Inside Arizona Cardinals’ head coach introduction for Mike LaFleur
The Republic’s Theo Mackie provides insight on the introductory news conference for Arizona Cardinals’ new head coach Mike LaFleur on Feb. 3, 2026.
Mike LaFleur has spent the past three years working directly with Sean McVay, all while the greatest coach of this generation worked through a crucial transitional period. As far as LaFleur’s resume goes, this is bullet point 1A.
McVay’s teams are not associated with failure, but that’s where they were when LaFleur arrived as offensive coordinator. Fresh off a 5-12 season, the Rams were seeking an offensive identity. LaFleur helped them find it by working with McVay to overhaul the run game. This season, that new identity morphed even further, as the Rams led the NFL in three-tight-end usage — antithetical to the three wide receiver sets that McVay helped popularize league-wide when he first arrived.
McVay, of course, is the key architect in Los Angeles. But LaFleur was alongside him throughout those changes, helping implement the new ideas as McVay consciously began to delegate more work to his assistants.
It’s easy, then, to imagine that LaFleur might have learned some grand lessons from his time in Los Angeles. But in his first news conference as the new head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, when asked what he’s learned as a playcaller from McVay, LaFleur instead pointed to a seemingly tiny bit of minutiae.
“The worst playcall is the late playcall,” LaFleur said.
What?
“Everyone’s got good plays, everyone has good scheme,” LaFleur said. “But it’s really leading up to that moment. How clean do we get out of that huddle, how do we operate, how fast do I get that call in there to allow these players to go do what they do best.”
It’s something that seems microscopic in importance, but it reflects how an offensive system operates. Is everyone on the same page? Is there a clear plan of attack? Does the coaching structure make sense?
And it shows up on Sundays. There’s a reason that the Rams committed the fewest pre-snap penalties in the NFL this season, while the Cardinals were repeatedly undone by self-inflicted mistakes.
Perhaps better than anything else said in their 36-minute opening news conference, this explains why the Cardinals landed on LaFleur.
Throughout the afternoon, both owner Michael Bidwill and general manager Monti Ossenfort spoke of LaFleur’s pedigree. He spent seven years under Kyle Shanahan in various roles, then three under McVay — the two most prominent branches of the modern NFL’s preeminent coaching tree, which traces back to Mike Shanahan in the early 2010s.
It was, essentially, the first thing Bidwill mentioned when explaining the hire, while Ossenfort repeatedly made the same point.
“It was everything about his experience,” Ossenfort said. “Everything about the people that he’s been around.”
And yes, working for Shanahan and McVay matters in terms of play design. No one is better than those two. But play design can be copied from the outside. Most of the league largely runs the same plays.
By pulling from inside that tree, though, the Cardinals hope to unlock the nuances that have made McVay and Shanahan’s acolytes so successful. It’s a trajectory that Matt LaFleur — Mike’s brother — knows well, having been McVay’s first offensive coordinator before landing as the Green Bay Packers head coach.
“This stems back to our days with the Shanahans as well,” Matt LaFleur said. “Learning ball the right way and trying to lay it out and build a foundation that you can lean back on. Having a clear philosophy.”
It’s also about a willingness to adapt that philosophy.
Take the Rams’ explosion of 13 personnel (one running back, three tight ends) usage this season. That was never the plan entering the year. But when Puka Nacua missed two games with a sprained ankle, the Rams adjusted by relying on their tight ends. And when they saw the conflict that created for defenses, they leaned into that new ideology, even when Nacua returned.
“We organically built to that 13 personnel,” Mike LaFleur said. “It wasn’t like we were sitting here a year ago, saying we’re probably gonna be the most 13 personnel usage in football. That’s an absolute lie. The best offenses I’ve been a part of, they’ve organically just gotten to that point.”
In Matt LaFleur’s mind, this is a central tenet of those who have worked under McVay.
“Sean does that as good as anybody in the game, in my opinion, of just being able to adapt,” Matt LaFleur said. “Mike talked about being organic throughout the course of the season and how you evolve. And I think there’s so much truth to that. And you can’t be rigid. I think the days of rigidness in this profession, in coaching, are long gone.”
The last time that Mike LaFleur worked as a playcaller came before his time with McVay. He spent 2021 and 2022 in that role with the New York Jets, where he oversaw a pair of bottom-five scoring offenses.
Ossenfort pointed to the context surrounding that tenure and said that the Cardinals “viewed Mike’s time in New York (as) a positive.” But the vision is that he has learned from that tenure, in part, by studying with the best.
“For him … to learn and to see what (the Rams) have done and to see how coach McVay has run that program, I think that’s all been beneficial,” Ossenfort said.
As for LaFleur’s decision to accept the Cardinals’ job, he described a longstanding admiration for the organization. The Cardinals have twice welcomed LaFleur’s teams amid tragedy, first by allowing the 49ers to practice at State Farm Stadium during the pandemic and later by hosting the Rams for a playoff game during the 2025 Southern California wildfires.
“All you want is ownership to want to win,” LaFleur said. “And win in the worst way. And that was very apparent when I met Michael (Bidwill) last year, how much he loves this organization.”
Of course, the Hollywood version doesn’t tell the full story.
Throughout their coaching search, the Cardinals repeatedly failed to lure some of the league’s most sought-after candidates. Ossenfort did push back on that notion, saying, “Our job was attractive to many candidates.” But multiple experienced coaches spurned interviews in Arizona to accept jobs elsewhere.
LaFleur, meanwhile, might not have known when his next head coaching opportunity would arrive. He’s the first non-playcalling coordinator to be hired as a head coach since Brian Callahan two years ago. And in all likelihood, 10 jobs won’t open up again next year. To get another head coaching offer, LaFleur might have had to prove himself at an intermediate stop as a playcaller. Instead, he was able to use the league’s top-scoring offense to launch himself straight into this role.
All of that is real. But neither side was forced into this marriage. The Cardinals chose LaFleur over at least five other interviewees who didn’t land head coaching jobs. And LaFleur chose the Cardinals over chasing a Super Bowl with the Rams next year.
The goal, of course, is to make that a possibility in Arizona someday.
“We’re putting our best foot forward to go win football games,” LaFleur said.
Then he looked across the room, at a series of six banners commemorating each of the Cardinals’ divisional or conference titles.
“And hopefully,” LaFleur said, “update that back wall.”
