Excitement, joy, relief, disappointment, or perhaps a concoction of all four. Whatever emotions may be flowing through the Valley, one thing is certain: the Arizona Cardinals — finally — have a head coach.
According to numerous reports, the Cardinals have agreed to a five-year deal with Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, who supported Sean McVay in engineering the NFL’s No. 1 scoring offense in 2025. The news broke almost immediately following the hiring of Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak by the Las Vegas Raiders, who Arizona also pursued heavily.
The Cardinals are now the final team in this coaching cycle to make a hire — 27 days following the dismissal of Jonathan Gannon. LaFleur will become the 44th head coach in the franchise’s long history, and the 11th since the team moved to Arizona.
“We had the opportunity to speak with an outstanding group of candidates during this very thorough process and gathered tremendous insight from each of them,” Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill said. “At the end of that process, it was clear that Mike LaFleur possesses all the traits necessary to lead this team to success as its head coach. He is highly intelligent with an exceptionally sharp, creative football mind. Mike is also a dynamic and innovative leader and exactly the type of person we were looking for to guide our team as its head coach.”
Arizona Cardinals Hire Mike LaFleur
LaFleur is the brother of Matt LaFleur, a perennial playoff head coach in Green Bay. He’s also spent nearly the entirety of his career alongside some of the NFL’s most elite offensive minds in McVay and Kyle Shanahan. An unsuccessful face-value stint calling plays for the New York Jets hardly tells his entire story.
Not only is LaFleur familiar with the high-intensity NFC West, the 38-year-old offensive mind is already a veteran of 12 NFL seasons, and began his career under Shanahan, with stops in Cleveland, Atlanta and San Francisco along the way.
“In his career, Mike has been around some of the best and brightest coaches in football and has been a key contributor to highly successful teams,” Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort said.
“He understands what winning football looks like and what it takes to achieve it. Mike is a strong communicator with a detail-oriented teaching style that has always gotten the best from his players and we are incredibly excited for him to bring that to the Cardinals.”
Following his 2019-2020 season with the 49ers, LaFleur joined fellow Cardinals coaching target Robert Saleh’s staff in New York, calling offensive plays for the first time. An argument could be made as to the ineffectiveness of that tenure in terms of overall wins and losses, but those records do not tell the whole story.
Prior to LaFleur’s arrival in New York, the Jets’ offense was rudderless — though ironically with a now-NFC Championship-winning QB in Sam Darnold under center. That passing attack did not improve once turned over to Zach Wilson, but LaFleur was still able to engineer some positive improvements. New York’s offensive PFF grades spiked immediately, including a pass-blocking jump from 53.4 to 64.4. Their rushing grade improved from 75.2 to 82.1, and their run-blocking grade saw a near-10-point increase to 74.1. While the Jets did not field the highest volume of impact talent, the fundamental cornerstones improved notably under LaFleur.
And when LaFleur departed New York between the 2022 and 2023 seasons, the Jets’ offense began to spiral once again. Their total offensive EPA/play dropped from -0.09 to -0.26, while the passing attack took the largest dive from -0.11 to -0.30 — despite trotting out a similar group of skill players and the same QB.
In terms of scheme, LaFleur will bring a fresh look to Arizona’s offense. Offensive playmakers will be emphasized. LaFleur is no stranger to the 12 and 13 personnel looks, but that will no longer be the primary set for the Cardinals’ offense. A more even balance between run and pass and an ability to spread the field without relying on an air-raid-like system could be a welcome sight to Cardinals fans who have endured the heavy-set, run-first scheme of the previous staff.
Questions remain about the Cardinals’ quarterback situation, with Kyler Murray seemingly poised to head out of Phoenix this offseason. Beyond that, there is talent for LaFleur to work with: an All-Pro tight end in Trey McBride, a 1,000-yard wideout in Michael Wilson, and the former No. 4 overall pick in Marvin Harrison Jr.
Meanwhile, the ensuing makeup of Arizona’s coaching staff is still undefined for now. Defensive coordinator Nick Rallis is the only prominent coach from Gannon’s staff still under contract. Just who LaFleur might bring in to round out his staff remains unknown, but he has no shortage of connections after working alongside the NFC West’s elite for so many seasons.
“I couldn’t be more fired up to become the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals and am beyond grateful to Michael (Bidwill) and Monti (Ossenfort) for this opportunity,” LaFleur said. “Having competed against them in the NFC so many times in recent years, I know the type of talent and toughness the team has and cannot wait to get to Arizona to hit the ground running.”
A new era of Cardinals football has arrived.
