With John Harbaugh appearing to be out of the mix, other dominoes should soon start to fall on the HC market. But the Cardinals were not viewed as a serious contender for the longtime Ravens leader’s services. Their search should not be affected much by the Giants’ expected hire.
Arizona has 13 other names in this race. One of them would be a familiar hire. Vance Joseph was the Cardinals’ defensive coordinator for four seasons under Kliff Kingsbury, and 9News’ Mike Klis notes the current Broncos DC is expected to become a strong candidate for the Cards’ top job. Joseph has a strong relationship with Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill, per Klis.
Joseph has gained steam during his third season back in Denver. The Cardinals initially hired Joseph after the Broncos fired him as their head coach, and Joseph coached the likes of Patrick Peterson, J.J. Watt and Zach Allen in Arizona. One of those seasons included a playoff berth (2021) despite Watt missing most of it and Peterson having defected to the Vikings in free agency. Joseph’s Arizona tenure produced two top-12 defenses (2020, ’21) but ended on a down note, with the Cards ranking 31st in 2022.
Joseph, 53, interviewed for the Cards’ HC job in 2023 but lost out to Jonathan Gannon. That led him back to Denver under Sean Payton, and the move has paid off for both sides. Denver enters the divisional round as the AFC’s No. 1 seed, and Joseph’s defense finished the regular season ranked third in points for a second straight year. Joseph has overseen Allen’s rise into a first-team All-Pro, after second-team honors came the interior D-lineman’s way in 2024, and Patrick Surtain‘s 2024 Defensive Player of the Year campaign looks good on the second-chance HC option’s resume.
Joseph has also interviewed for the Falcons, Ravens, Raiders, Giants and Titans’ HC jobs. The Cardinals would be making an interesting move by going defense-defense with their past two HC hires if they choose Joseph, but that scenario appears firmly in play. Joseph’s candidacy will partially be determined by how far the Broncos’ season extends. He will be free to interview in-person anywhere next week if the Bills eliminate the Broncos, but if Denver wins, he cannot conduct an in-person interview until the Super Bowl bye week.
Via PFR’s HC Search Tracker, here is how Arizona’s process stands as of Thursday afternoon:
- Thomas Brown, tight ends coach (Patriots): Interview requested
- Matt Burke, defensive coordinator (Texans): Interview requested
- Jeff Hafley, defensive coordinator (Packers): Interviewed 1/14
- John Harbaugh, former head coach (Ravens): Contacted
- Vance Joseph, defensive coordinator (Broncos): Interviewed 1/10
- Klint Kubiak, offensive coordinator (Seahawks): Interviewed 1/10
- Mike LaFleur, offensive coordinator (Rams): To interview
- Jesse Minter, defensive coordinator (Chargers): Interviewed 1/13
- Raheem Morris, former head coach (Falcons): To interview
- Matt Nagy, offensive coordinator (Chiefs): Interviewed 1/9
- Robert Saleh, defensive coordinator (49ers): To interview
- Chris Shula, defensive coordinator (Rams): Interview requested
- Arthur Smith, offensive coordinator (Steelers): Interview requested
- Anthony Weaver, defensive coordinator (Dolphins): Interviewed 1/9
And he will have the time of his LIFE!
Hope not. Sure would like Jim Leonard to come run the Boyz defense
With the Cardinals being a HC is not a career move for the best. This franchise is a HC killer as long as this franchise has been around, they average changing or firing HC’s every 3 to 4 years.
Make sure to leave out Bruce Arians
The second act in Denver has worked well, but it makes you wonder why Joseph would want to end back in a place that didn’t want him the first time around.
That minor bit of irresponsible speculation aside, the concern for me here as Joseph would be the lack of QB and lack of overall offensive direction. Yes, Arizona will likely select a quarterback highly, and they’re expected to build around him, but that was the issue with Joseph’s first run in Denver. Maybe Ossenfort can find him a QB and revamp the offense-again-but that will be his challenge if he takes the job in Arizona. It just seems like a better situation for an offensive coach to me, despite the recent memory of the Kingsbury regime.
The division is formidable, too. As a retread, Joseph won’t get as long as leash as a new shiny “phenom” would get, so results will have to come in quickly to give him security against what will probably be tough competition (all three of Arizona’s rivals are playing this Divisional weekend). Denver, alternatively, can keep paying him to coach the best defense in football and keep his stock high until a better job opens up.
At this point in the search with the somewhat underwhelming candidate list it almost appears like they should have simply retained Gannon. I fear that Bidwell will paying another coach to sit on the couch for a couple of years with such a move.