Saints coaching candidates: Aaron Glenn, Joe Brady among best options
The New Orleans Saints won their first two games of the 2024 NFL season and put forth incredible offensive numbers during those contests. As such, many believed they would be a legitimate contender in the wide-open NFC South.
However, those beliefs didn't last long. The Saints lost a whopping seven consecutive games, including a 23-22 contest to the Carolina Panthers in Week 9, and as a result, New Orleans fired its head coach Dennis Allen.
Allen entered the 2024 NFL season on the hot seat, so seeing him go wasn't surprising. He finished his time in New Orleans with an 18-25 record and failed to lead the Saints to the playoffs during his two-plus years after replacing Sean Payton.
The Saints are now staring down the barrel of a rebuild, which they have avoided since the end of the Payton era. New Orleans may endure some lean years as it fixes some of the salary cap issues created by the team's recent roster management, so the Saints' front office will likely evaluate its coaching options from a long-term lens.
Who will be among the Saints' top coaching candidates? Here's a look at the team's options for replacing Allen.
Saints coaching candidates
Mike Vrabel, former Tennessee Titans head coach
Vrabel is one of the hottest coaching candidates on the market, so it shouldn't surprise anyone to hear that he is "high on the list" for the Saints, per Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer.
Vrabel posted a 54-45 record during his six seasons in charge of the Titans and spent the 2024 season as a consultant with the Cleveland Browns. The 49-year-old built a reputation for getting his rosters to outperform expectations, especially on defense, and helped guide a Ryan Tannehill-led offense to the AFC's No. 1 seed in 2021.
Vrabel's history should appeal to the Saints, who are finally set to undergo a rebuild given their salary cap issues. He could focus on developing young players like Alontae Taylor, Bryan Bresee and Kool-Aid McKinstry into defensive leaders while giving New Orleans the culture reset it needs as it moves further away from Payton's heyday.
Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys head coach
Breer reports that "familiarity will be a factor for the Saints" in their coaching search. If McCarthy and the Cowboys part ways, that puts him in the running for the job.
McCarthy served as the Saints' offensive coordinator under Jim Haslett from 2000-04. The Saints routinely sported above-average offenses during that time, which helped McCarthy to develop into a top head coaching candidate.
McCarthy has enjoyed two decades of success as an NFL head coach. He won Super Bowl 45 with the Green Bay Packers and posted a 174-111-2 career record entering Week 18 of the 2024 NFL season. He is coming off a down season in Dallas but led the team to three consecutive 12-5 seasons and playoff appearances in the previous three campaigns.
With that in mind, the Saints should be interested in McCarthy if he becomes available. The 61-year-old's contract with the Cowboys expires on January 14, and it isn't yet clear whether the two parties will agree to an extension.
Aaron Glenn, Detroit Lions defensive coordinator
Speaking of familiarity, that's something Glenn has with the Saints' organization. He spent the final season of his career with New Orleans in 2008 and five seasons on Payton's staff as a defensive backs coach from 2016-20.
Since then, Glenn has worked in conjunction with Dan Campbell to turn the Lions from a bottom-barrel team into a legitimate Super Bowl contender. The team's defensive numbers during that stretch may not be overly impressive, but Glenn, like Campbell, got his players to play hard routinely despite a dearth of talent on that side of the ball.
With more depth and talent at his disposal in 2024, the 52-year-old has Detroit on track to finish with a top-10 scoring defense. That is despite dealing with countless injuries to key players like Aidan Hutchinson, Alim McNeill and Carlton Davis, among others, so the Saints should see an upside with Glenn.
Joe Brady, Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator
Here's one more high-end coaching candidate with Saints connections. Brady was an offensive assistant in New Orleans from 2017-18 before his star took off as Joe Burrow's offensive coordinator at LSU. That could make the 35-year-old a high-upside hire for the Saints.
Brady may be young, but he was one of the architects of LSU's historic offense and helped lead the Tigers to a national championship. Since then, he has helped Josh Allen cut down on his turnovers and become a legitimate MVP candidate while improving the Bills' Super Bowl outlook.
Matt Nagy, Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator
Nagy's candidacy may leave some New Orleans fans scratching their heads, but The Athletic's Dianna Russini reports "expects the Saints to show interest" in the Chiefs' offensive coordinator.
Nagy posted a 34-31 record during his four-year stint as the Chicago Bears' head coach and was named the AP Coach of the Year in 2018 after leading the Bears to a 12-4 record. Things deteriorated after that, as Nagy's offenses ranked in the bottom quartile of the league for his final three years in Chicago. Still, the 46-year-old has rebuilt his stock by rejoining Andy Reid's staff in Kansas City.
The Chiefs have boasted above-average marks in yardage and scoring in two seasons since Nagy returned as the team's offensive coordinator in 2023. They have ranked top-11 in EPA per play during that time, so that could be enough to get Nagy a second look as an NFL head coach.
David Shaw, Denver Broncos senior personnel executive
Shaw's currently in a front-office role with the Broncos, but the 52-year-old has an extensive coaching history at both the NFL and college levels.
Most notably, Shaw spent 12 years as Stanford's head coach following the departure of Jim Harbaugh from the NFL. Shaw led the Cardinal to a 96-54 record during his time with the school and became the school's winningest-ever coach, ahead of Pop Warner.
Shaw would be an outside-the-box candidate given that he hasn't coached in the NFL since 2005. Still, his time with the Philadelphia Eagles, Oakland Raiders and Baltimore Ravens gives him a strong resume to draw consideration for the job. Add in that he has worked with Payton for the last two seasons in Denver, and it's easy to see why New Orleans would be interested in him.
NFL Network's Jane Slater reports that the Saints plan to interview Shaw for their head coaching vacancy.
Jon Gruden, former Las Vegas Raiders head coach
Gruden has not coached since stepping down from his post with the Raiders in 2021 after emails containing racist, homophobic and misogynistic language from his time at ESPN were leaked to media outlets. Despite this, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero listed Gruden as a potential surprise candidate to be interviewed during the 2025 NFL hiring cycle.
If Gruden does attract interest from NFL teams, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Saints among them. He worked with the team in an advisory capacity during the 2023 offseason, and New Orleans was reportedly interested in hiring him as its offensive coordinator before bringing aboard Klint Kubiak.
Gruden has a 117-112 career record as an NFL coach and led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a win over the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl 37.
Darren Rizzi, New Orleans Saints interim coach
Rizzi led the Saints to a 3-1 record over his first four games as the team's interim coach before injuries decimated New Orleans' offense. The Saints didn't finish the season well as a result, but the team still seems likely to consider Rizzi given the energy with which the team played during his tenure.
Rizzi, 54, has been with the Saints since 2019. He has served as the club's special teams coordinator and became an assistant head coach in 2022, so he would give the franchise some of the continuity that it seems to highly value.