The 2026 NFL hiring cycle is beginning to reveal itself, after two more teams made head coach decisions on Monday night.
The Tennessee Titans are rolling with Robert Saleh, the former New Jets head coach and San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator. The Miami Dolphins also made moves to hire Jeff Hafley, the former DC of the Green Bay Packers.
That brings the total to four, coupled with the New York Giants winning the John Harbaugh sweepstakes, and the Falcons securing Kevin Stefanski, less than two weeks after he was fired by the Cleveland Browns.
The Browns remain one of six teams still fully engaged in interviews, with their decision not expected until after the conference championship games this week, at the very least.
But these two latest hires, Saleh and Hafley, have something in common that’s impossible for Browns fans to ignore: Neither of them were on the radar of owner Jimmy Haslam and general manager Andrew Berry, at least not publically.
The Browns' top choices are still available, but is that actually a good thing?
There were really no dots to connect between the Browns and Saleh during this year’s cycle. He’s only one year removed from his disaster with Aaron Rodgers and the Jets, and as a defensive-minded coach, he would’ve been a long shot anyway to rise above Jim Schwartz in Berea.
That wasn’t the case, though, with Hafley. There were several dots to connect there, but the Browns surprisingly never showed any real interest.
He didn’t cross over with Berry’s two tenures in Cleveland, but Hafley spent two years on the Browns staff from 2014-15, coaching the defensive backs. He later served as the defensive coordinator at Ohio State and the head coach at Boston College, before returning to the NFL and turning around Green Bay’s struggling defense.
Again, as a coach with a defensive background, it’s possible the Browns simply favor a different direction. They’re currently connected to a mix of older, more experienced coaches (Schwartz and Todd Monken), and some young up-and-comers who could emerge as surprise hires (Grant Udinski and Nate Scheelhaase).
Hafley still impressed enough in Miami to win the job on Monday night, just hours after the Buffalo Bills surprisingly dismissed Sean McDermott. The Browns have taken a unique approach to their head coach search, and fans can only hope they’re right for passing on respected candidates like Saleh and Hafley whose teams moved quickly to get deals done.