Nick Rallis Reflects on Failures, Second Chance With Arizona Cardinals

TEMPE — The Arizona Cardinals, even under a new coaching staff, continue to bank on continuity.

First-year head coach Mike LaFleur and the Cardinals ultimately decided to retain prior head coach defensive coordinator Nick Rallis after moving on from Jonathan Gannon.

The path to stick with Rallis was one not traveled often, as the Cardinals — with Rallis still under contract — interviewed several defensive coordinator candidates before pivoting back to Arizona's standing play-caller.

Yet the path for Rallis in the last few months was one paved with uncertainty.

"It was a long process of reflection and trying to find those avenues for growth — for myself and really for this defense — I didn't know if I was going to be here, but I was still looking at it through that lens," Rallis told reporters on Wednesday.

"Just finding ways [of] how can I be better at my job? Talking to other people, how can I better serve the coaches, serve the players to allow them to do their job at a high level. It was ultimately just a reflection on performance."

Now, Rallis is back, and there's hope 2026 will be a different story.

Nick Rallis Wanted Another Shot

Dec 7, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis against the Los Angeles Rams at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

However you slice it, Rallis is back in the saddle for year four in Arizona:

"That means a lot, because I love the players. I know that we can be better than what we put on tape," he said on the opportunity to return.

This time will be different, as Gannon surely had his hand in helping frame defensive game plans and schemes while Rallis still called plays. Now, LaFleur will be tasked with calling plays for the offense and re-working that side of the ball, leaving Rallis in full control of his defense.

Rallis needs to ensure 2025 isn't a repeat after the Cardinals finished with one of the NFL's worst statistical defenses — allowing 357.7 yards and 28.7 points per game, both good enough to finish bottom six in the league.

Arizona's defense was expected to be one of the better units in the NFL — what happened?

"There's a lot of variables to that," Rallis said when reflecting back on last season.

"The most important ones to me are the controllables for us in the building, and it's layered. There's things that we could do better schematically. There's things that we can do better with our technique. There's ways that we can teach it better. There's ways that we can execute it better. So it's never one thing."

The Cardinals will now fully be under Rallis' guidance approaching 2026.

"I always believe in the tear it down and build it back up [mentality]. There's multiple layers to that in terms of the game scheming, and the offenses are changing. So what does 2026 look like? How? What do we have to be prepared to stop what the best offenses in 2025 are doing, and kind of where it's moving, but then also what wasn't good for us? And how do we change that?" said Rallis.

"As we start to get into acquisition [free agency and draft], what do our guys do best? You got to put those guys in the positions that brings out their strengths. And so every year you have to look at it."

He also offered an interesting (and opposite) viewpoint of not making changes.

"I think sometimes the hardest part of what you're asking is not changing, right? Because if you didn't see that ball go through the hoop, are you going to adjust your jump shot? And if you're convicted on whatever that is, part of your jump shot or whatever that is part of our scheme, that you didn't necessarily see the ball go through the hoop.

"But you know that it's something that you want to do, and it's going to lead to success, sometimes it's harder to stay convicted on those things and run it back. So there's layers of that. There's going to be changes, but then there's going to be things that we're going to want to keep because we believe in it."

Time, like always, will ultimately tell how Arizona did in their belief of Rallis moving forward.