As the Coach carousel spins by Peter King...

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As the Coach Carousel Spins
With six head-coach vacancies, and maybe more to come, the rumor mill is abuzz with names and scenarios, including the hottest prospect and toughest sell. Plus mail on Jimmy Garoppolo, Larry Fitzgerald and more
by Peter King

What I know, and what I’m hearing, on the coach derbies as we reach the oddest of modern football oddities: zero firings on Black Monday, and no increase in the six vacancies that we knew about Sunday:

• Mike Smith is a hot name. The Jags want someone with head-coaching experience; thus the interest in Tom Coughlin, Josh McDaniels and Smith, the former Atlanta coach (lifetime record: 67-50) now working as a defensive coordinator in Tampa Bay. Interesting. There are six openings, and a couple have zero interest in Smith.

But as GMs say when an agent throws out a silly asking price in unrestricted free agency: It only takes one. In this case, it only takes one team to fall in love with a candidate to make him a head coach. Remember when Bruce Arians was bypassed by seven teams in 2013, and the eighth and last one, Arizona, fell for him? Let that be a lesson to everyone. Don’t hurry.

• David Shaw and Chris Petersen are not coming out now. No idea if Nick Saban would. Stanford and Washington needn’t be worried about the head coaches they love. But I keep wondering how many national titles it will take for Saban to think it might be time to look around, particularly at age 65.

What happens if Jim Irsay does more than wonder why his team just won eight games with Andrew Luck at quarterback, and why so many of those eight were fights to the death against the Jacksonvilles of the league? Indy is not Tuscaloosa, but it might be small enough to appeal to Saban and his wife. The Colts’ quarterback certainly would. I’ll always think that’s the thing Saban looks back on with regret—not stretching to sign Drew Brees, coming off shoulder surgery, in Miami in 2006.

• The stars are not coming out this year. Wrote it Monday. Still true today. “I’m not sold on anybody. This could be a long process,” one coach-search man said Tuesday night.

• Hot names: Smith, defensive coordinators Vance Joseph (Miami), Teryl Austin (Detroit), Matt Patricia (New England), Sean McDermott (Carolina); offensive coordinators Sean McVay (Washington), Josh McDaniels (New England), Kyle Shanahan (Atlanta); special teams coordinator Dave Toub (Kansas City), and interim coach Anthony Lynn of the Bills.

• Buffalo is going to be a tough sell. Around the league, the performance of GM Doug Whaley at his Monday press conference was not well-received, particularly the part about how he was informed by ownership that Rex Ryan was being whacked and he (Whaley) had no say in it. The reaction was, if I may translate, Who wants to work for that guy?

That plus the fact that no one really knows a thing about the Howard Hughes-like Pegulas, and there’s no sure quarterback of the future, and it sometimes seems like the land of mercenaries. Just know that Buffalo’s not going to have an easy time find a coach it loves. If I were Whaley and Pegula, I’d target Tom Coughlin, and tell him he’d better have a very logical successor on his staff.

• I still think there might be an opening or two to come. Obviously, watch for change in New Orleans, but only if there’s a team out there willing to pay Sean Payton $9 million a year and willing to give a second-day draft choice to the Saints. I found it interesting that Payton told WWL radio that “absolutely” the Saints were the only team he’s interested in coaching next year. That is not what I have heard, but it takes two to dance. …

Houston and Bill O’Brien—you wouldn’t think there was a chance that would change. And it probably will not. But I keep hearing things are not great between O’Brien and GM Rick Smith, so stay tuned to the first post-playoff-loss day in Houston. …

Strange to hear nothing from Indianapolis, which could mean that all’s well but also could mean owner Jim Irsay is asking himself, How’d we go 8-8 last year with Josh Freeman and Ryan Lindley and Charlie Whitehurst playing quarterback, and no better this year?

Too early, really, to be near the end of the line on any of these jobs. I think the rumor mill will work overtime this month, because so many teams are looking at so many coaches. So settle in.