Twenty NFL teams are already looking toward the 2018 season — happy new year indeed — with six needing to fill head coaching vacancies, a figure that could expand in the coming days. Here's a breakdown of how we think the open jobs currently rank in terms of attractiveness:
1. Oakland Raiders
Assets: QB Derek Carr's play flatlined this season — was he fully recovered from his broken leg in 2016? — but he's otherwise given every indication on and off the field he's worthy of being the face of a franchise and a potential league MVP. Same goes for DE Khalil Mack, the league's defensive player of the year last season and a man who's earned the money he's about to get paid. A strong O-line and WR Amari Cooper also make this cupboard worth drooling over. The impending move to Las Vegas will bring badly needed facilities and the challenge of thriving for a new fan base.
Liabilities: Hard to fathom how a defense featuring Mack can be this bad collectively, though rumors suggest not everyone has been pulling in the same direction. Despite having so many young stars, it's worth wondering what kind of lessons have been gleaned given the antics we saw in 2017 from veterans like RB Marshawn Lynch and WR Michael Crabtree. And, yes, Vegas beckons with opportunity, but it will also come with scads of logistical challenges that will bleed over from professional considerations into personal lives throughout the organization.
2. Detroit Lions
Assets: The franchise quarterback is in place with Matthew Stafford, 29, just entering his prime. He's somehow become a better player in the wake of WR Calvin Johnson's retirement two years ago and amid offensive issues that still plague the Lions. Any prospective coach has to be excited knowing his team will likely be in the playoff race simply by virtue of Stafford's blossoming ability. Having a pair of 1,000-yard receivers (Golden Tate, Marvin Jones) also helps. T Taylor Decker and CB Darius Slay are building blocks.
Liabilities: The defensive front seven needs work, a task that will get harder if inconsistent DE Ziggy Ansah is allowed to leave in free agency. The run game ranked dead last and must be a priority this offseason given how much Stafford is already shouldering. And this isn't an easy gig. Detroit is only one of four teams to never reach a Super Bowl, is more than a quarter century removed from its last playoff win and will likely be fighting an uphill battle in a division that includes Aaron Rodgers' Packers and a tough Vikings squad.
3. Chicago Bears
Assets: RBs Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen look to be jelling into a dynamic backfield combo. Chicago appears to be solid in the trenches, especially if G Kyle Long can get healthy. LB Leonard Floyd can be a force off the edge, and S Adrian Amos is a budding star for an underrated defense that might be ready to define the Bears' identity.
Liabilities: Mitchell Trubisky needs to become the franchise quarterback GM Ryan Pace envisioned when making an expensive draft day trade to get him in 2017. Trubisky showed flashes as a rookie but needs the kind of counseling from a gifted offensive mind that clearly benefited Rams QB Jared Goff in his sophomore season under Sean McVay's tutelage. Trubisky also needs upgrades to what is arguably the league's worst receiving corps. The pass defense must also get better in a division featuring Rodgers and Stafford.
4. New York Giants
Assets: QB Eli Manning is a two-time Super Bowl MVP and positive force in the locker room. WR Odell Beckham is among the league's elite playmakers when healthy. Rookie TE Evan Engram flourished despite myriad injuries to New York's other receivers. With linchpins like DEs Olivier Vernon and Jason Pierre-Paul and S Landon Collins, the defense has pieces it needs to recapture its 2016 form. New GM Dave Gettleman begins his tenure with the second pick of the draft.
Liabilities: Gettleman will have to decide whether he's drafting a quarterback at No. 2 (Manning turns 37 on Wednesday and has shown signs of slippage), go with another kind of blue chipper or try to deal down and accumulate more picks. More importantly, the next coach will need to cure what appeared to be a toxic locker room under Ben McAdoo. Upgrades are needed on the O-line and in the backfield. And keeping Beckham happy is never easy, and his looming contract demands could prove tricky coming off an injury-curtailed season.
5. Indianapolis Colts
Assets: Andrew Luck. The number of quarterbacks in the NFL with his combination of ability, accountability, toughness and intelligence can probably be counted on one hand. Yet even if GM Chris Ballard decides the organizational reboot should include trading Luck, he'd almost certainly bring a nice windfall of draft picks provided he can pass his next physical. The next coach will also inherit a group of players who almost unfailingly played hard even though Indianapolis quickly veered into also-ran territory. And Ballard is scheduled to have more than $80 million of cap room to spend in free agency.
Liabilities: Andrew Luck. His injured throwing shoulder continues to be a mystery in the wake of a lost season, and the usually tight-lipped Luck even admitted feeling detachment from a club that's consistently failed to protect him on the field. (And how good can he feel about his future prospects in Indy after watching Jacoby Brissett suffer 52 sacks this season?) A defense that Ballard completely overhauled ranked 30th for the second consecutive year. Two of the Colts' most reliable and respected players, RB Frank Gore and K Adam Vinatieri, are free agents.
6. Arizona Cardinals
Assets: They've got several high-talent, high-character players with WR Larry Fitzgerald and CB Patrick Peterson at the top of the list ... though it's worth wondering if they might be best used as trade bait. Still, the DNA they provided was a major reason that a team riddled with key injuries managed to salvage a .500 season. One of the wounded was RB David Johnson, lost to a wrist injury on Opening Day. But he possesses MVP-caliber talent. OLB Chandler Jones led the league with 17 sacks and highlighted a defense that ranked sixth overall. GM Steve Keim is a shrewd talent evaluator.
Liabilities: The future of QB Carson Palmer, 38, is unclear. Even if he returns, it doesn't seem he's ever fully recovered from a disastrous performance in the 2015 NFC title game. Arizona has no heir apparent for Palmer, and even departed Bruce Arians seemed to be grasping at straws by briefly suggesting Blaine Gabbert might be an answer for the 2018 season. Keim has limited cap resources to pursue a quality replacement. Yet a solution seems especially imperative considering every other team in the NFC West now appears set under center, potentially for the next decade in each case.
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Follow Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis