Arizona Cardinals Already Preparing for Week 1

The Arizona Cardinals move into the dog days of summer with the beginning of the season already on their mind.

May 8, 2026; Tempe, AZ, USA; Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis during rookie minicamp at Dignity Health Arizona Cardinals Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

ARIZONA — We're just a shade under 100 days until the Arizona Cardinals battle the Los Angeles Chargers for Week 1 regular season action, and the team has already begun prep on their season opener.

Even if they didn't want to admit it at first.

"Yeah," Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis conceded with a smile when asked if they were already prepping for the Chargers.

"I don't always just go like 1,2,3,4. I'm kind of working in the middle, then I'm going back — I like to work in trees a little bit. So right now we got the whole [Kyle] Shanahan tree to start the first three weeks of the season, so it's a combination happening right now. Every time I come back, and when I pick up that tree after not looking at it for a while man, it takes me a full day to find a little bit of comfort in just, 'Okay, what is it they're doing again? Okay, and then I figured out I can go to work.' But I love breaking them down. It's really good. It's good stuff."

The Cardinals' first three opponents will feature play-callers who learned and developed from the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree, as the Chargers (Mike McDaniel), Seahawks (Brian Fleury) and 49ers (Shanahan himself) are first on deck for Arizona.

Cardinals head coach and play-caller Mike LaFleur himself derives from the Shanahan tree after spending previous time under the offensive mind in stops such as Atlanta and San Francisco. LaFleur also spent time under Sean McVay in Los Angeles, which gives hope the Cardinals have one of the league's best up-and-coming minds.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm taking too much of his time, and I don't think he understands just no matter what from the other side of the ball, he can talk it so much faster still," Rallis said of LaFleur.

"I'll have to slow him down at times, but it's a huge resource with just like him being in two different trees that are very kind of spread out throughout the NFL, I can't tell you how beneficial that is for me."

Getting off to a hot start will be imperative but massively difficult for a Cardinals squad that's projected to be one of the league's worst teams.

Rallis is doing what many other coaches and teams across the league, so perhaps labeling this as a head start would be misguided — though there's no such thing as too much preparation in the NFL.