NFL's most fireable coaches: Where do Mike McDaniel, Brian Daboll rank?

Three weeks usually isn't enough time to determine whether or not a football coach should be fired. But if it's good enough for established college football programs, it's nearly good enough for the NFL.

The NCAA got a head start on its head coaching carousel when both UCLA and Virginia Tech fired underperforming coaches after 0-3 starts. It's unlikely the NFL will follow suit, but we've got enough early data to understand who is losing their grip on the locker room and edge on the gridiron.

Thus, we dive into 2025's first round of fireable coach rankings. Fortunately, it's a short list.

Some coaches have used the opportunity to cool their seats. Indianapolis Colts coach Shane Steichen was facing a make-or-break year alongside general manager Chris Ballard. Then they managed to turn Daniel Jones into one of the game's most efficient quarterbacks, upgraded the defense and, at least briefly, all is well for the AFC South leaders. Jonathan Gannon has yet to maximize the Arizona Cardinals' potential, but at 2-1 he can breathe a little easier despite the two forgettable seasons that preceded it.

Others have been thrown into tough circumstances but have the prior results to remain safe. Kevin Stefanski is making do with a Joe Flacco/Dillon Gabriel/Shedeur Sanders quarterback room. DeMeco Ryans' Houston Texans are 0-3, but the two-time division champions have room to make a comeback. No one is going to throw first year head coach Kellen Moore under the bus for a New Orleans Saints team no one expected to be good.

So who needs to worry most about finding a new job in 2026? Let's break down the candidates.

Keep an eye on: Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals

Taylor was bailed out by transcendent talents after a 6-25-1 record in his first two seasons as an NFL head coach. The rise of Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins gave Cincinnati the offensive chops to hang with anyone. Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo was able to level up his defense when it mattered most and the Bengals went 40-27 in the four seasons that followed.

It's been two years since Taylor has been back to the postseason. For the second time in three seasons, he'll have to try his luck without Burrow in the lineup for an extended stretch. Jake Browning was a disaster in Week 3, but he's not the sole reason a Chase/Higgins offense is the least efficient passing game in the NFL.

The Bengals are 2-1, but those two wins came by a combined five points against the Cleveland Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars. The Anarumo-less defense (fired after 2024) isn't as bad as Week 3's 48-10 final score suggests, but it's also not good enough to carry an offense that's gained fewer yards than anyone in the NFL thus far. Taylor has managed to keep his team afloat without Burrow before — Jake Browning went 4-3 as a starter to close out a 9-8 2023 season — but an extended spiral and a third-straight playoff-less season could turn up the heat under his seat.

3. Brian Schottenheimer, Dallas Cowboys

Schottenheimer had one of the legs on his seat kicked out from under him when Dallas traded away Micah Parsons. Still, some defensive talent remained and Matt Eberflus had enough success as a coordinator to land the Chicago Bears head coaching job (a justification that makes sense as long as you do not look at the 2.5 years he spent there). With Dak Prescott, CeeDee Lamb and new arrival George Pickens leading the offense, you could squint hard enough to see a path to the playoffs in Dallas.

Anyway, here is how opposing quarterbacks have performed against the Cowboys vs. the other two opponents they've faced to start 2025.

It's a wonderful year to be an NFC East quarterback. Good quarterbacks remain good against Dallas. Bad/questionable ones level up to game-breaking status. If not for the grace of Brandon Aubrey's booming leg the Cowboys would be 0-3 despite a rejuvenated run game (Javonte Williams, having a remarkable bounce-back season after diminishing returns in Denver) and an offense that's gained more yards than all but two other teams. Schottenheimer's defense is allowing opponents to convert nearly 54 percent of their third downs, keeping that solid offense off the field and ensuring it has to play catch-up once it gets there.

Owner Jerry Jones has typically given his head coaches a long leash. But those coaches also hovered around the playoff race for the most part. It's unlikely Schottenheimer is shown the door after a single season, but he's also playing for an 82-year-old man who hasn't seen his team in a Super Bowl since the 1990s and who could be running out of patience. Jones' moves have grown predictably inscrutable in recent years.

