NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Ravens Fire John Harbaugh

Episode Date: January 6, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Jourdan Rodrigue react the Ravens firing HC John Harbaugh. Gregg and Jourdan discuss the effect the move will have on this year's coaching carousel (02:30), the Ravens making the move at this time (08:50), possible options to replace Harbaugh (13:00) and more!  Note: time codes approximate. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're always ready for an unexpected podcast. I'm Greg Rosenthal here in the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio with Jordan Roderig, the same woman who just 20 minutes ago left the studio to get ready and move on with the rest of her day. And then we called her back. because I first learned from your text that John Harbaugh has been fired as head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. That comes from our insiders at NFL Network and many other

places. And so we're going to do a show, a quick one, about this. You will also have our great see you next Tuesday show popping up in your feed on Wednesday, where we go through some awards and some holiday cards, and that's fun too. But man, John Harbaugh, there just aren't many coaches in this history, recent history of the NFL that stayed in a job that long. He's the second longest head coach in terms of tenure in the league. But he's been the head coach of the Ravens for 18 of their 30 seasons. They've only had three coaches. Marcha Broda had a couple of years.

And it was Brian Billik who won a Super Bowl. John Harbaugh won a Super Bowl. But it's been a while. And they decided this was the time to do it. I'll let you start anywhere that you want, Jordan. Well, we had thought that this was a really genuine possibility. We've been banging this drum on NFL Daily for a while, but the timing made sense. The timing of it made sense.

You have made the great point multiple times, Greg, that because the Ravens are a well-run organization and that they're a good team, that to look at the stallouts that seem to happen to this team over the last couple of years and the lack of a playoff. runs and all of those things, that change was necessary. And I think it's also true. And I know that our friend Daniel Jeremiah believes this as well, that wherever John Harbaugh goes next is going to have an incredible ripple effect across the entire NFL. Even teams that currently have head coaches employed may think long and hard about this. And also that whoever the Ravens go with next, the process is sure to be third. and they want somebody there for the long term.

All great points. Let's start about the impact around the league because I do think that Harbaugh was the missing piece for this news cycle. And there were six openings before and people thought it was going to be less of a year. Mike McDaniel in Miami feels like the obvious guy who could be in trouble

because they might be a team that would want to go after John Harba. There are two, where there's smoke, there's fire flares for me. You know, when the hair on the back of your neck starts tingling a little bit. And these are the two for me. One, that the team has not definitively come out and said or stated that Mike McDaniel is staying, right? And we also have learned since that he's not going to be taking a huge role in the GM interviews to this point. The second was, you know, I reported this.

ESPN initially reported this, and I confirm this this afternoon via a source, that Chad Alexander, the assistant general manager of the Jim Harbaugh led Los Angeles Chargers with former, under former Ravens assistant Joe Hortiz, he will be interviewing for the Miami Dolphins general manager position. So if we're going to do the windy pointing, the little, what's going on in Miami? To me, the red, flags point toward, first of all, the dolphins, I think, rightfully going through all of their options here, which is if Mike McDaniel stays in place as the head coach, I think it's fair to say that's a big if at this point with Harbaal Luce, then they are looking at three candidates

who he has worked with previously in San Francisco, among those three, I believe Josh Williams to be the favorite. Now, they're also looking at other. candidates, including our guy, Alec Hallaby, who we have a great deal of respect for on this show. Assistant GM of the Philadelphia Eagles and John Eric Sullivan, who is an executive in Green Bay at this point. So to me, this Miami Dolphins team is doing a lot of what ifs and research with the opening of these interviews. Chad Alexander was not included in the initial announcement of candidates that the dolphins were going to bring in to be interviewed by the team. This leaks out today, this morning, just an hour before it leaks that John Harbaugh has been fired by the Baltimore Ravens. Chad Alexander spent 20 years with

the Baltimore Ravens. Well, it's just funny how many connections there are and how Michigan is at the center of all of it. Because I think the timing of it, that it didn't take that long to happen, that it was not announced as a mutual parting of ways, at least by Tom Pelliserro, Mike Garifolo, just to name Arge's NFL Network, was announced as a firing. The Ravens didn't want to wait around either. And you just kind of, again, start connecting the dots.

Jesse Minter is going to almost certainly be a candidate in Baltimore because of his history there, potentially in Las Vegas. Who knows? Maybe in Miami. Stephen Ross, who has really strong ties to Michigan. And obviously, John Harbaugh and Jim Harbaugh, and you're talking about Chad Alexander, timing matters here.

