Mike LaFleur’s Blunt Message on Why Cardinals Hired Nathaniel Hackett

TEMPE — The Arizona Cardinals saw head coach Mike LaFleur and all three of his coordinators speak to reporters on Wednesday morning.

Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, perhaps the most discussed hire thanks to previous failures as both a play-caller, coordinator and head coach, was the only option in LaFleur's mind as he constructed his staff ahead of 2026.

That's not speculation — and LaFleur wanted us to know that.

"I think there's so many factors in success. It's like, define success? I get what you're going to say, wins and losses. Well I can say sometimes it's a little bit more than that with the variables that are in place in the NFL," LaFleur said of Hackett's prior stops.

"So, he's been very successful. He's very [highly] thought of particularly within our profession. If you guys believe one thing from this press conference, it is literally: I wanted him and nobody else, and he's here."

Hackett was the fifth coach in modern NFL history to have been fired before the conclusion of his first season while, outside of his stint with the Green Bay Packers, he's largely underwhelmed as a coordinator.

LaFleur will be the offensive play-caller in Arizona — so what do Hackett's duties look like?

"It's setting the table, setting the menu, having just great energy around the building, having great communication when I'm doing stuff with the defense, when I'm doing stuff with Monti [Ossenfort], when I'm doing stuff just around the building," LaFleur said of his new coordinator.

"... I've never worked with Hack. I've obviously known Hack for a lot of years, but obviously the years that he spent with Green Bay and my brother, what a vital part he had in that success early on. And what an opportunity for us, and myself to be able to land him."

Hackett has been an offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills (2013-14), Jacksonville Jaguars (2016-18), Packers (2019-21) and New York Jets (2023-24) while also starting 2022 as the Denver Broncos' head coach.

"At times, and taking the grain of salt here, at times I think the play-caller gets maybe a little too much credit," LaFleur said when reflecting on Hackett's league tenure.

"There's so much work that goes into building the foundations up until that first game in September, and then the game plan aspect from Monday to Saturday night even into Sunday morning, as you're deciding situationally, exactly what you're going to call. So just to have a guy as smart as Hack and share similar philosophies – not the same, but similar. We'll build this thing.

"We're not going to be Green Bay, we're not gonna be the Rams. We're not gonna be the Niners. We're gonna be us, whatever us becomes. And again, our foundations are very similar. We see the game very similar."