Mike McCarthy (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Two NFL insiders expect a significant amount of NFL coaches to receive their pink slips after the regular season concludes on Sunday.

Three NFL coaches have already been fired during the regular season: Robert Saleh of the New York Jets (replaced by Jeff Ulbrich), Dennis Allen of the New Orleans Saints (replaced by Darren Rizzi) and Matt Eberflus of the Chicago Bears (replaced by Thomas Brown).

Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN were asked to guess how many head coaches will be let go and replaced after Week 18. For starters, Graziano projects that eight new positions will open up:

“I’m going to say eight. The Bears, Saints and Jets are already open. The other potential openings I’m watching are the Cowboys, Jaguars, Raiders, Patriots, Colts and Giants. That’d be nine if they all came open, so I’m hedging a bit by saying eight.”

Fowler, on the other hand, thinks we’ll see seven NFL coaches get let go following Sunday’s action:

I’m going to go under your total and say seven — the three existing open jobs plus four more. How it gets there is a labyrinth. Most people I’ve talked to expect the Raiders and Jaguars jobs to turn over, which gets us to five.”

It’s impossible to envision Ulbrich, Rizzi and Brown retaining their HC positions given the struggles of their teams. Nobody can be shocked if Jerry Jones retains Mike McCarthy (this man gave Jason Garrett 10 years, after all), but Antonio Pierce Doug Pederson, Brian Daboll and Shane Steichen certainly haven’t done much to show they deserve another year.

Eight New NFL Coaches Were Hired A Year Ago

Last year marked an awfully high number of head coaching changes, with eight of the league’s 32 teams making a change: Atlanta Falcons (Raheem Morris), Carolina Panthers (Dave Canales), Los Angeles Chargers (Jim Harbaugh), New England Patriots (Jerod Mayo) Seattle Seahawks (Mike Macdonald) Tennessee Titans (Brian Callahan), Washington Commanders (Dan Quinn) and Raiders (Pierce had the interim tag removed).