And the Ravens might not want to wait around too long because some of the people that they want to talk to, Minter specifically, you know, they don't want him to take a job elsewhere. And similarly, like the dolphins are getting their ducks in a row for many different possibilities. Yes. The interesting part about all this is there's no guarantee.

that they can close that deal and get John Harbaugh because he could have interest from other organizations. Giants reporters have more or less reported and hinted around in the last day or two that if Harbaugh were to become available, that he would be a person that they would want to talk to. Who knows if another Michigan connection, Tom Brady, would want to talk to John Harbaugh in Las Vegas. So Miami's in a really interesting situation where like, they're like, well, if we're ranking the options, McDaniels, maybe two or I don't know if there's someone else, like a three behind Harbaugh, but we got to see if we can get Harbaugh first. And it's all going to be fascinating over the next couple weeks. And frankly, even though, you know,

I'm not happy for a guy to lose his job, but I'm kind of happy because I wanted to see another coach with Lamar Jackson, number one. That's why I think it made sense. I just think you had to find another coach from it. And then number two, it's going to be good content, like a lot of backroom trading. There's like a lot of hiring and emergencies, right? Because this is a situation where John Harbaugh, 100%,

even in ways that Jim Harbaugh did not possess when he was looking into rejoining the NFL. John Harba has the cat bird seat here. John Harbaugh will have multiple franchises whether they currently have a coach or not. People were a little off put by all of that. And, but now John Harbaugh will not only have the open jobs, a couple of the open jobs coming after him, but also, um, potentially jobs that aren't quite yet open and coach and teams who have been considering possibly making a change at head coach for a while. I think this is fascinating. It, it puts Kevin Stefanski previously considered maybe the top candidate, um, on the job market this cycle. It puts him down a rung, um, in terms of the, the potential. You might see teams like the Arizona. Cardinals step up, by the way, who currently have in their employ a coordinator who

once worked under Kevin Stefansky in Drew Petzing and runs an offense that it's very clear the GM likes and wants to run and perhaps a change at head coach and play caller is something that comes into play there for the Arizona Cardinals. This entire, where I don't know that the Cardinals would have had a shot at Stefanski previously. This all comes, this changes so much about this cycle so early on in the cycle, it's fascinating. I think you're right that the ultimate ending of all this and the biggest news to come from it is that Jacoby Brissette will continue king making, you know, with, you know, reuniting with Kevin Stefanski in Arizona. But that all, that all could happen. Let's kind of go back to the Raven side of it. So it's obviously a seismic

decision. The Ravens, when they fired Brian Billick, I know he's coming off a bad year, but he had won a Super Bowl not too far in the distant past and had had a lot of success there, I think had a really good sense of when the right time was to fire him. They were so close to firing John Harbaugh, according to all the reporting that was happening around the time that Lamar Jackson first got into the lineup. He had a five and 11 season. He had an eight and eight season. And I believe during Lamar Jackson's rookie year, he takes over a team with a losing record. He helps it.

John Harbaugh puts his arms around Lamar Jackson in a really productive way. They turn it around in the short term. Harbaugh gets one more year, and that turns into a really long and successful run with Lamar and Harbaugh together. They didn't win much in the playoffs. They won four games in the playoffs.

They never won back-to-back games in the playoffs. They made one AFC championship. Harbaugh had started. started out his career winning a lot of games in the playoffs. I think it's a little unfair to just go off of that. And they are coming off a 13 win season, a 12 win season before this 8 and 9. I just think if you look at everything he did there, it just felt a little stale. Like, they kept replacing the defensive coordinator over and over and over and over.

And he's not a guy who is providing schematic advantages. And it just felt like a guy who had amassed so much power within that building. and yet I think they're an organization that wants to be front office run down from a strong ownership to a really strong front office. GM, Eric DeCostas done a good job. He's not going anywhere.

To me, the real strong people in this organization are Ozzie Newsom and then Eric DeCosta. And so I think ultimately as much as they want to coach to come in and be a part of this team for the next decade plus that they would feel comfortable

because they have such a strong organization in place. And that's why I've seen a lot of Ravens fans be like good luck trying to find someone better than him or I think trust in your organization that sometimes great things end Yeah you know it's like it's a great marriage It was a great professional partnership and it was 18 freaking years I mean that's a long time because of the strength of the front office and it's not just the GM

