Time to see who’s out and in for 2024
Welcome to the NFL postseason; things always kick off with what we call “Black Monday.” This is where teams will announce dismissals and resignations of head coaches, assistant coaches, and front office staff. The current openings as of Sunday evening are:
The Falcons news came late Sunday evening as they decided to part ways with Arthur Smith.
The Washington Commanders fired Ron Rivera early Monday morning. They’re hiring former Warriors general manager Bob Myers to assist in a search for a new head coach.
In years past, we’ve done a primer of sorts on who should/will get fired, but this year, we just held off until the day itself. We’ll do a post-mortem of sorts later this week.
Yes, this is a San Francisco 49ers site, but Black Monday is important because teams are interested in the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree. The 49ers have already lost two defensive coordinators and one offensive coordinator to head coach vacancies, and they may at least lose an assistant or two.
Though this year, it might be tame. Steve Wilks is in his first year as defensive coordinator, and Kyle Shanahan serves as the offensive coordinator of the 49ers himself.
This gives the 49ers a hand to play. First, should an offensive coordinator position open up elsewhere in the league, the 49ers can block it and promote whoever the league is interested in in-house. So if someone comes after, say, quarterbacks coach Brian Griese, the 49ers have the option to do just that. That’s no guarantee they’ll do it; it’s just one of the cards they could play.
As far as defensive coordinator is concerned, that’s a bit more tricky. No doubt, 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks will get an interview or two. Should that happen and he’s hired, the 49ers will get some compensatory picks for a minority head coach hire. Then they can promote someone in-house the same way they did with offense.
All of this is speculatory. We’ll get rumors as the days go on about how Kyle Shanahan’s staff might be involved this offseason.
From a league perspective, there are a few openings rumored. The New England Patriots and Bill Belichick will be the decision dominating headlines and very well could come out after the time of writing.
The NFC West should be interesting to watch, as well as what happens in Seattle. There hasn’t been much (if anything) suggesting the Seahawks would move on from Pete Carroll, but some analysts have suggested things have “run their course.”
Feel free to use this as a thread for vacancies, and we’ll update it through the day.
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