There is a surprising amount of synonyms for the word “fired”. Some are more crude -- like “axed” or “canned” -- but some are softer, trying to ease the blow -- such as “laid-off” or “released”.

No matter how you spin it, losing your job sucks.

For an NFL coach, who has spent their whole life trying to get to this point -- rising up through college coaching ranks, then assistant jobs, then finally coordinator and head coaching gigs, sometimes for 20 years -- it’s a huge setback to be released from your team. Some of these coaches spent years crafting their rosters to be just how they wanted, and now they have to watch and see if they were right without reaping any of the rewards.

Still, some of these franchises are in better shape for incoming coaching candidates as a result of that hard work. Which are the best franchises available for a head coaching candidate to sign with, in order from best to worst?