With the Tennessee Titans and New York Giants making midseason coaching changes, speculation is already swirling around the NFL’s next head coach openings. Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith is already among the names receiving early buzz.
Dan Graziano listed several head coach candidates from the assistant coaching ranks in his weekly ESPN buzz this morning.
“A lot of the coordinators getting head-coach-interview buzz as we move towards that part of the calendar are on the defensive side of the ball,” Graziano wrote. “On the offensive side of the ball, expect the usual suspects — Buffalo’s Joe Brady, Kansas City’s Matt Nagy, and Pittsburgh’s Arthur Smith. Former Packers and Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy is a name bouncing around as someone who could get a third crack at it. And there could be some college coaches in the NFL interview mix this time around.”
In addition to those names on the offensive side of coaching, Graziano included Broncos DC Vance Joseph, Packers DC Jeff Hafley, and Chargers DC Jesse Minter. He also included Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo, who always seems to be peripherally included in these conversations.
That list will evolve over the final several weeks of the season, and playoff success always has a chance to elevate younger coaches. But this isn’t the first time Smith has received hiring cycle buzz while with the Steelers. He interviewed with the New York Jets multiple times last offseason.
As a former head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, his experience is attractive to teams. And many think his time in Atlanta wouldn’t have been cut short if his quarterbacks had not been the likes of late-career Matt Ryan and Desmond Ridder.
For Smith, a lot of it will depend on how well (or not) Aaron Rodgers finishes the season in Pittsburgh. For the first several weeks, it looked like Rodgers was rejuvenated with a nearly 40-TD pace for the season. That pace has cooled off a bit, and Pittsburgh’s offense has hit a wall over the last three weeks.
Still, Smith could make a lot of sense for either the Giants or the Titans for different reasons. In Tennessee, he was a highly successful offensive coordinator who helped guide them to the AFC Championship Game in 2020.
For the Giants, Smith has done well in working with talented QBs the few times he’s had them. You could even point to Justin Fields’ 4-2 start in 2024 with Pittsburgh compared to his tenures in Chicago and New York as proof. The Giants have bet on first-time head coaches one too many times to go that route again, which means Smith could make some sense for them.
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