Cardinals To Hire Mike McCoy As OC
Mike McCoy will be running another Western-division team’s offense in 2018. The Cardinals are set to hire him as their next OC, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
The sides are working out a deal, per Rapoport. This will mark the third offense McCoy has overseen in the past three seasons. He ran the Chargers’ attack from 2013-16 as head coach and began last season as Broncos OC. McCoy’s second stay in Denver did not go as well, with the team firing him midway through the season.
Steve Wilks now has both of his coordinators on board days after taking the team’s HC reins. The top three coaches on the Cardinals’ staff have deep Panthers ties, although Wilks and McCoy’s Carolina tenures did not intersect. McCoy spent the first nine seasons of his NFL coaching career with the Panthers, from 2000-08, but Wilks didn’t arrive on staff until 2012. They’ll work together now, though, in beginning the post-Carson Palmer era.
The Broncos fired McCoy during their eight-game losing streak last season, but the 45-year-old coach experienced success in prior coaching positions.
His offense brought an uptick in Philip Rivers‘ career trajectory and helped Peyton Manning establish himself in Denver the year prior. McCoy’s most innovative coaching work may have come a year earlier, though, when he scrapped Denver’s offense midway through the season in order to install a Tim Tebow-friendly setup — one that ended up helping the team to an unlikely run to the divisional playoffs.
McCoy beat out Darrell Bevell for the Cards’ post, one that may or may not involve Larry Fitzgerald. The future Hall of Fame wideout has not committed to play a 15th season yet. The Cardinals do stand to return All-Pro David Johnson, and he’ll be vital to a team that does not have a surefire answer at quarterback post-Palmer.
Cardinals Notes: Bettcher, Merritt, Arians
New Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks offered James Bettcher the opportunity to stay on as the team’s defensive coordinator, but Bettcher ultimately decided to move on, according to Mike Jurecki of ArizonaSports.com (Twitter link). Bettcher, who interviewed for the Arizona head coaching job, accepted the Giants’ DC job late last night, so he’ll now go to work under new New York head coach Pat Shurmur. The Cardinals, meanwhile, lured former Panthers linebackers coach Al Holcomb to the desert in order to become the club’s next defensive coordinator, although it doesn’t sound as though Arizona will change much of Bettcher’s scheme.
- Wilks has made another addition to the Cardinals‘ coaching staff, as former Giants safeties coach Dave Merritt — New York’s longest-tenured coach — will become Arizona’s secondary coach, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Merritt, 46, had been with the Giants since 2004, and enjoyed a short stint with the crosstown Jets prior to joining the G-Men. He’ll now serve under Holcomb, and will have the opportunity to coach one of the league’s best corners in Patrick Peterson. Finding another defensive back to play opposite Peterson will represent Merritt’s most significant challenge in 2018.
- Former Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians released a statement praising the hire of Wilks, but did allow that he preferred other candidates for the position, reports Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com. “We built a strong Cardinals legacy over the last 5 years,” said Arians. “I wish Steve Wilks the best of luck. I’m disappointed that [James Bettcher or Falcons special teams coach Keith Armstrong] didn’t get the Cardinals position. They are both ready. I truly believe they will be an asset to any football organization. Trust. Loyalty. Respect.” Armstrong, who like Bettcher was an official Arians recommendation, interviewed with Arizona twice before the club chose Wilks.
Cardinals Hire Al Holcomb As DC
The Cardinals have officially hired former Panthers linebackers coach Al Holcomb as their new defensive coordinator, according to Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (Twitter link). The addition was widely expected after Arizona hired former Panthers DC Steve Wilks as their head coach earlier this week.
Holcomb spent the past five seasons coaching under Wilks in Carolina, and led one of the best linebacking units in the league during that time. Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis, and Shaq Thompson are among the NFL’s premier linebackers, and Holcomb also coached ex-Panthers backup A.J. Klein, who landed a significant deal with the Saints last offseason.
