This year’s costs have already started to add up in ways the league is warning teams to protect themselves going forward.
NFL officials have informed the owners of the league’s 32 franchises that teams have spent $800 million on fired coaches and front office executives over the past five years, league sources told ESPN .
The message, delivered last week at owners meetings in Dallas , was sent by the league as a reminder that, as some franchises weigh significant late-season changes, hundreds of millions of dollars have recently been wasted by teams that they may need to act with less haste.
NFL officials even went so far as to write team-specific spreadsheets about the employees they laid off and the costs incurred. The league wanted each organization to see the exact cost of instability and the employees they were paying for services they were no longer providing.
The costs this year have already begun to add up in ways the league is warning teams to protect themselves going forward.
The Panthers fired head coach Matt Rhule with four years remaining on his seven-year, $60 million contract.
The Colts fired head coach Frank Reich with four years remaining on his August 2021 contract extension that pays him $9 million annually.
The Titans fired general manager Jon Robinson with four years remaining on the contract extension he signed last February.
Joe Judge, who was fired last January after lasting just two years on a five-year contract Getty
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With a league averaging close to seven head coach changes per year, these won’t be the last layoffs this season.
But the NFL is asking teams for patience in the hopes of trying to reduce the massive expense of firing people in key and high-profile positions.
The Giants are paying three different head coaches, and their respective coaching staffs, this year alone: Pat Shurmur , who was fired in 2020 just two years after a five-year deal; Joe Judge , who was fired last January after lasting just two years on a five-year deal; and first-year coach Brian Daboll , who has New York to a 7-5-1 record before Sunday night’s matchup with the Commanders .
Seven teams fired their head coach during or after the 2021 season: the Jaguars, Bears, Vikings, Giants, Dolphins, Broncos and Texans. Two others also had head coach vacancies due to resignations: the Raiders and the Saints.
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