Cardinals Must Make The Right Choice At Head Coach
The Cardinals must make the right choice at head coach, and there are three options.
It was a disappointing four-year stint for Kliff Kingsbury, an appointment that promised so much. In reality, the Cardinals have not had a good head coach since Bruce Arians briefly retired on New Years Day in 2018.
The disappointing one-and-done season under Steve Wilks in 2018 saw the Cardinals draft number one overall in 2019 and with that they selected Kyler Murray.
Murray has had his moments but he has so far not fully lived up to his potential. At the age of 25 and being the type of QB that he is, he is at a crucial point of his career.
He was the joke of the league in the 2022 offseason after the clause in his contract was revealed regarding study hours. Should the Cardinals make another bad head coaching decision, then Murray’s career could take a further downturn. This is why the franchise and new GM Monti Ossenfort have to nail this appointment. Here are the only three options that they should consider.
Brian Flores
It is rare for a head coach who had two winning seasons in their first seasons as an NFL head coach to be fired. Flores was relieved of his duties in early 2022 and served as the senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers this season.
Flores will be eager to get back into a head coaching role and the Cardinals could be the perfect role for him.
The Dolphins defense was excellent under Flores, and he could help unleash the potential of Isaiah Simmons, as well as work with Markus Golden and Budda Baker when he returns from injury.
DeMeco Ryans
The 2006 Defensive player of the year, has been with San Francisco 49ers organisation since 2017. His roles have included defensive quality control coach and inside linebackers coach before his current defensive coordinator role.
During his two years in the role, he has been in charge of one of the league’s best defences.
A top three defence in 2021 and the number one defense in 2022, this 49ers team have been scary.
Whilst their journey ended on Sunday, injuries went a long way to determining that result. A fully health roster could be sitting here preparing for a Super Bowl.
Ryans will have plenty of phonecalls now San Francisco’s season is over and the chance to work with Simmons and Baker, js a chance Ryans may feel is too hard to turn down.
Sean Payton
This is the golden ticket, the head coach everyone wants.
He has been linked with pretty much every head coaching vacancy, and his appointment would be a franchise changing move for Arizona.
We all saw how he changed the New Orleans Saints’ fortunes, and he could be the guy to finally win a ring for Arizona.
He helped Drew Brees become a certain first ballot Hall of Famer, won Super Bowl 44 and should have made Super Bowl 53 had there not been that infamous non-call against the Rams.
In his fifteen seasons with the Saints, he had just four losing seasons and reached the playoffs in nine. He somehow made the playoffs in 2020 with a declining Brees and guided them to a winning record in 2021 despite their quarterback carousel that included Trevor Siemian, Jameis Winston, Taysom Hill, and Ian Book.
Payton is the outstanding candidate and the Cardinals, whoever they hire, must make sure they get the right guy.