In Arizona, Holcomb will take over a defense that ranked fourth in DVOA under former coordinator James Bettcher (notably, three spots higher than the Panthers). The Cardinals ranked fourth against the pass, but were even better against the run, as they ranked first overall in run defense DVOA. Stars such as Patrick Peterson, Chandler Jones, and Tyrann Mathieu will now work under Holcomb’s leadership.
The Cardinals are still searching for an offensive coordinator, and the search is expected to come down to former Vikings OC Darrell Bevell or former Broncos OC Mike McCoy.
Saints Get Pick From Adrian Peterson Trade
When the Saints shipped Adrian Peterson to the Cardinals in March, they received a conditional sixth-round draft pick in return for the future Hall of Fame running back. On Wednesday, Saints GM Mickey Loomis confirmed that those conditions have been met and the pick will in fact be conveyed to New Orleans (Twitter link via Joel Erickson of The Advocate).
[RELATED: Peterson Plans To Play In 2018]
Peterson averaged just 3.5 yards per carry for the Cardinals as he filled in for David Johnson, but he did show flashes of his old self on a couple of occasions. In his first game with Arizona, Peterson ran for 134 yards and two touchdowns off of 26 attempts. A couple of weeks later, he racked up 159 rushing yards against the Niners. It’s not clear what the conditions of the trade were, but he did enough to satisfy them and give the Saints a return on the deal.
Meanwhile, Peterson’s future in Arizona is in flux. The veteran remains under contract for one more season, but the Cardinals could save $3.5MM against the cap by releasing him. With Johnson returning, the Cardinals could apply that money elsewhere and turn to a younger, cheaper back as insurance. For his part, Peterson says he intends to play in 2018.
Cardinals Interview Mike McCoy
The Cardinals interviewed Mike McCoy for their vacant offensive coordinator job, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). McCoy is now the second known candidate to interview for the position, following former Seahawks OC Darrell Bevell. 
After losing his job as the Chargers’ head coach, McCoy returned to his old gig as the Broncos’ offensive coordinator. Unfortunately, that reunion did not go as planned. After a 3-7 start and little output from the running game, the Broncos axed McCoy.
This offseason, McCoy has put himself in conversation for the Vikings and Cardinals OC vacancies. The Bills also briefly considered him before settling on Brian Daboll.
New Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks has already tapped former Panthers linebackers coach Al Holcomb as his DC. He’ll officially interview on Wednesday and an announcement should follow soon after.
Latest On Cardinals’ Coaching Staff
Now that the Cardinals have officially hired former Panthers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks as their new head coach, the club has begun to formulate its coaching staff. First, Arizona has allowed the majority of its assistants out of their contracts in order to seek employment elsewhere, tweets Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.
[RELATED: 2018 NFL Coordinator Tracker]
Wilks has already reportedly lured former Panthers linebackers coach Al Holcomb to the desert as Arizona’s next defensive coordinator (he’ll officially interview on Wednesday, reports Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer), but Wilks isn’t done poaching talent from his former employer. Panthers offensive line coach Ray Brown is expected to to accept the same job with the Cardinals, tweets Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com. New Carolina offensive coordinator Norv Turner confirmed Brown’s new role earlier today, per Jourdan Rodrigue of the Charlotte Observer (Twitter link).
Elsewhere on their staff, the Cardinals plan to hire former Chargers defensive line coach Don Johnson for the same position, per Alex Marvez of the Sporting News, who notes Johnson worked with Wilks in San Diego. Meanwhile, the Cardinals have denied the division-rival Seahawks permission to interview assistant wide receivers coach Kevin Garver, according to Mike Jurecki of ArizonaSports.com (Twitter link).
Cardinals Notes: Fitzgerald, Wilks, Bidwill
On Tuesday morning, the Cardinals introduced new head coach Steve Wilks to the public. Here’s a look at the highlights from the presser, with all links going to Twitter unless noted otherwise:
- Wilks said he had an “in-depth conversation” with wide reciever Larry Fitzgerald, but Fitzgerald didn’t say whether or not he’s playing in 2018 (via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com). However, Wilks said he’d “love” to have Fitzgerald back. Recently, Fitzgerald indicated that the team’s choice of a replacement for Bruce Arians would factor heavily in his decision. It’s not immediately clear how Fitzgerald feels about the hiring of Wilks, a defensive-minded coach.
