Even though there had been “reports” of some degree of conflict in the Baltimore Ravens’ locker room, I did not think the Ravens would “move on” from John Harbaugh who had been with the team for the last 18 NFL seasons. Only Mike Tomlin (Steelers) has been in the same job for a longer time than that; although the Ravens clearly underperformed expectations for 2025, injuries had a lot to do with that.
If one were to use the metric that Harbaugh’s Ravens failed to make the playoffs, consider that the proximal reason for that failure was a missed but makeable field goal try with no time remaining in the final game of the season. John Harbaugh did not miss that field goal attempt and nothing in John Harbaugh’s coaching decisions missed that field goal attempt.
In his 18 years as the head coach of the Ravens – – his only head coaching gig ever – – here are some stats:
- Overall record = 180-113-0 Winning percentage = .614
- 12 playoff appearances in 18 seasons
- 4 appearances in AFC Championship Game
- 1 Super Bowl victory
Those numbers are comparable to some of the achievements of coaches in the Pro Football Hall of Fame; they might not be so easy to replicate.
There is a potential similarity here to something in the past. In 2012, the Eagles “moved on” from Andy Reid who immediately got another job with the Chiefs. I need not remind anyone that Chiefs’ fans have been pretty happy with that hiring decision. John Harbaugh comes from the “Andy Reid Coaching Tree” and I will not be surprised to read relatively soon that one of the NFL teams looking for a new coach chooses John Harbaugh for that job opening.
In fact, there are teams in the league who decided to stick with their coach for next year who might be “rethinking” now that someone with John Harbaugh’s résumé is out and about and perhaps looking for work. Might there be a small measure of “pucker factor” going on in the coaching ranks of:
- Bengals
- Bucs
- Commanders
- Dolphins?
Moving on – – but staying with the topic of the NFL’s coaching carousel … A report in The Athletic says that there is an inordinate amount of nepotism in the Front Office ranks of the NY Giants. The report highlights some positions in the personnel evaluation department and in football operations where it is not clear that some incumbents are in positions based solely on merit. Given that The Athletic is a credible source, applicants for the Giants’ vacant head coaching position might want to prepare a far more diplomatic way to ask two questions when they are prompted to do so by the interviewing team:
- Are the people responsible for the personnel decisions involving Saquon Barkley and/or Daniel Jones still in place?
And if the answer is “Yes”, then
- Why?
Switching gears … I got an email from a former colleague who has been reading these rants even before they made it to the Internet. He thought that I had been kinder to Jonathan Gannon when news of his firing was announced than I should have been. Here is something he pointed out to me:
“Gannon’s Cardinals lost more games in 2025 than the other three teams in their division lost in 2025. That team has lots of work to do to recover from a disastrous season.”
That observation is completely correct. The Cards record was 3-14-0 in 2025. The other three teams in the NFC West lost a total of 13 games. Amazing …
Finally, I’ll close with this piece of wisdom from Peter Drucker:
“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
When is it nepotism and when is it just a family business? It’s my understanding that the Mara family has always hired family members to fill key positions in the organization since the team was founded. The current owner is either the son or grandson of the founder. It has been called a “family business” by commentators for many years. By the way, this sort of thing happens in many, if not most, NFL franchises. Dan Snyder hired his wife. Robert Kraft and Jerry Jones have their sons in key positions. The Cardinals have done the same. The Packers are probably one of the few exceptions to this rule. There is nothing new or exceptional about this practice in the NFL
Gil:
The report at The Athletic I referenced questioned the “competence” of the nepotism beneficiaries and that puts a different light on it.
Look at the Raiders. Mark Davis got the team from his father. Is Mark Davis nearly as “astute” as his dad?
IIRC Mara wanted to KEEP Barkley, Schoen moved him along. Not sure on Jones
Ed:
If you are right, then the question should be … why is Schoen still on the payroll?