NFL head coach mock draft: Predicting where top candidates land

2021 NFL head coach mock draft: Where do top candidates land?

The NFL head coach carousel is going to keep on spinning in 2021. It’s mock draft season for many NFL team fan bases, but every single one of those teams with a current or eventual head coaching vacancy has no idea who will be leading their team next season and beyond.

With that said, using the 2021 NFL Draft order, let’s take a look at which head coaches could fit with teams around the league either looking for new head coaches or likely to be looking for new head coaches.

1. New York Jets: Matt Campbell (Iowa State HC)

The New York Jets are in need of a total team culture reboot.

In this NFL head coach mock draft scenario, they take a shot on a guy in Matt Campbell who has created one of the healthiest cultures in major college football with the Iowa State Cyclones.

The Iowa State Cyclones, really?

Really.

Campbell has helped lead the Cyclones to a lot of really great success, including the Big 12 championship game in 2020. This is significant because it’s the first time Iowa State has ever been in the Big 12 championship game.

Campbell has built the program into a Big 12 contender, potentially a College Football Playoff participant, and he has done so by developing players that would certainly not all be the top choices of big-time programs.

The Jets take a page out of the Carolina Panthers book here by taking a shot on Campbell, who would pair up with Joe Douglas to make the easy selection of Trevor Lawrence atop the 2021 NFL Draft assuming they lose the rest of the way.

Hiring Campbell would signify the Jets’ commitment to a long-term rebuild of a team culture that is absolutely the worst in the NFL.