- Team president Michael Bidwill said he knew on Saturday that Wilks was his guy, so therefore he did not feel the need to interview any candidates who were coaching in the Super Bowl (via Kent Somers of The Arizona Republic). John DeFilippo, Jim Schwartz, and Brian Flores were all in the running for the job, but Arizona did not want to risk losing Wilks by waiting. Matt Patricia was also up for the position, but he agreed to join the Lions earlier this month.
- When asked about the defensive scheme he’ll employ, Wilks said, “I’ve coached both 3-4 and 4-3. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” (via Darren Urban of the team website). The Cardinals were a 3-4 team last year while the Panthers employed a 4-3 scheme. It sounds like Wilks intends on keeping Arizona in the 3-4 set.
- Wilks wants to have coordinators in place by the Super Bowl (link via Somers). The Cardinals are considering former Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell for the OC job and may look at Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo and former Chargers head coach Mike McCoy. On the other side of the ball, Panthers linebackers coach Al Holcomb is the expected hire.
More On The Latest Coaching Hires
The Giants officially hired former Vikings offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur to be the team’s next head coach earlier today, and Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com offered his breakdown of why Shurmur was selected out of the field of six candidates.
Raanan notes that while the Giants did consider coaches with without head coaching experience, general manager Dave Gettleman made it a point that he wanted someone who has held the position before and could bring coordinator experience to the team, which is two criteria Shurmur clearly checks off. He also notes that Gettleman mentioned in his own statement about the hire that the job seemed like it was “not too big” for Shumur, which speaks to Gettleman’s want to bring in somebody that has been lead positions in football for a long while.
Raanan also passes along a ringing endorsement from Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph, who’s Shurmur coached for the past two seasons.
“He’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever played for,” said Rudolph. “He’s a guy I had the pleasure of working with in the tight end room before he took over as offensive coordinator halfway through the year, and then working with him day in and day out this year, the way he’s led the offense and took us — even though we faced the adversity [of] losing another starting quarterback, another starting running back — he carried us all the way to a top-10 offense.
It’s not a surprise that Shurmur got the job considering the reports that have been coming out over the past week and with the original criteria that the Giants front office was looking for, it appears that they have hired the type of guy they wanted for the job when they began their search for their next head coach.
Here’s a few more notes from today’s coaching news:
- Mike Vrabel is well known for his days as a Patriots linebacker, but he now enters the biggest challenge of his post-playing days as the new head coach of the Titans. In today’s introductory press conference, Vrabel touched on many things he intends to do now that he is the leader of a team and coaching staff, reports Terry McCormick of Titans Insider. The first-time head coach stated that he doesn’t “want to put a timetable on it because I want the right guys”. This comes in accordance with the reported front runner for the team’s offensive coordinator position, Ryan Day, will not be hired. Speaking of offense, Vrabel noted that even with the team wanting to properly develop Marcus Mariota, he intends to have a strong ground game to compliment him, but not to the team’s detriment. “I think that we’re going to run the football,” said the head coach. “We’re going to run it from the quarterback being under center, we’re going to run it from the quarterback being in gun,” Vrabel said. “We’re going to give Marcus (Mariota) some easy access throws, whether that be RPOs or run reliefs. We’re not going to run it into eight or nine guys, we’re not going to be silly. I believe in screens, I believe in play action, things that he does well.” Overall, Vrabel wants to establish a “Titans Way” brand of football that the team can point to year in and year out. “I think to get a ‘Way,’ you have to win. You have to be able to win championships before people start giving you ‘Ways’ to do things. That will be our ultimate goal, but I talked about how our players are going to be prepared,” Vrabel said. “They’re going to play fast and aggressive, and that’s what I believe in. Until we can win a championship doing that, then there’s not going to be this ‘Titans Way.’ That will be talked about in the building, but people from outside the building, they won’t believe in us, they won’t have faith in us until you win.”
