With all the money rolling around in the NFL, coaches are bound to pick up some of it. The top 10 highest paid of them in the league are all making $6 million a season or more. Five of them (Pete Carroll, Bill Belichick, Sean Payton, John Harbaugh and Tom Coughlin) have won a Super Bowl.
10. Bruce Arians, Arizona Cardinals – $6 Million
After a very long time as an assistant and coordinator in college and the NFL, Arians got the head coaching job in Arizona in 2013. He’s done rather well in his time there, winning 21 games and taking the Cardinals to the playoffs in 2014. He has three more years left on his deal. He was actually a head coach in college at Temple from 1983 to 1988.
9. Jason Garrett, Dallas Cowboys – $6 Million
Garrett took over the head coach job at Dallas in 2010 after Wade Phillips was fired midway through the season. After three years of going 8-8, each time losing to a different divisional rival on the last day of the season to miss the playoffs, he finally posted a winning record in a full season, coaching the Cowboys to a 12-4 season in 2014, making the playoffs for the first time since 2009 and even winning one game. He’s signed on for five more years.
8. Chip Kelly, Philadelphia Eagles – $6.5 Million
After four very successful years as the head coach at Oregon Kelly took the plunge into the deep NFL pool, doing rather well on his debut season, taking the Eagles into the playoffs after a 10-6 season. His team had the same record in 2014 but missed the playoffs. He’s signed on for three more years.
7. Tom Coughlin, New York Giants – $6.67 Million
2015 Is probably the last year for Coughlin in the NFL, his final on his current deal. Coughlin has been coaching the New York Giants since 2004 and overall, including his time with the Jacksonville Jaguars, has 19 years of experience as an NFL head coach. He has failed to make the playoffs with the Giants for the last three years, but he has two Super Bowl rings from 2007 and 2011 and three more playoff appearances with the Giants. Overall he is 96-80 in New York and 164-140 as a head coach.
6. Jeff Fisher, St. Louis Rams – $7 Million
Fisher has been coaching for 20 of the last 21 seasons heading into 2015. He’s been the head coach of the Rams since 2012, each year getting slightly worse. Overall, including his Houston/Tennessee/Oilers/Titans years, he has a 162-147-1 record. He took the Titans to the Super Bowl in 1999, and has two more years left on his deal.
5. Pete Carroll, Seattle Seahawks – $7 Million
Carroll is in his third stint as an NFL head coach. He coached the New York Jets in 1994 (6-10), then the New England Patriots for three seasons (1997-1999) and made the playoffs twice but wasn’t really missed there considering what happened after he left. He spent almost a decade at USC, helping bring the Trojans back to center stage and win national championship(s) before taking the Seattle job in 2010. He’s taken the Seahawks to the playoffs four times in five years, including back to back Super Bowl appearances, in one of them winning and in the other one making one of the worst calls in NFL history. He has three more years left on his deal.
4. John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens – $7.5 Million
The only Harbaugh that remains in the NFL, he’s been very successful since taking over the Ravens in 2008 (the year Joe Flacco became the starting quarterback). He has won 64.3% of his regular season games, gone to the playoffs in six out of the seven seasons, always winning at least one game, and peaked in 2012 by getting a Super Bowl ring. He has two more years left on his contract.
3. Andy Reid, Kansas City Chiefs – $7.5 Million
From 1999 to 2012 Reid was the head coach of the Eagles, taking them to nine postseason appearances, four NFC championship games and one Super Bowl. The ending wasn’t very happy (4-12 in 2012). He didn’t stay unemployed for long, getting a job from the Chiefs, signed through the 2018 season. He made the playoffs in 2013 after going 11-5. Finishing with a 9-7 record last season wasn’t enough for another postseason berth.
2. Bill Belichick, New England Patriots – $7.5 Million
Belichick has done so well with the Patriots since taking over in 2000, it’s easy to forget his five years at Cleveland, going 36-44 with the Browns and making the playoffs just once. It’s been pretty much perfect in New England, going 175-65 in the regular season, making the playoffs in 12 of the 15 seasons there, going to six Super Bowls and winning four of them.
1. Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints – $8 Million
Payton has been the Saints’ head coach since 2006, but he was sidelined for the entire 2012 season as punishment for the Bountygate scandal. In years that he was actually coaching, the Saints went 80-48, making the playoffs five times and winning the Super Bowl in 2009.