Opinion: Cardinals' Best Potential Head Coach Hasn't Been Requested Yet
The Arizona Cardinals have quite the decision on their hands.
We're now a few weeks removed from the dismissal of Kliff Kingsbury after the team's 4-13 finish to the regular season. So much progress had built up prior to 2022 before being unraveled in epic fashion, and change was needed.
So change happened - but we've yet to see the final outcome of who will be Arizona's next leader.
To this point, a wide array of names and faces have been assembled by the Cardinals to replace Kingsbury. To no surprise, opinions vary candidate to candidate.
Some would love Sean Payton while others covet a defensive mind such as DeMeco Ryans. Eight names litter the list of either requested or actual interviewed coaches, and each bring pros and cons to the table.
However, Arizona's best fit for their vacancy hasn't been requested just yet.
Philadelphia Eagles OC Shane Steichen finds himself as a hot name in this coaching cycle - and for good reason. His work with orchestrating one of the top offensive units in the league with the development of quarterback Jalen Hurts has been remarkable.
The proof is in the pudding: Philadelphia advanced with ease to the NFC Championship Game after acquiring the conference's first-round bye.
The Eagles offense averaged 389.1 yards per game in the regular season, third-best in the NFL. Their points per game (28.1) also was No. 3 in the league.
Their offensive DVOA sat only behind the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills.
Steichen has interviews with most clubs with openings at head coach, yet the Cardinals have yet to request his presence, at least in the eye of the public. Arizona has done a fairly good job of keeping things under wraps this offseason but most news of requests/interviews have come prior aside from news of Frank Reich interviewing after the fact.
An overwhelming majority of coaching candidates the Cardinals have targeted fit one mold: Defensive-minded with strong values that can shift a culture. Given that's exactly the opposite of Kingsbury, I can't fault owner Michael Bidwill for leaning that way.
There's buzz that this is considered to be a two-way race between Brian Flores and Vance Joseph, but let's take a quick glance at the four remaining teams in the playoffs:
San Francisco 49ers: Offensive head coach
Philadelphia Eagles: Offensive head coach
Cincinnati Bengals: Offensive head coach
Kansas City Chiefs: Offensive head coach
Three-of-four teams have franchise quarterbacks with Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts in the picture. It's still very early in the Brock Purdy story to label him as anything, but the 49ers have done a superb job with him.
Let's not forget Sean McVay/Matthew Stafford are still the defending Super Bowl champs until a new champion is crowned in State Farm Stadium in less than a month.
ACL rehab aside - the Cardinals have their own franchise quarterback in Kyler Murray. There was hope that Kingsbury could form a dynamic duo and lead the NFC West moving forward, that was a mere flash in the pan in 2021.
Priorities for a head coach are across the board, yet maximizing Murray should be high up on the list if not No. 1 already. When you look at what Steichen has done with a less-gifted athlete in Hurts, the prospect of uniting him with Murray is exciting.
There's some worry about bringing on another "offensive guru" like Kingsbury, and that's understandable. For what it's worth, Steichen has established success at the professional level whereas Kingsbury never really did so anywhere (he's in Thailand with just under $30 million coming his way, my words mean nothing to him).
I'm not paid to make those giant decisions. Those in the front office conducting the search forget far more football than I can ever hope to learn. I'm just a regular person who loves football and has the privilege of covering an NFL team for a living.
Yet it's still a bit odd - in my opinion - the Cardinals haven't requested Steichen given the current success of guys similar to him and what he could possibly do for Arizona.
That might come in the future now that he's deep in a playoff run. It might not come at all. Who knows?
What we do know: The Cardinals have a massive decision on their hands that can change the trajectory of their franchise moving forward.
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