Say you're New York Giants coach Steve Spagnuolo or Ravens coach Rex Ryan. You've busted your butt for decades to reach the pinnacle of your profession and now it looks like you may have your pick of the available head coaching jobs on the market.  Just like that you've gone from pursuing to being pursued and now you're tasked with picking a job that may ultimately make or break your career.

Suddenly you are forced to start evaluating potential jobs to see which one might be the best fit.  So how do you decide?  Surely money will have its say, but assuming that the dollars are there, what other criteria does a man use to pick his future place of employment when it may be his lone crack at the dream job? 

Might we suggest a good old fashioned "Pros and Cons" list for each job.  In fact, we'll just go ahead and do it for them...

Denver Broncos
Pros - The man who takes the Broncos job will be taking over one of the best teams of those currently lacking a head coach.  Only a three game losing streak to end the season kept them out of the playoffs in 2008 so there are pieces in place to have instant success including a talented young QB and an impressive wide receiver corp headlined by Brandon Marshall.  Plus you've got to figure that the Broncos facility in Denver has to have killer tanning equipment considering who spent the last 14 years there.

Cons- The most notable con in Denver is the fact that Shanahan will likely leave a significant shadow under which his predecessor will have operate.  The man may have stumbled a bit late in his tenure and the Broncos may in fact be ripe for a change, but he did win two Super Bowls as the head coach, which is tough to top for anyone.  The other negative is that the "we can plug any running back into our system" attitude that the team held (although it worked well for a while) resulted in the team having five backs over 200 yards in 2008, and none over 350.  There's a slim chance that the next coach can ride the Tatum Bell express to posteseason success in Denver.

New York Jets
Pros - Like the Broncos, the new Jets coach will be inheriting a roster that as late as Week 12 this past season looked destined to be a playoff team.  A five game losing streak to end the season put that talk to rest, but of the teams with coaching vacancies the Jets were the lone team to finish with a winning record.  If attention is your thing, the Jets job may be your spot.  The zip code alone means that ESPN will likely have someone parked outside the front of your house at all times, just in case. 

Cons - If you don't like attention, you're probably going to dislike the fact that your face will be plastered all over the newspapers next to a snappy headline every time you open your mouth.  Given the inordinate pressure from the fan base and the vulture-esque media you may be fired after a somewhat successful season like Mr. Mangini was.  Perhaps the least desirable aspect to the Jets job is the inevitable Brett Favre saga.  The rented QB has already been the topic of offseason controversy when his teammates came out publicly with criticism of his role on the team.  For those who think he will go quietly this year, you clearly haven't been paying attention to the media machine that Brett Favre has created.  But one can always look on the bright side - if Favre stays, the new coach may score a free pair of Wranglers out of the deal. 

Oakland Raiders
Pros - It's one of the 32 head coaching jobs in the NFL, so it's got that going for it. The running game is pretty solid too.  Truthfully, we're not sure if this job is even open and no one else is either.  Al Davis apparently sat down after the season to talk with interim coach Tom Cable, but no word has been released as to whether he's going to keep the job or whether Davis is shopping around for his next victim. 
 
Cons - You will be working for Al Davis.

St. Louis Rams
Pros- The Rams job may not have many selling points, but you have to figure that the expectations will be pretty low.  This is a team that is seriously considering hiring the interim coach that just lost the last ten games of the season, so any measure of success will result in the coach being lauded as a brilliant hire.  The team itself has one superstar level player in Steven Jackson, a collection of mediocre players on both sides of the ball and one giant meathead who likes to insult the fans of the team in Richie Incognito.  One benefit that will be afforded to the new coach that wasn't to his predecessors - Scott Linehan and Mike Martz - is the opportunity to work with a legit general manager in Billy Devaney who took over for glorified accountant Jay Zygmunt late in the season. 

Cons - Let's face facts, the St. Louis Rams are a mess.  Their quarterback showed signs of being shell-shocked in '08, their star running back can't stay healthy for a whole season, their Hall of Fame wide receiver (Holt) has all but publicly stated his desire to leave, their offensive line is a wreck, they scored the second fewest points in the NFL this year while allowing the second most and to make matters worse, they play in a stadium so crappy that the ticket scalpers are forced to utilize advanced forms of transportation in order to seek out the scant few who are actually willing to purchase tickets.  Yep, the Rams sure do offer an attractive package. 

Detroit Lions
Pros - One benefit that the next coach of the Lions will enjoy that no other coach in the league will share is the knowledge that it is absolutely impossible for him to be worse at his job than the guy who he is replacing.  0-16 can be a heck of a selling point.  Imagine stepping into an interview and knowing that the person who held the job before you literally produced the worst team in history. Gotta make even the questionable interviewees brim with confidence.  Like the Rams, you also have the good fortune of knowing that the architect of this disaster has been fired and subsequently hired by NBC to provide analysis that fans can make fun of. As an added bonus, they have a pretty solid young running back and wide receiver. 

Cons- 0-16 can also be a heck of a deterrent too.  After all, when you get the job, you actually have to try to coach the worst team in NFL history.  On top of that, you've got a quarterback in Dan Orlovsky who hasn't yet realized that you can't run out of the back of the endzone without repercussions, the worst defense in the NFL, a stadium that is named after a company that may or may not be bankrupt by the first game of the 2009 season and no matter what round you do it in, if you draft a wide receiver, you will be mocked.  Thanks for that, Millen.

So there you have it, potential head coaches, a definitive look at why you should or should not throw your name into the mix when you see these jobs pop up on your Monster.com search.  Choose wisely.

And if you see Al Davis' number on your caller id, let it go to voicemail.