NFC Notes: Cardinals, Giants, Packers

January 14, 2018

According to Mike Reiss, Patriots LBs coach Brian Flores made a positive impression on the Cardinals from an organization and intelligence standpoint during his recent interview.
Reiss points out that Flores has ties to Cardinals director of football administration Mike Disner from their time together in New England.
Interestingly enough, Reiss says that Disner is so highly thought of in the Cardinals’ organization, his word carries meaning with owner Michael Bidwell and GM Steve Keim.
On Saturday, Adam Schefter reported that Flores is viewed as a strong candidate in Arizona.

A recent report said that Patriots DC Matt Patricia, Patriots OC Josh McDaniels and Vikings OC Pat Shurmur are considered the three candidates for the Giants’ head coach.
A separate report added that there’s a fourth candidate in play for the job. According to Mike Florio, if there is a fourth candidate in the mix for the Giants, it’s likely to be Eagles DC Jim Schwartz.
It’s worth mentioning that reports from Sunday have said that Patricia is likely to be next head coach of the Lions (NFLTR) and McDaniels is considered to be the favorite (NFLTR) for the Colts’ job, so the Giants’ list could be limited to Shurmur, Panthers DC Steve Wilks along with some others.

After speaking with a number of sources, Pete Dougherty of PackersNews.com writes that it’s possible Packers president Mark Murphy went into the GM search with the thinking that Russ Ball was going to be his choice.
However, things changed after HC Mike McCarthy said during his press conference that there needed to be a fit with the next GM. Dougherty says that McCarthy presumably expressed concerns that Ball would share Ted Thompson’s disdain for free agency and not give him the players he needs to compete for a Super Bowl.
According to Dougherty, Murphy may have changed course and decided to hire Brian Gutekunst as a comprise with McCarthy and QB Aaron Rodgers.
Dougherty also outlines another possibility in which Murphy was concerned about hiring Gutekunst as GM and then having him clean up the relationships discovered during the interview process, rebuild the roster and possibly decide on McCarthy’s fate during his first year.
This could explain why Murphy elected to restructure the Packers’ front office and separate roles between Gutekunst, Ball and McCarthy with all three reporting to him directly.