NFL Insider Leaves Cardinals Out of John Harbaugh Landing Spots

The Arizona Cardinals might need to shift their focus elsewhere.

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh walks the sideline in the fourth quarter of the NFL football game between Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati on Dec. 14, 2025. | Albert Cesare/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals' coaching search continues after firing head coach Jonathan Gannon, though a top potential option doesn't appear to be realistic.

Albert Breer, SI.com's NFL insider who has close connections to Arizona's front office, omitted the Cardinals from his list of landing spots for free agent coach John Harbaugh, who was just recently fired from the Baltimore Ravens:

"On John Harbaugh—no interviews this weekend, he'll start this coming week. Sources say 6 teams reached out right away, Miami made it 7 last night. He won't interview with them all," Breer said on X.

"So I'd see the realistic landing spots, as of now, as the Giants, Dolphins, Titans and Falcons."

And now, we shift our focus to the other candidates.

Other Arizona Cardinals Coaching Candidates

Vance Joseph, Robert Saleh, Anthony Weaver, Patrick Brown, Raheem Morris, Klint Kubiak, Matt Nagy and Jeff Hafley are the reported coaching candidates at this time.

Joseph is reportedly going to get a "strong look" by the Cardinals according to NFL insider Benjamin Allbright, you can read more about that here.

Saleh, Kubiak and Hafley are considered to be some of the top candidates for this cycle across the league while Weaver and Brown are lesser-qualified names at this time.

That doesn't disqualify them or make them bad candidates, though after experimenting with a rookie head coach, the Cardinals may feel inclined to lean into someone with prior experience — which also puts Morris and Nagy in the picture, too.

What Cardinals Want in Next Head Coach

"First and foremost, we're looking for a strong leader. Being a head coach in the NFL is a difficult job, and there's 31 other teams that are trying to do the same thing that we're doing. And so a lot goes into that," Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort said when asked what qualities the organization would look for in their next head coach.

"There's being a strong leader, it's creating accountability and dependability in the locker room, it's creating advantages on the field, putting our players in a position to be successful. It's developing young players. It's helping them take that next step. We get players out of college, and we have to get them better. And so there's a lot that falls under the umbrella of a head coach, and so we're focused on finding a coach that can help us achieve those goals."