Cardinals To Wait Until Next Week To Hire Head Coach

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Arizona Cardinals do not plan to hire a head coach until after Super Bowl LVII next week.

Things have been slow-moving for both the Cardinals and Colts regarding their head-coaching searches. The expectation is that the Colts will also wait another few days before announcing a hire. 

Last we heard regarding the Cardinals’ search,

Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reported that the Cardinals informed several head coaching candidates that they are out of the running for the team’s head coaching job and the three known finalists for the position are Steelers assistant coach Brian Flores, Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka and Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo.

Flores has since accepted the Vikings’ defensive coordinator job, which leaves Kafka and Anarumo as the last two standing, barring some last-minute change.

Anarumo, 56, began his coaching career at Wagner back in 1989 as their RB coach. He worked for a few universities before taking his first NFL coaching job with the Dolphins in 2012 as their DB coach. 

The Giants hired Anarumo as their DB coach in 2018 but he left the following season to take the defensive coordinator job with the Bengals. 

In 2022, the Bengals ranked No. 16 in total defense, including No. 7 against the run and No. 23 against the pass, and No. 6 in points allowed per game.

Kafka, 35, is a former fourth-round pick of the Eagles back in 2010. He played for a number of teams including the Patriots, Jaguars, Buccaneers, Vikings, Titans, and most recently for the Bengals back in 2015.

Kafka worked for Northwestern as an offensive graduate assistant in 2016 before agreeing to take over as the Chiefs’ offensive quality control coach in 2017. Kansas City promoted him to QB coach in 2018 before promoting him to QB coach/passing game coordinator in 2020. 

He later landed the job as the Giants offensive coordinator back in February of 2022 and helped the team to the playoffs as they ranked 15th in points per game and 18th in yards per game.

We will have more on the Cardinals’ head coaching search as the information becomes available.