2. Mike McDaniel, Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins have turned down their quit quotient after a resounding Week 1 loss to the Colts. That hasn't helped them win games, but it has made Miami a bit less hopeless this fall.

Miami is 0-3, and while McDaniel's offense has been better against AFC East opponents it still isn't great. Even if you take away an opening weekend popcorn fart the Dolphins rank just 23rd in expected points added (EPA) per play and 26th in dropback EPA. The whole point of hiring McDaniel was to turbo-charge the offense. De’Von Achane has been unable to make the most of his carries — 4.9 yards per touch, but behind an offensive line that clears 3.9 yards before contact per carry, second-highest in the NFL. Tyreek Hill has had one big performance and it was against a New England Patriots' secondary that's one of the league's worst without Christian Gonzalez.

Even if the offense were back at 2023 levels it may not be enough to overcome the many, many obstacles the Miami defense has set in front of itself. The Dolphin secondary may be even more of a disaster, turning important reps over to guys like Rasul Douglas and Jack Jones. That would have been fine in 2022, but Douglas posted a 122.0 passer rating in coverage for the Bills last season and Jones is at a tidy 130.6 this fall. Any hope that a potent pass rush and the return of Minkah Fitzpatrick could paper over that weakness has been vacated.

Miami has given up a remarkable 0.44 EPA per dropback last season — effectively giving up a bonus touchdown over expected every 13 passing plays this fall. That's by far the worst in the NFL and the only team over the 0.4 threshold. The Dolphins are the only team in the league to give up at least 31 points in each of their games this season. Even at the team's 2023 peak its offense only averaged 29.1 points per game.

This all bodes very poorly for McDaniel. The good news is his owner likes him and things have begun to trend upward, at least offensively. The bad news is Miami may lack the talent to make a job-saving comeback, no matter how heavily the locker room rallies around a head coach who once looked like an offensive soothsayer.

1. Brian Daboll, New York Giants

Daboll has, remarkably, coached through two different games in the last two seasons in which his aging kicker got injured close to game time and he had no contingency plan in place. It happened one year earlier with the same player (Graham Gano) unable to play, the same backup (punter Jamie Gillan) missing his first extra point attempt and the same outcome (a disheartening loss). That's not entirely Daboll's fault, but it seems to illustrate just how easily things fall apart for the Giants and how ill equipped the 2022 NFL Coach of the Year is to fix them.

Week 2 breathed some life into the franchise after a dire season-opening loss to the Washington Commanders. Russell Wilson rediscovered his moon ball, maximized Malik Nabers and turned Wan'Dale Robinson into something more than a short range run-after-catch threat. Then came Sunday night vs. the Kansas City Chiefs, where the offense that racked up 450 passing yards vs Dallas the week before (thanks, Matt Eberflus!) went one for 10 on third down and one for four on fourth down and squandered a chance to send Travis Kelce into an 0-3 wormhole.

Now Daboll is forced to choose between starting a late-first round rookie who may not be up for the task and could see his growth stunted behind a shaky offensive line and starting the veteran who threw the ball away on first, third and fourth down on the same goal-to-go set of downs. Jaxson Dart may not be better than Russell Wilson, but it's tough to imagine how he could be worse. Andrew Thomas' return to the starting lineup should stabilize an offensive line that's allowed Wilson to be pressured on more than 40 percent of his dropbacks, but things remain iffy up front.

Cam Skattebo has been a delightful addition to the lineup, but the run game could sputter without Tyrone Tracy Jr. (who left Sunday's game with a shoulder injury). The defense was reinforced with a combination of possible young stars and established veterans and still ranks 29th in the NFL when it comes to opponent expected points added (EPA) per snap. New York came into 2025 with low expectations but has managed to crawl beneath them without issue.

The next man up will inherit a defense that can be so much more than it's been, Nabers, Skattebo and whatever Dart may turn out to be. There's potential here. It's become increasingly clear Daboll can no longer wring it out.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: NFL's most fireable coaches: Where do Mike McDaniel, Brian Daboll rank?