The 2025 Season’s Biggest Pressure Cooker: Which Coaches Are Racing Against the Clock?

How the team performs in 2025 becomes a massive factor in resolving what currently is a major unknown. Which puts pressure on Steichen to win enough games to make the answer an obvious “yes.”
The key becomes owner David Tepper. Will the hard-charging, results-demanding, drink-throwing (at least once) owner tolerate, say, a 4-13 finish?

On one day, Giants co-owner John Mara said he’d be sticking with G.M. Joe Schoen and coach Brian Daboll. Then, Mara said he’s running out of patience.Usually, head coaches enjoy at least three years of guarantees. But there’s nothing usual about the hiring of Brian Schottenheimer.[Editor’s note: In a prior version of this story, I said Canales is entering his third season. I had my head up my ass. Sorry. It’s year two. Which doesn’t matter for an owner who fired his last coach, Frank Reich, during year one.]And not just a commitment that ultimately feels temporary. That’s precisely how it feels in New York.If so, Schottenheimer could need to do enough in 2025 to earn his employment for 2026.

The key to knowing Schottenheimer’s job security is to know whether and to what extent he has guaranteed money beyond 2025. How cheap? So cheap that there would be no buyout if he’s fired after one year?The video mentions a few others who didn’t make the top five. I’ll defer to it for those. Mainly because I got to 800 words without having to do that.4. Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer.Ultimately, it comes down to whether Stephen Ross will demand a major change if 2025 ends up being another disappointing season.Even at a time when everyone is 0-0 and all teams have plausible hope, it feels like the window has closed for a Dolphins team that could end up flying straight into the glass in 2025.It’s a mixed message to Daboll as to the potential impact of the upcoming season, and it necessarily puts him on the hot seat.It shouldn’t. The Giants are in a difficult division. They need plenty of help from a talent standpoint. Mara should give his current regime more time.Through two seasons, Steichen is 17-17 with no playoff appearances. His non-interim predecessor, Frank Reich, went 40-33-1 with a pair of playoff berths and was abruptly fired.This isn’t some breaking news bulletin—think of it like my personal radar for which coaches are teetering on the edge as the new season looms. The 32-team landscape is vast and complicated, but these five? They’re the ones wrestling with some serious what-ifs and maybes. So buckle up, because we’re counting them down from five all the way to the one whose job might just depend on the next few months. Ready? Let’s roll. LEARN MORE2. Giants coach Brian Daboll.And, most importantly, whether she’ll want to hire a coach of her own after her first season in charge.I started to rattle off names before deciding to take the issue under advisement, Wapner-style, until Friday’s episode. And then I nearly forgot to do it.5. Panthers coach Dave Canales.During my extensive prep (i.e., none whatsoever) for Friday’s show, I came up with a list of five and counted them down. Or up. If I simply wanted to push you to the attached video, I’d say, “They’re in the attached video.” But that’s not my style. Especially when I need to type enough words to justify a full post.There’s a glass-half-full vibe around the Panthers, given that they finished relatively strong in 2024 after a disastrous start. If that comes to fruition for the 2025 Panthers, all will be well.As the 2024 season ended, there was a haze of confusion as to whether big changes would be made in Indianapolis. Now that an ownership change has happened following the passing of Jim Irsay, it remains to be seen how Carlie Irsay-Gordon will run the team. If the wheels come off, it could spell doom for Canales, who enters his second season on the job. The swing and miss (so far) on quarterback Anthony Richardson is on Steichen’s record. The failure to develop Richardson is on Steichen’s resume. It won’t be easy for Canales, if that happens. Mainly because of the guy who signs the checks, and who issues the pink slips.Stephen Ross is five years older than Hess was when he said that.Can the Dolphins win enough games to make it to the playoffs?3. Colts coach Shane Steichen.Along the way, can they shed the narrative (as confirmed by linebacker Jordyn Brooks) that they go soft as the weather turns cold?He was on exactly zero teams’ short lists during the latest hiring cycle. For the Cowboys, who wanted to have offensive continuity for quarterback Dak Prescott, it was either Schottenheimer or Eagles offensive coordinator (new Saints coach) Kellen Moore. Schottenheimer came cheaper.There’s dysfunction. There’s turmoil. There’s an unsettled situation with a star player who received a market-level contract in September 2024, and another star player who has said he wants out and who may feel the same way all over again if the 2025 season starts poorly.So here they are, from No. 5 to No. 1. And this is my own assessment of the broader, 32-team situation. I’m not reporting anything. I’m identifying the guys whom I believe are under the biggest cloud of uncertainty as the season approaches.It all comes back to Tua Tagovailoa. Can he play well? Can he stay healthy enough to play well? 1. Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel.During Thursday’s episode of #PFTPM, someone asked for a list of the coaches on the hot seat.Alright, so here’s the skinny: during a recent #PFTPM chat, someone threw out the idea of naming coaches whose seats are burning hotter than a Texas summer—and well, I couldn’t just spit out names on the spot. Nope, decided to mull it over like a judge sizing up a tough case. Fast forward to Friday, and yeah, I almost let it slide altogether. But diving into my totally extensive prep (translation: winging it), I churned out a top five list that’s as much gut feel as it is football smack talk.Thirty years ago, the late Jets owner Leon Hess fired Pete Carroll after one season by saying this, “I’m 80 years old. I want results now.”