With six NFL head-coaching positions open heading into 2025, more candidates have emerged out of the woodwork. For every Mike Vrabel, Ben Johnson or Aaron Glenn who are highlighting this offseason’s coaching carousel, there are guys like Steve Spagnuolo. While the longtime defensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs has been great in this role, he bombed as an NFL head coach.

According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the New York Jets and the Las Vegas Raiders have put in formal requests to interview the Chiefs defensive coordinator for their head-coaching vacancies. Because the Chiefs earned a first-round bye as the No. 1 seed, he would be free to interview with any team with an opening, assuming he has interest and the Chiefs organization grants him the request to do it.

The last time Spagnuolo was this respected as a defensive mind, he was leading the New York Giants defense to a Super Bowl championship under Tom Coughlin. He eventually took over the then-St. Louis Rams in 2009 and bombed after three years. He went 10-38 in his three years with St. Louis. That era of Rams football was the epitome of abysmal, but Spagnuolo was a much younger man.

While Spagnuolo getting some recognition like this is well-deserved, he is already 65 years old…

This just goes to show that franchises like the Jets and Raiders want a slice of the Chiefs’ greatness.

There are two ways to look at it. One, Spagnuolo may have earned one final shot to be an NFL head coach in his career. His track record in Kansas City proves he has earned at least the opportunity to interview for a job like this. The other way to look at it is the pure and undeniable desperation we see out of consistently and poorly run organizations like the Jets and Raiders. It seems to be in that vein.

From the Raiders perspective, this may have more to do with general manager Tom Telesco having a great deal of respect for Spagnuolo. They have competed against each other for years in the division, dating back to Telesco’s lengthy tenure as the key figure in the Los Angeles Chargers front office. As for the Jets, they do not have a general manager just yet. This job opening may be very hard to fill.

That being said, Spagnuolo does have strong ties to New York after having been the Giants defensive coordinator twice over. Outside of his current role with the Chiefs and his terrible run as the head coach in St. Louis, the Giants are the franchise Spagnuolo is easily the most connected to. The Jets may want to hire someone like Vrabel, Glenn or Johnson, but may come up empty-handed in the end.

While we should give Spagnuolo props for getting these interview opportunities, I would not leave KC.