Report: Cardinals fill coordinator positions
New Arizona Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon moved quickly to fill his offensive and defensive coordinator positions.
Philadelphia Eagles linebackers coach Nick Rallis will be the Cardinals’ defensive coordinator and Cleveland Browns quarterbacks coach Drew Petzing will be the team’s offensive coordinator, ESPN reported.
Rallis, 29, worked with Gannon in Philadelphia for the past two seasons. Gannon was named the Cardinals’ coach Tuesday.
Before joining the Eagles, Rallis spent three seasons with the Minnesota Vikings. He was a defensive quality control coach in 2018 and 2019, and then added the role of assistant linebackers coach in 2020.
Rallis will be inheriting a defense that gave up the second-most points per game in the NFL last season, was ranked 28th in third-down defense, 29th in red zone defense and 31st in goal-to-go defense. Arizona ranked 21st in total yards allowed per game and 22nd in yards per play.
Petzing, 35, just completed his first season as the Browns’ quarterbacks coach. He was the team’s tight ends coach the previous two seasons.
Before that, he was with the Vikings for six seasons, culminating with the 2019 season, when he was the team’s wide receivers coach. He and Gannon were on the Vikings staff together from the 2014-17 seasons.
Petzing will be tasked with working with quarterback Kyler Murray whenever he is ready to return from a torn ACL he suffered late last season. Gannon said at his introductory news conference that one of his first tasks would be to find offensive coaches who he feels are the right fit to work with Murray.
The Cardinals finished 22nd in total offense last season and 21st in points per game.
• Former NFL head coach and current NFL analyst Rex Ryan interviewed Saturday in Denver for the Broncos’ defensive coordinator job on Sean Payton’s staff, ESPN reported.
Ryan and former Broncos head coach Vance Joseph are among a handful of candidates for the job. Joseph, who had been the Arizona Cardinals’ defensive coordinator since 2019, also is expected to interview for the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator position, according to multiple reports.
Ryan, 60, has told ESPN he would leave the network only “for the perfect situation,” ESPN reported.
Ryan joined ESPN in April 2017 after a nearly 30-year coaching career that included eight seasons as an NFL head coach with the New York Jets (200914) and Buffalo Bills (201516). He led the Jets to backto-back AFC Championship Game appearances in the 2009 and ’10 seasons.