It's also the tenure of the executive assistants who work right under the GM It is also the scouting the tenure of the scouting department it's the language of evaluation and team building that take a roster and turn it into a team into an ecosystem. That is what the Ravens have been so good at. It is the rare, rare case of I think it's totally fine that there's going to be an overhang jam. I think, normally I think it's a terrible decision for a team to make to have, and it usually sets a coach up for failure

or at least a shorter leash or some sort of power struggle in the middle of that coach's tenure. Maybe the coach wins, maybe it doesn't. In this case, this is a rare example. example of one where I'm like, fine, I trust who they're going to hire. I do. Yeah, I think it's a case-by-case basis when it comes to that. You're right, probably more often than not, it's not a great situation. But if for some reason the buccaneers wanted to make a changes here with Todd Bowles, like you would trust Jason Light to make the next hire. And when you think about

Eric DeCosta, he actually hasn't ever made his head coaching hire. And he's not making it in a vacuum. I think Steve Bichita, the owner, is the most important voice in that room. But ultimately, Hardbaugh was an inherited coach for DeCosta and look, Ozzie Newsom is still there. Jesse Minter is a guy that Daniel Jeremiah quickly suggested. It's pretty easy just from the outside looking in to connect the dots because he was literally in the building.

He also has the Michigan connections, spending time with John, I mean, Jim back in the day. And he is one name that comes to mine. Any others that come to mind as potential candidate. Well, this is the one. also where I said, you know, I think this ends up shaking Stefanski loose a little bit for maybe other teams. But I do think Stifansky could also be a candidate for this. Because if you think

about the quarterback and maximizing the quarterback and no, Kevin Stifansky has not maximized the half dozen like people that they just decide to throw at the quarterback position over time under that ownership group and with that GM. I think that he, I think he's got this type of, um, coaching ability still in him. And I think that his, in terms of his leadership ability and the sort of the tenor that he sets throughout an organization when he's with competence, we've seen it before he got sucked into the Brown's black hole here. And I think he has, I think he could do it again.

I like that offense with that quarterback, the Kubi-X system. I like it. I think that's what it's all got to be about. And I've never bought that Lamar Jackson. was going to be traded this offseason. I still don't. I mean, in theory, it's possible that they could put some feelers out

and see what they could get. I just don't think they're dumb like that. It's not the time to do it. The time to do it would be, let's see Lamar Jackson with a new head coach, with a new system, with a fresh start. And if after a year or two of that,

and you might say, well, the trade value will go down a little bit, it is so hard to find Lamar Jackson's. In the three seasons previous to this last one, he finished first, first, and second in MVP. I mean, what are we even talking about here? I just, it's in the same way that I don't believe, thought that they would maybe make a change,

that they wouldn't be afraid to move on from Harbaugh now, just because I think they make moves that make sense. It doesn't make sense to move on from Lamar Jackson. You change the coach and you see if a new coach, can help to improve whatever it is that you're not thrilled with with Lamar Jackson. I'm not trying to say it was an either or. I'm certainly like not trying to say that. But if you're going to decide between the two,

the GM clearly made his decision and the ownership group clearly made their decision. Your colleague Diana Rossini is reporting that a key sticking point in negotiations were Harbaugh not wanting to move on from Todd Monkin, the offensive coordinator. I think these after the fact reasonings come out that they might, you know, make someone look better, like that makes Harbaugh look better. Who knows? I have a feeling like if they're coming into that meeting, they kind of know what is the likely outcome of that meeting. But that was part of it too.

And it's something to consider that I think Monken did a pretty good job overall. He will be a really popular name in the coordinator interviews. And he is getting a couple of head coaching. I think he is getting a Tennessee interview. Interview, yeah. The fact that this came out, though, we just keep forgetting about like the Titans in the mix on all of this, too, by the way,

and they're once again rearranged infrastructure. You know what I think, though? I think that that coming out is a somehow, and I don't want to trace it, I don't know where it came out from or whatever, but like that's John Harbaugh saying, Todd's coming with me. because if he's not willing to move on from him,

that's loyalty. That's kind of saying like Todd Munkin's coming with me wherever I go. And it's painful. This is a guy who, like I said, had an incredible amount of power in that building and amassed it and maybe wielded that power. It happens. Anyone that's in a place that long, you know, is entrenched.

He was like an institution. He's literally been the head coach of the Ravens almost the entire time I've covered the NFL and way more than half the, of the organization existing. And so, yeah, I think it hurts your pride when you get let go essentially. And you want to make it look as good as you can afterwards.

That Mike Preston article to me was, I don't know if it was the Canary and the coal mine, but when I saw that, the Mike Preston article that was really burying Lamar Jackson and had a little bit of, they have to make a decision about Harbaugh too, but really posited as, hey, they should trade Lamar Jackson.