- The Cardinals head coaching search ended in the hiring of former Panthers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks being named to the position this afternoon. Wilks has a difficult job in succeeding Bruce Arians, but Kent Somers of AZCentral believes that he will bring a “stead, firm hand” to the Cardinals organization. Somers notes that former players have lauded him for him for his ability to tell it straight and stay mentally tough in difficult situations. Veteran safety Eric Weddle, told Somers that, “The way we worked, the accountability. He stood tall among the big personalities. He didn’t bow down.” The search lasted Arizona’s front office three weeks, the longest of any team in the NFL. While Wilks doesn’t bring a high level of coordinator or head coach experience, he has made a mark on many of the players that he’s coached along the way, including retired cornerback Antoine Cason. “I think he is a hell of a coach,” Cason said. “He was the type of guy you just knew was going to be a head coach.”
Coaching Notes: Cardinals, Lions, Packers
New Cardinals hire Steve Wilks will be bringing in some of new faces to the coaching staff. One of the biggest changes will be at defensive coordinator as he appears to be poised to bring his former Panthers colleague Al Holcomb to lead the defense. This means that former defensive coordinator James Bettcher will be on the way out, according to Mike Jurecki of ArizonaSports.com (Twitter link).
Jurecki does make sure to note that Bettcher will “land on his feet” with another organization that he’s actively looking for other opportunities around the league. These next few weeks will be a quick change for Bettcher, who was in the final group to be considered for the Cardinals vacant head coaching job.
Here’s more coaching stories to follow:
- While Wilks will be making multiple changes to the Cardinals coaching staff, that doesn’t mean that there’s going to be a complete overhaul. The new first-time head coach is likely to keep some members from Bruce Arians‘ staff on board for next season, per Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com (Twitter link). While many new coaches like to make their imprint on the organization through bringing in new coaches onto the team, there’s also something to be said for trying to keep some of the same voices that players have been hearing from throughout the past few years.
- The Lions will be letting go of their quarterbacks coach Brian Callahan, sources tell Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated (Twitter link). As I noted before, it’s not unusual for new head coaches to turnover their staff, but Breer adds that this move is a little surprising because Callahan is well-regarded around the league and will have a number of teams looking to bring him in for 2018. It’s been rumored that he could be a potential candidate for the Titans vacant offensive coordinator gig.
- Meanwhile, the Seahawks have made a decision on who their next quarterbacks coach will be. The team has officially promoted Dave Canales from wide receivers coach to working with Seattle’s signal callers next year, a source tells Alex Marvez of the Sporting News (Twitter link). Canales has been on Pete Carroll‘s staff since 2010 and was previously promoted to the WR coach position back in 2015. Although, this move doesn’t necessarily signal that the Seahawks will move on from former QB coach Carl Smith. Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times hears that Smith could be shifted to a different role (Twitter link).
- The Packers have added a new coach from the college ranks. Mike McCarthy has hired Ryan Downward from Bowling Green to help work on the team’s defensive staff. Downward worked as Bowling Green’s safeties coach for the past two seasons and previously worked for new Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine back when he coached in Cleveland.
Cardinals Expected To Hire Panthers’ Al Holcomb
New Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks is quickly working to get his coaching staff in place, and he’s apparently looking at one of his former staffers with the Panthers to help lead his defense. Panthers linebacker coach Al Holcomb seems primed to follow Wilks to Arizona to become the team’s next defensive coordinator, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
The team will move on from former Cardinals defensive coordinator James Bettcher after he was passed over for the head coaching job. This opens up an opportunity for Wilks to bring in someone that he’s familiar with to help translate the success he had in Carolina to the desert.
Holcomb has spent five seasons primarily coaching the Panthers linebackers. He’s worked with Wilks every year since he was hired by the Panthers back in 2013. Under Holcomb’s guidance, the Panthers have formed one of the best inside linebacker combos in the league with Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis. It’s unsurprising that Wilks would bring over a familiar face, especially on the defensive side of the ball, with the Panthers finishing as the seventh best total defense in the league last season.