PHNX Daily: Cardinals Entering Dangerous Coaching Territory

👋 GOOD MORNING – It’s been a pretty solid weekend of NFL playoff games. Maybe one day the Arizona Cardinals will get to be a part of them.

They certainly won’t be getting back to the postseason anytime soon without the right coach, that’s for sure. And with the way Arizona’s search has been developing (slowly), it definitely feels as if the Cardinals are about to make a decision fans won’t love.

There’s been some movement in this hiring cycle, but outside of a small burst of hope on the Robert Saleh front, it’s not looking great for Arizona.

Let’s break down this weekend’s development!

— Alex D’Agostino, PHNX Sports Daily Editor

Cardinals Heading Toward Crunch Time

So, late last week — after a quiet and uninspiring start to Arizona’s coaching search — it came out that the Cardinals had managed a last-minute, late-night interview with 49ers DC Robert Saleh for their head coaching job. That interview was completed (virtually) Thursday night.

For a team so starved for good news, that felt world-changing. Saturday night, Saleh’s defense was exposed in a major way by Sam Darnold and co., which theoretically might have helped Arizona’s chances to land the San Francisco DC.

But then yesterday, reports surfaced that Saleh’s virtual interview with the Titans was not only changed to in-person, but also moved up to Monday (today).

Not to be too dramatic, but it’s those types of interviews that tend to end in an offer. Kevin Stefanski’s in-person meeting with Arthur Blank just led to him becoming the Atlanta Falcons’ new head coach, after all.

The Cardinals may be running out of time with Saleh, who does seem like the best realistic option at this point. They cannot afford to let this opportunity pass them by.

For more on that, check out our guy Johnny Venerable’s article here:

It’s Robert Saleh or bust for the Arizona Cardinals

Anyway, back to the actual coaching search. The Cardinals have interviewed 10 of their candidates so far (that we know of). One surprise interview was Rams DC Chris Shula, who chose interviews with other teams over the Cardinals initially, but did end up meeting with Arizona.

They also requested a second interview with Packers DC Jeff Hafley, but he’s emerged as the heavy favorite in Miami. It’s worth noting the Dolphins did recently hire Jon-Eric Sullivan to be their new GM, who was the Packers’ VP of Player Personnel previously — so that connection feels pretty strong.

With both Harbaugh and Stefanski out (neither of whom were connected to Arizona in any way), there are now just seven openings. Of the 10 candidates the Cardinals have interviewed, there seem to be four who are in higher demand — Saleh, Klint Kubiak, Chris Shula and Mike LaFleur. The latter two will have another game to prepare for, however, after taking down Caleb Willams and the Bears in an overtime thriller last night.

My Ideal Scenario: Saleh. Throw the bank at him if you have to. Offer him playcalling duties and personnel control. His Jets record doesn’t bother me; he’s the best option available.

My Acceptable Scenarios: Either Rams coordinator (preferably LaFleur, though), Kubiak or Raheem Morris. Unproven? Maybe, but with elite connections and high levels of success in their specializations.

Unacceptable Scenarios: Vance Joseph, Matt Nagy, Arthur Smith, or a completely unknown lower-level coordinator. No disrespect to these men, who are obviously smarter football minds than I’ll ever be, but, please, no.

By the way, if you’d like to get daily updates on every twist and turn in the Cardinals’ coaching search, check out PHNX Cardinals’ coaching tracker, updated daily by yours truly:

Arizona Cardinals 2026 Coaching Search Tracker

Quick Hits

Downed in Detroit: The Suns snapped a massive, horrible, unthinkable (two-game) losing streak on Saturday night, taking down the New York Knicks again for a quality 106-99 win. Devin Booker’s ankle appears to be fine, since he led the scoring with 27 points and played a team-high 38 minutes. Phoenix improves to 25-17.

But that’s not really what Suns fans are thinking about. Jalen Green, who’s been out for almost the entirety of the season with a hamstring injury, is officially questionable for tonight’s game. The Suns are set to take on the Brooklyn Nets tonight at 5:30, which could be a solid soft landing for Green. There’s no guarantee he’ll play, but a return is looking more and more imminent.

Good Knight: The No. 1-ranked Arizona men’s squad is still undefeated. On Saturday, they took an underrated UCF team down on the road by a score of 84-77, improving to an impressive 18-0 behind 23 points from senior Jaden “Mariano Rivera” Bradley.

The Wildcat women put up quite an impressive fight against No. 10-ranked TCU, but ultimately fell 78-62 as the Frogs pulled away late. Becky Burke’s team has hit a rough patch, losing five of their last six and sitting at 10-7 on the season.

Hurl-ing: The Sun Devils ran into a buzzsaw yesterday afternoon, losing 103-73 to No. 7-ranked Houston. The Cougars are a very tough squad, but ASU has struggled of late, losing six of their past seven games. They’ve certainly played some tough opponents, but this has been a rough stretch for Bobby Hurley’s guys.

The ASU women have also hit a “rough patch,” which, for them, means going 2-2 over their last four games and losing to No. 10 TCU in the process. With a 67-51 win over Kansas on Saturday, Molly Miller’s team improves to 17-2.