This is a time of hope for all 32 NFL teams. No matter how a squad performed a year ago or what its realistic prospects are for 2023, there's optimism that an also-ran can become a playoff contender, that a playoff contender can make a Super Bowl run.

This is going to be the year. Just sign a free agent or two, have a good draft next month, get a little lucky with injuries, and this is it.

Of course, while hope springs eternal this time of year, there's another feeling running through more than a few locker rooms: pressure.

Andy Reid obviously doesn't have to worry about job security in Kansas City. Neither does Nick Sirianni or Howie Roseman in Philadelphia. Or Zac Taylor in Cincinnati. But there are more than a few head coaches and general managers who could be having their last seasons with their teams unless their fortunes improve.

For those coaches and GMs, the 2023 campaign will begin on the hot seat.

And their margin for error has all but disappeared.

Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns

You can sometimes tell when a head coach is feeling the heat. The coaches around him will begin to shuffle. That was the case for the Cleveland Browns after a 7-10 campaign in 2022, with both defensive coordinator Joe Woods and special teams coordinator Mike Priefer being shown the door.

It's not like Kevin Stefanski can fire the offensive play-caller, after all.

While speaking to reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine, Stefanski said the shake-up could be just what the doctor ordered to get the Browns back on track:

"You look at everything, you try to be as clear-eyed about it and you try to spend as much time as you can on every decision you make. So with all of our coaches, you try to spend some time and look at what is best for the organization and just with some of the moves we made, I felt like that was what was best for us."

After winning Coach of the Year honors for leading the Browns to an 11-5 record in 2020, Stefanski has seen his team get progressively worst in each of the last two years, with eight wins in 2021 followed by seven last season.

If that trend doesn't reverse in Deshaun Watson's first full season under center, Stefanski isn't going to be back for a fourth season in 2024.

Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys

Despite going 24-10 over the last two seasons in charge of the Dallas Cowboys, Mike McCarthy is a regular in columns like this. But the one-time Super Bowl winner said he's been assured by team owner Jerry Jones that the ice under his feet is thick.

"As far as my relationship with Jerry … we are in an excellent spot. The partnership that we have, he's excited about," McCarthy said, per Tyler Dragon of USA Today. "He told me a number of times this week that he wants me to coach here as long as coach [Tom] Landry did. I said, 'OK, that's a long time.' I feel really good about our relationship. I think our ability to discuss and disagree, we do a good job at that. I think that's important."

Tell yourself whatever you need to, Mike.

This isn't to say that Jones didn't say that. Or that McCarthy has done a bad job. But racking up regular-season wins isn't the goal in Dallas. Neither is making the playoffs. The aim is the same every year: win the Super Bowl. The Cowboys haven't even played in an NFC Championship Game in nearly three decades, and McCarthy is 1-2 in the postseason.

If McCarthy's squad makes another early exit from the playoffs in 2023 (or misses them altogether), it may not be his team anymore.