good doing so.

There are plenty of pieces on the Jags to work with, though quarterback Blake Bortles may not be one of them. Between Jalen Ramsey, Allen Robinson, and Myles Jack — not to mention T.J. Yeldon — this isn’t your father’s Jacksonville coaching vacancy. There may be something coming together here.

The Jags hold the fourth pick in the NFL draft and can start building around their core group of playmakers.

More so than any other team on this list, however, the right hire matters more than one that makes the biggest splash. This is a young group with plenty of upside in a very, very weak AFC South. There may be no better time for Jacksonville to finally start racking up wins than now.

They were the most unwatchable team of 2016. They had just four wins. They lost to two other teams on this list. And yet the Rams have so much upside that there should be people lining up to interview.

Between Todd Gurley, Aaron Donald, Tavon Austin, and Kenny Britt, Los Angeles has enough players to build around — or at least hold over until upgrades arrive. It has a project quarterback in Jared Goff, but he lacks coaching, not tools. And he certainly wasn’t getting the former from Jeff Fisher.

The Rams play in L.A. and will be a draw for top free agents. And they play in a division with the biggest dumpster fire in the league — the 49ers — and two teams in the Seahawks and Cardinals that took some steps back this year.

There’s a new stadium on the way and nearly every resource available. The biggest drawback might be signing on to work for Stan Kroenke, but he did let Fisher sleepwalk through the job for the last three years, so we know he’s decently hands-off.

This is somewhat of an anomaly. Coaching vacancies like the one in Denver don’t really come around.

With Gary Kubiak stepping down because of health concerns, the reigning Super Bowl winners — at least for a few more weeks — are in need of a new head coach and not much else.

Of course, the Broncos would take an upgrade at quarterback, but the last guy to take them to the playoffs was Peyton Manning. We still don’t know if either Trevor Siemian or Paxton Lynch can lead the team, but there are plenty of options out there — Oh hey, Tony Romo — if the team wants to try someone new.

Denver boasts one of the best defensive playmakers in Von Miller and a cornerback committee featuring Chris Harris Jr. and Aqib Talib that has become one of the stingiest secondaries in the league.

Running back C.J. Anderson will return healthy next season. Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders are coming back, too.

And despite all the difficulties this year, the Broncos just narrowly missed out on returning to the postseason. They play in the AFC’s toughest division right now and proved they can still hold up when they aren’t at their best.

This all means that expectations will be extraordinary high next year — Super Bowl or bust — but whichever coach steps in will have more than enough guys on the roster to take on that challenge.

The Broncos are movie stars this offseason. No other team comes close.