Ranking five AFC head coaches under the most pressure entering 2023: Bill Belichick headlines list

If there was any question before, the AFC definitely became the supreme conference in the NFL this offseason. Making the playoffs in this conference is going to be tough in 2023, and every head coach in the AFC is under pressure for one reason or another. 

Some head coaches are under more pressure than others, however. Whether it’s because they are already on the hot seat, or have lofty expectations to meet this upcoming season. Below, we will break down the five coaches in the AFC under the most pressure this year. 

The Jets went from 4-13 to 7-10 in Year 2 with Saleh, but New York’s expectations have skyrocketed with the addition of Aaron Rodgers. The Jets have the longest active playoff appearance drought in the NFL (12 seasons), and have started 13 different quarterbacks during this drought. All 13 have losing records. Now with the addition of Rodgers, the Jets are after a Super Bowl.

The AFC East may be the most competitive division in the NFL this season, which only makes Saleh’s job tougher. The Jets have done a solid job constructing a roster that features young talent on both sides of the ball, but if New York doesn’t win with Rodgers under center, Saleh is going to get some of that blame along with No. 8. Congrats, you landed a future Pro Football Hall of Famer at quarterback. Now, all eyes are on you to take advantage. Of the previous eight Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks who were traded by the team they won the Super Bowl with, none of them ever made it back to the Super Bowl. Only one of them even won a single playoff game. 

It’s wild to say, but arguably the greatest NFL head coach of all time is under pressure in 2023. In fact, the Boston Globe wrote recently that Belichick’s friends are privately worried the eight-time Super Bowl champ is on the hot seat. I won’t go that far, but there’s no doubt that life after Tom Brady has not been great.

Belichick and the Patriots are 43-44 in the regular season without Brady, and 219-64 with him. Since Brady left New England for Tampa Bay three years ago, Belichick is 25-25, and has failed to make the playoffs twice. New England has only three losing seasons under Belichick. Two have come in the last three years. 

The 2022 season was tough in particular, as Belichick appointed former defensive assistant Matt Patricia to run the offense. That decision hurt the offense in a big way, and derailed quarterback Mac Jones‘ development. The Patriots offense averaged 18.2 points per game, their fewest since 2000, had a 35 percent third-down conversion rate, their worst since 1992 and a 42 percent red-zone touchdown rate. That was the worst rate by any team in the league last year. NBC Sports’ Chris Simms suggested tension between Belichick and Jones got “personal” when the young quarterback sought advice from outside the building in 2022. Tom E. Curran reported earlier this offseason that Belichick was still “agitated” because of this.

A major reason Belichick is under pressure in 2023 is because of the state of the AFC East. With the Buffalo Bills, surging Miami Dolphins and Aaron Rodgers joining the Jets, this division could potentially field three playoff teams. There’s a sense the Patriots could finish in last place in the division. Since the AFC East went back to four teams in 2002, that hasn’t happened a single time. 

It looked like Stefanski was the head coach the Browns were waiting for after he went 11-5 and took Cleveland to the playoffs in his first season in 2020. However, the Browns are 15-19 since then. Cleveland’s roster features several big names like Nick Chubb, Amari Cooper and Myles Garrett, but the wins just haven’t been there. Stefanski, along with really the entire organization, is under pressure because of Deshaun Watson too. 

In the midst of an off-field firestorm, the Browns gifted Watson the most lucrative deal in NFL history with $230 million fully-guaranteed. They paid him to be an elite quarterback, but he was the furthest thing from that in his first season with Cleveland. After serving an 11-game suspension last season for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy, Watson went 3-3 as the starter while averaging a career-low 183.7 passing yards per game with seven touchdowns and five interceptions. The Browns averaged 16.3 points per game with Watson as the starter, which ranked No. 26 in the league from Weeks 13-18.

Watson is clearly under pressure, but the same can be said for coach Stefanksi, too. The AFC North with the Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers isn’t exactly a cakewalk. 

Staley made the playoffs for the first time as a head coach last season, but that does not mean his job is completely safe or that the Chargers are on the right track. Somehow, Los Angeles blew a 27-0 lead to lose to the Jacksonville Jaguars in the wild-card round. It was the second-straight year the Chargers suffered an embarrassing end to the season, if you recall what happened against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 18 in 2021. 

Many wanted the Chargers to fire Staley after last season’s playoff loss. Something that maybe made some sense when you considered the amount of Sean Payton noise that was out there. Instead, L.A. opted to keep Staley, and allowed Payton to reenter the league as head coach of the rival Denver Broncos. There’s reason to be optimistic about the Chargers offense and Justin Herbert’s outlook in 2023 with Kellen Moore taking over as offensive coordinator, but what about Staley’s defense? The defense was supposed to be L.A.’s calling card under Staley, but that just hasn’t happened yet. 

CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin ranked Staley as the No. 23-best coach in the NFL entering 2023: “Two years, two winning seasons for Staley as a HC, but even with all-star lineups, his trademark defensive unit has been very mercurial. Worse yet, his teams have folded at the worst possible times.”

There’s no doubt about it. Staley is under pressure in 2023. 

1. Josh McDaniels, Las Vegas Raiders

The 2022 season was not kind to new Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels. Vegas went 6-11 and missed the playoffs, and became the first team in NFL history to blow FIVE double-digit second-half leads in a single season. Things didn’t get any better in the offseason, as the Raiders parted ways with longtime franchise quarterback Derek Carr. If they were able to land Aaron Rodgers to reunite with Davante Adams, no one would have cried for Carr. Instead, the Raiders signed former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo — who couldn’t even pass a physical at the time of signing. That’s not all that happened, either.

The Raiders traded Darren Waller — one of the best tight ends in the NFL — to the New York Giants for a Day 3 pick, and placed the franchise tag on reigning rushing champ Josh Jacobs. Will he show up to training camp? Could he be looking for a change of scenery? I wouldn’t rule anything out. Then there’s Adams, who openly admitted he doesn’t see eye-to-eye with the front office, and that he’s going to have to, “buy into this and try to be as optimistic as possible.”

The AFC West is loaded, and I think it’s fair to say McDaniels is very much on shaky ground.