The pressure to win in the NFL has never been greater.
Some owners typically want quick fixes, which isn't the best way to build an organization of sustained winning. The best teams have stability from top to bottom.
But the NFL has always been a bottom-line business. If the head coach doesn't meet expectations in a given year, questions will arise the next year. That's just the way it is.
As we get closer to the start of the 2016 season, here's a list of names that have come up in my discussions with several personnel executives around the league in recent weeks.
Squarely on the hot seat
Rex Ryan, Buffalo Bills
It might surprise some that Ryan, who enters his second season of a five-year deal with the Bills, has not posted a winning record in five straight seasons: one with Buffalo, four with the New York Jets. And the Bills haven't made the playoffs since 1999, the longest playoff drought in the league.