Coaching Hot Seat Watch

Photo: USA Today Sports

The Coaching Carousel is Spinning

Each year, we chronicle the Coaching Carousel and discuss the impact it'll have on the fantasy football landscape. With a month left in the season, it's time to start zeroing in on where changes may be afoot. It's also important to view this as a fluid analysis. Six weeks ago, I did a similar analysis internally, and a handful of situations have changed in just a month and a half. Coaches with improved situations since mid-October are highlighted in GREEN. Coaches with deteriorating situations are highlighted in RED.

BETTER START BRUSHING UP THAT RESUME:

• Dan Quinn, Atlanta Falcons -- The Falcons have won two of their last four games, but at 3-9, it's still hard to fathom Arthur Blank keeping Quinn at the helm. Matt Ryan is no spring chicken, and the clock is ticking on getting back to a Super Bowl.
• Ron Rivera, Carolina Panthers (FIRED) -- Rivera wasn't even on the hot seat in October, but he was unceremoniously fired this week. New owner David Tepper allegedly had issues with Rivera's approach, preferring a more data-centric coach. There are also rumors the Panthers are set to lure Jim Harbaugh away from Michigan.
• Pat Shurmur, New York Giants -- Shurmur was 2-4 at the October discussion, but the Giants have lost six more games and are now solidly in the hunt for the first overall pick. Does ownership and the front office want Shurmur at the helm building up another franchise piece? It's hard to understand why he should keep his job, although many wondered why he got the head coaching gig in the first place.

COULD GO EITHER WAY:

• Jason Garrett, Dallas Cowboys -- Garrett is on the verge of winning his third division title in four seasons, and Jerry Jones has been incredibly patient during Garrett's tenure. But there's been a notable change in tone publicly by Jones of late, and he's no longer going out of his way to defend Garrett's aptitude or job security. Garrett probably needs at least one playoff win, if not multiple to remain in Dallas.
• Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers -- This feels like the Andy Reid in Philadelphia situation. The team's fans don't think highly of him, but most other fans think he's a terrific coach. More importantly, he'll be out of work for a microsecond if the Steelers part ways. We could see a mutual parting this offseason versus an outright firing.
• Bill Callahan, Washington -- Callahan has gone 3-4 since taking over for Jay Gruden, which is much better than most (myself included) expected. I still think he's an interim hire as Daniel Snyder will aspire for greatness, and we know Callahan is more of a retread.

• Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals -- Taylor is fresh off his first win of the season, and the Bengals are notoriously cheap, so he's not going anywhere. The ownership will give him a chance to pick/groom his own quarterback in 2020 and hope A.J. Green returns to form, before deciding if Taylor was a bad hire.
• Freddie Kitchens, Cleveland Browns -- Cleveland has won three of its last four games, and the soap opera stories have ebbed. Whether that's because things have legitimately settled down or ownership has just put a gag order in place remains to be seen. But as a first-year coach, with signs of improvement, Kitchens moves from a guy looking like a one-year bust to a guy who probably gets another season but enters 2020 on the hot seat.
• Matt Patricia, Detroit Lions -- The Lions are now 3-7-1 and have lost five in a row. But they've also lost their star running back for the season, and their franchise quarterback has a broken back. The team continues to play hard, and it probably is unfair to jettison Patricia after two seasons.
• Doug Marrone, Jacksonville Jaguars -- The Jaguars have a stable ownership structure and level-headed GM, so Marrone is probably safe. But the Jaguars have lost their last four games in embarrassing fashion. They've been outscored 129-47 in the last month.
• Adam Gase, New York Jets -- He was 1-7 in our last discussion, but the Jets have won three of their last four games (notwithstanding the Bengals loss last week), and at 4-8, given it's his first year and Darnold had mono, he'll almost assuredly get another season at a minimum.

• Kliff Kingsbury, Arizona
• John Harbaugh, Baltimore
• Matt LaFleur, Green Bay
• Sean McDermott, Buffalo
• Matt Nagy, Chicago
• Vic Fangio, Denver
• Bill O'Brien, Houston
• Frank Reich, Indianapolis
• Andy Reid, Kansas City
• Anthony Lynn, LA Chargers
• Sean McVay, LA Rams
• Brian Flores, Miami Dolphins -- Flores was 0-6 at our first update, but still probably safe because everyone knew the Fins were in a multi-year rebuild. But he's now completely safe as the Dolphins have gone 3-3 in their last six games, and have the look of a more disciplined, passionate team that just needs a talent infusion to start competing for relevance.
• Mike Zimmer, Minnesota
• Bill Belichick, New England
• Sean Payton, New Orleans
• Jon Gruden, Oakland
• Doug Pederson, Philadelphia
• Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco
• Pete Carroll, Seattle
• Bruce Arians, Tampa Bay
• Mike Vrabel, Tennessee

Twitter: @FBGWood