Earlier this year, we explored how five college football coaches had been fired about a month into the season. Collectively, they’ll receive $56.7 million from their universities to not coach — they’re being paid an average of $11.34 million to go away. And much like how NFL athletes are typically better than collegiate ones, fired NFL coaches and executives put the NCAA to shame.
NFL officials told league owners that, over the past five seasons, teams have spent an insane $800 million on fired coaches and front-office executives. That’s an average of $160 million per year for people who are no longer with the organization.
The NFL calculated costs for specific teams in a spreadsheet released to league owners. Each franchise can see exactly how much they’ve spent on fired employees.
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On average, nearly seven head coaches get replaced each season. Seven teams fired their head coach during or after the 2021 season: the Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos, Houston Texas Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, and New York Giants.
The Giants are in a particularly rough spot. They’re currently paying THREE different head coaches. Their current head coach is Brian Daboll, who’s led the team to the brink of the postseason in his first year. The Giants are also paying Joe Judge; the team fired him in 2021, just two seasons into his five-year contract. And the Giants still owe money to former head coach Pat Shurmur, too. They fired him in 2020 — again, just two years into a five-year deal.
This season, the Tennessee Titans fired general manager Jon Robinson with four years remaining on his last contract extension. Their AFC South rival, the Indianapolis Colts, fired Frank Reich, who signed a contract extension in August 2021. He still had four years left on his deal, which is worth $9 million annually.
The Carolina Panthers also fired Matt Rhule just three seasons into his seven-year, $60 million deal. The Panthers still owed Rhule $34 million when he signed an eight-year, $74 million contract with Nebraska in November.
Will knowing how much money they’ve spent stop NFL owners? Probably not — even the least valuable franchise is worth billions of dollars. These guys have money to blow and aren’t afraid to use it in the hopes of making a splash. And if that splash turns into a belly-flop…well, they’ll just dust their hands off and try again.
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