The Arizona Cardinals aren’t wasting any time getting requests in for head coaching interviews. The issue is that several names on their short list are guys who are currently employed on playoff teams.
The NFL has very strigent rules regarding when other clubs can schedule interviews for candidates of head coaching openings.
The league wants teams to focus on winning a Super Bowl ring instead of their coaching staff getting another job the following season. This is not like college football, where head coaches just up and leave right before the playoffs begin (looking at you Lane Kiffin).
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The Cardinals have reached out to four coaches, all employed in the NFL and each one a team coordinator. The team has extended interview requests to the following four candidates:
Seattle Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak
San Francisco 49ers DC Robert Saleh
Miami Dolphins DC Anthony Weaver
Denver Broncos DC Vance Joseph
There is an incentive to hire either Saleh or Kubiak in that it would affect a division rival. Since the Broncos and Seahawks have a first-round bye, both can be interviewed this week.
Kubiak, age 38, is in his first season as the OC in Seattle. He was the OC in New Orleans in 2024 and has worked for six NFL teams, with his first coaching job in 2010 at Texas A&M. His offensive attack is West Coast and a hybrid of Kyle Shanahan’s of the 49ers and Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams. His father, Gary Kubiak, had been the head coach of both the Broncos and the Houston Texans after a lengthy career as a quarterback backing up John Elway.
Saleh, age 46, began his coaching career in 2002 in the college ranks. He joined the Texans in 2005 as a defensive intern. He was then hired by the Seahawks in 2011 as the defensive quality control coach for three seasons and then on to Jacksonville as the LB coach from 2014-2016. For 2017, the 49ers named him their DC which was a job he held for four years. The New York Jets then tabbed him for their head coach in 2021, and he was fired during the 2024 season. He was taken in by the Green Bay Packers for the remainder of the year before getting his DC job back with San Fran. Saleh has a ring from Super Bowl XLVIII.
Weaver, age 45, is a former defensive end with the Baltimore Ravens and Texans from 2002-2008 after a stellar college career at Notre Dame, and was drafted in Round 2. Two years after hanging up his cleats, he began as a graduate assistant at Florida in 2010, then was hired as an LB coach at North Texas. He then held various defensive coaching jobs with six NFL clubs. In 2024, Miami hired him as its DC.
Joseph is a hot commodity because his Denver defense is ranked in the Top-3 annually. He was a defensive back with the Jets in 1995, then had stints with two NFL clubs, one NFL Europe team, and finished his playing career with the Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League. He began as a coach in college until the 49ers hired him as the assistant defensive backs coach in 2006. He then coached for the Texans, Cincinnati Bengals, Dolphins, Broncos, Cardinals, and Denver again. While with Arizona, he was the DC under head coach Kliff Kingsbury. Joseph was part of the 1990 Colorado Buffaloes National Championship squad.
