The Cowboys and Redskins went the experience route in their head coaching searches. The Giants and Panthers apparently are comfortable with newcomers to the job.

Dallas replaced Jason Garrett with a Super Bowl winner, Mike McCarthy, who was as successful in Green Bay as anyone this side of Vince Lombardi. Washington went with Ron Rivera, who twice won NFL Coach of the Year honors in Carolina and also took the Panthers to a Super Bowl.

Replacing Rivera will be Matt Rhule, a worthy college coach at Temple and Baylor, but with minimal time in the pros.

And the Giants, whose last two coaching choices, Ben McAdoo and Pat Shurmur, got fired, are on the verge of going with Joe Judge, New England’s receiving and special teams maven.

Still open is the Cleveland job — doesn’t it always seem to be? The Browns flopped with untested Freddie Kitchens in charge, so maybe they’ll want someone of the ilk of McCarthy and Rivera. Then again, it’s the Browns.

Of the four hires, only Rivera is a minority. Despite the push for diversity in coach hirings under the Rooney Rule, the NFL has only three other minority head coaches among the 32 teams: Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, the Chargers’ Anthony Lynn, and Miami’s Brian Flores.

As opposed to new owner David Tepper in Carolina, it appears longtime owners Jerry Jones in Dallas and Daniel Snyder in Washington went the safer route. That’s understandable with the Cowboys, who underachieved in a big way this season and are far closer to contending than are the Redskins.

Rivera has a far bigger task to get the Redskins into the playoffs conversation, and he also has hired an established defensive coordinator in Jack Del Rio. Once Rivera was dismissed in Carolina, though, Snyder made enticing him to DC a goal. He reached that objective with the promise that the organization will undergo a “culture change” under Rivera.

Rhule, 44, has a history of rebuilding programs in difficult situations. But those were in college. He faces the same kind of challenge in Carolina: The Panthers had seven-game losing streaks in the second half of each of the last two seasons.