Nine NFL teams have head coaching openings at the present time, and although no contract extension has yet been announced between the Green Bay Packers and Matt LaFleur, momentum seems to be pushing towards
the two sides coming to a deal. That would keep the number at nine, and Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley is a busy man this week, drawing interest from more than half of them.
On Thursday, Hafley added yet another head coaching interview to his itinerary. According to Ian Rapoport, the Pittsburgh Steelers are the latest team to request an interview with Hafley, doing so less than 48 hours after parting ways with Mike Tomlin after his 19 years as head coach.
That makes six of the nine teams with openings that have reached out to Hafley, who has already completed three of his interviews. He met with the Tennessee Titans on Tuesday, the Miami Dolphins on Wednesday, and the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday, and he has two more teams on the docket — the Arizona Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders. Pittsburgh makes it six, an even two-thirds of the openings across the league.
Hafley was widely expected to be a top candidate for the New York Giants as well, given that his hometown is just 20 miles from that team’s facilities. However, the Giants have rapidly zeroed in on former Ravens coach John Harbaugh and that deal appears to be on the doorstep of completion.
If Hafley does depart Green Bay, the team’s approach to hiring a replacement could be telling in terms of whether the team is ready to invest more money in assistant coaches. They did have two assistants on staff in 2025 with previous coordinator experience: defensive line coach/run game coordinator Demarcus Covington was the DC in New England in 2024, while passing game coordinator Derrick Ansley held that role for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2023. Either one of them would be a viable internal promotion candidate, which would be in line with the team’s typical modus operandi for filling vacancies on staff, but if the team brings in a hire from outside the organization, that would signify a major shift in approach.
