With November ending and the final push for postseason hopes on the way in December, only two coaches have been fired so far during the 2015 season. But when the year ends for many teams that end up on the outside looking in, the ax will fall and many more coaches will join Joe Philbin and Ken Whisenhunt in the club of former NFL head coaches.
Josh McDaniels, Adam Gase emerge as top 2016 head coaching candidates
Several coaches who already have NFL head coaching experience are expected to be top candidates again in 2016.
Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
When the NFL coaching carousel really heats up in January, there are already a few names that are expected to draw interest from teams.
Some of the candidates expected to get a look have already had tenures as a head coach before, and some of those tenures were very unsuccessful. But other candidates are young coaching prospects who haven’t yet had a chance to lead a team.
On NFL GameDay on Sunday morning, Ian Rapoport listed some of the top candidates to take over as head coaches in 2016:
Adam Gase
The young offensive mind was close to becoming the new coach for the San Francisco 49ers early in 2015, but things fell through late and Jim Tomsula got the job instead. After two successful seasons as the offensive coordinator for the Broncos, Gase left to take the same position with the Chicago Bears and helped Jay Cutler to a resurgent season. In 10 games played, Cutler has a 92.5 passer rating, the highest of his career, and the Bears have battled to a 5-6 record despite an 0-3 start. Much of Chicago's resurgence is due to an offensive game plan dialed up by Gase that has used the team's personnel excellently.
Josh McDaniels
McDaniels didn't even finish his second season with the Broncos before he was fired as head coach with an 11-17 record. While he gets a lot of flak for his coaching with the team, it was decisions to trade players like Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall that came to define his destruction of the roster. Since then, McDaniels has spent four seasons as the offensive coordinator of the Patriots, who have compiled a 46-12 regular season record and three trips to the AFC Championship, including one Super Bowl win, over that span.
Doug Marrone
The way his time with the Buffalo Bills ended was odd, but it's hard to say that he didn't do a good job with the team. After posting a 6-10 record in his first season, Marrone led the Bills to a 9-7 record in 2014 despite EJ Manuel and Kyle Orton battling for time at quarterback. After the year he opted out of his contract with the team and spent the 2015 season as an offensive line coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Were it not for the unexpected way he burst on to the scene as a candidate after opting out, Marrone would likely have a head coaching job right now.
Mike Shula
The son of legendary Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula was the head coach at Alabama for four seasons before Nick Saban came to save the day for the Crimson Tide. Since then he spent four seasons as the quarterbacks coach for the Jaguars before joining the Carolina Panthers as a quarterbacks coach in Cam Newton's rookie season. The 50-year-old coach is now the offensive coordinator and is largely credited for the development of Newton who is now an MVP candidate on an undefeated Panthers team.
Tom Cable
Cable took over as the interim head coach of the Oakland Raiders when Lane Kiffin got the boot and did well enough to warrant keeping the job for two more seasons. After a 5-11 record in his first full season, Cable helped the Raiders improve to 8-8 in 2010, but was let go by the team. He has since spent the last five seasons as an offensive line coach for the Seattle Seahawks.
Anthony Lynn
In just over a decade in the NFL, Lynn has been a running backs coach for five different teams and took over the role for the Bills before the 2015 season. He previously served as the running backs coach for the Jaguars, Cowboys, Browns and Jets before joining the Bills, and was interviewed for the New York head coaching vacancy after Rex Ryan was fired, but eventually followed the head coach to Buffalo.
See More:
