Report: Cardinals set to hire new coordinators
New Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon, who spent the past two seasons as defensive coordinator for the Eagles, said he wasn’t certain yet if he would call defensive plays for the team after being formally introduced on Thursday.
On Saturday, however, he hired his new defensive coordinator and according to NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero, it’s Eagles’ linebackers coach Nick Rallis. Just 29, Rallis becomes the youngest coordinator in the NFL.
Sunday morning, NFL Media reported that the Cardinals are hiring 35-yearold Cleveland Browns quarterbacks coach Drew Petzing as offensive coordinator, giving the Cardinals a very young set of coordinators. Petzing previously worked with Gannon in Minnesota.
In 2017, Petzing was assistant wide receivers coach for the Vikings while Gannon was the team's assistant defensive backs coach. Petzing has had a college or NFL coaching position every year since 2007, when he was still in college.
Rallis, a native of Minnesota, began his NFL coaching career with the Vikings as a defensive quality control coach from 2018-2019 before taking on additional responsibilities as an assistant linebackers coach in 2020. He’s been the Eagles’ linebackers coach for each of the past two seasons.
According to Pelissero, multiple teams attempted to hire Rallis on Saturday before the Cardinals made their offer to him and he reportedly accepted. The Cardinals also interviewed Patriots’ defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington and Bears linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi.
Petzing was previously linked to Gannon before the Cardinals made Gannon's hiring official, though the team reportedly asked permission to speak with three other NFL assistant coaches about the offensive coordinator job.
They were Commanders wide receivers coach Drew Terrell, Saints running backs coach Joel Thomas for offensive coordinator and Bengals wide receivers coach Troy Walters.
As Gannon apparently found his top two lieutenants, more assistants under the previous regime of Kliff Kingsbury keep departing.
The latest is associate head coach and wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson, who according to Josina Anderson of CBS Sports, was informed by the Cardinals
on Friday that the team is going in a different direction.
On Saturday, Jefferson agreed to become the wide receivers coach for the Panthers, according to multiple reports. Jefferson, who joined the Cardinals in 2021, interviewed with the Patriots about their offensive coordinator position in January before coach Bill Belichick decided to bring back Bill O’Brien for that role.
Devin Fitzsimmons, the Cardinals’ assistant special teams coach, has left to take a similar role with the Panthers and new head coach Frank Reich.
Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, meanwhile, was given his release by the Cardinals to seek employment elsewhere, according to Anderson. Joseph interviewed with the Broncos for their defensive coordinator position on Friday and is set to interview with the Eagles for their vacant defensive coordinator job following Gannon’s departure to replace Kliff Kingsbury as the Cardinals’ new head coach.
In other news, the Cardinals have signed tight end Noah Togiai, per the NFL’s transaction report. Togiai spent most of this past season on the Eagles’ practice squad.
He was active for two games early in the season but did not catch a pass as he appeared exclusively on special teams.
Togiai played at Oregon State, where he finished his career with 102 receptions for 1,048 yards and 10 touchdowns.