It did feel like the moment where, can't imagine these two guys Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson coming back together and I have a feeling we're going to get reporting about, you know, how that relationship happened. And these things happen in sports. And you know what? I'm not, I'm not worried about John Harbaugh. He's going to land on his feet. He'll be fine. Fine. I had thrown out the idea of Mike McDaniel to Baltimore because I would like to see that. There was a nagging part of me that was like, I don't know if the Ravens would actually do that. Is that a Ravens type of move? I don't know. I asked around and I he might not be the type of guy. I think they want to have a guy. I think he would be set up for success there. A lot of people

would because I think it's a strong organization. You have Lamar Jackson. But he might not fit the profile of the long term type of decision that that you're talking about, a guy that they want there for the next 10 to 15 years. He might not be like what they look for in a Raven. And a guy like Stephansky, Jesse Minner might a little more. I would just say too on that point because I obviously I respect that opinion a lot but I think there are

a lot of people in the league there were at the time and they are there are still now who dramatically underestimate the stuff that Mike McDaniel is made of. Hey now. I like that. And I agree. I agree. But they might be some of those people in the league

that think that. Yeah, I agree. No, I agree. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, I agree. It is really funny. Funny is the wrong word. But to imagine the world where that kick went through the uprights the other night. It is.

Do you think Mike Tomlin would still be working for the Steelers if that kick went through the upright? Hey, we still have to kind of see what shakes out for Mike Tomlin after the end of the season too. I mean, like... How about Ravens coach Mike Tomlin?

That's a joke. A thousand people just through their phones or their TVs or however they're listening and watching this. This is what... We talked in our other show, our show that's going to seem very dated now because we recorded it previous to this. It's coming out Wednesday.

We'll edit out any of the Ravens parts. Eric's good like that. Eric's got it. Yes. But it really is like this like beautiful poetry, often bittersweet that football is that it was on a special team's play. The last play of his coaching tenure, the last shot of John Harbaugh walking into the locker room that any person, has of his coaching tenure is him putting his arm around a distraught Tyler Loop and showing in that moment the stuff he's made of and I'm not wholly convinced that

Harbaugh is going to be a great hire I think two things can be true I think he can be a good idea for a team like the Raiders or the dolphins that the concept of John yeah no I think I think he's a good hire. I think it's okay to point out that he's 63 years old, that he is a different sort of coach where he's not bringing his offense, his defense. So it's really about the kind of building that he can create, not just culture,

but literally the hires, the coordinators, everyone that's going to join him. And when you've been in the league a long time, like the people that you know the best or the people that have been in the league a long time. And sometimes that work, and I think he can bring a lot of stability.

But when he came to the Raiders, look, he was a special team's court, I mean, to the Ravens, he was a special team's coordinator. Your wish casting where you want him to go next. Where would I want him to go? Just had a slip. You said the Raiders.

The Raiders could work. Anyway, continue. Continue. He, you know, he gets in the conference championship game his first year. Then Division, Division, conference championship wins the Super Bowl. I mean, that is an insane run.

And I think he had a great example of what more owners should consider, which is not taking offensive defensive coordinators. He had a great feel of the league at that time as a whole, as a special team's coordinator and who to hire, who, and he pulled all the right strings. He was kind of the perfect CEO coach. Can he do that again?

I would just say it's going to be harder to do it a second time. Yeah, I agree. It's going to be fun, though. It is. It is going to be fun. I think we've said enough. And yeah, I don't think the Mike Tomlin thing is over necessarily.

either. If he got blown out by the Texans, it's going to feel like more of the same. And based on all the reporting, it sounds like he might be the one that doesn't want to enter that final year of his contract. So we might have more in this space. But thank you for not leaving the building too quickly.

I ran back. I was walking out and I saw it and I texted you in all caps first. And then I started running back. I ran into one of our great producers, Quab. And Quab was stopped still in the hallway looking at his phone. And I was like, we're probably going to do a show. Let's go. We like Aaron Sorkin walked and talked all the way back. I love it. And yeah, as

I wasn't leaving or anything, but as I got your text, I get a call from another producer, Jason Clement, it's like, don't leave. We got to get this in the book. So we appreciate everyone for checking us out. Like I said, we will be back on Wednesday. And it usually is a Tuesday show, but it's a special one. We're going to be reading all those holiday cards that we got. And we're going to be giving out All the awards, a little bit of news, including that Cliff Kingsbury, Firing. Got some takes on that. We will see you then. This is an I-Heart podcast, guaranteed human.