NFL teams seemed to be a bit more deliberate with their head coach searches this offseason than in past years, and the league may try to make that the norm going forward.
Tony Dungy said years ago that he believes the NFL should create a rule where teams cannot hire a new head coach until after the Super Bowl. That would allow potential head coaches with Super Bowl-bound teams to focus more on their current jobs and also have a fairer shot during the interview process.
One team executive told Mike Sando of The Athletic that he expects the NFL to consider implementing such a rule as soon as the 2024 hiring cycle.
For some teams, that would just be a technicality. Plenty of teams would have handshake agreements in place with new head coaches well before the Super Bowl even if the NFL required them to wait until after the big game to make it official. However, the rule might encourage teams to be more deliberate and further evaluate coordinators and assistants whose seasons have not ended prior to the Super Bowl.
Sando notes that NFL teams have waited an average of 27.2 days and counting this offseason between the end of the season and naming a new head coach. That number is up from 25.3 days last offseason, 15.9 days in 2021, and 8.6 days in 2020. Teams are trending toward taking more time, anyway.
The Colts officially named their new head coach on Tuesday, and the Arizona Cardinals still have a vacancy.
