The Arizona Cardinals have found their next head coach. According to multiple reports on Feb. 1, they are set to hire Mike LaFleur, who has spent the past three seasons as the Los Angeles Rams’ offensive coordinator, working under Sean McVay.

The move comes after the Cardinals fired Jonathan Gannon, putting an end to a tenure that sputtered out dramatically in 2025. The Cardinals began the season with playoff hopes but finished 3-14, setting a franchise record in the loss column.

Arizona is 19-49 over the past four seasons, losing more games than any other franchise.

For general manager Monti Ossenfort, those struggles place this hiring at a crucial inflection point. Like Gannon, Ossenfort arrived ahead of the 2023 season, meaning he owns a 15-36 record in Arizona. LaFleur’s arrival offers the GM a chance to rewrite the story of his tenure.

As for LaFleur, he carries a unique resumé.

Following seven years working under Kyle Shanahan — from Cleveland to Atlanta to San Francisco — LaFleur got his first chance as an offensive coordinator with the New York Jets in 2021.

The Jets offense struggled in two seasons under LaFleur, finishing 22nd and 30th, respectively in DVOA, according to FTN (For the Numbers).

DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) is FTN’s all-encompassing metric that adjusts for the strength of schedule. But the context reflects more favorably on LaFleur.

The Jets struggled for stability at quarterback in those seasons, cycling through four different starters. Zach Wilson, who has struggled mightily throughout his NFL career, led the way with 22 starts. That organizational instability has been reflected in their results over the past decade.

The Jets have not finished as a top-20 scoring offense since 2015. And by DVOA, they have been a bottom-three offense in two of the three seasons since LaFleur’s departure.

After being fired by the Jets, LaFleur landed as McVay’s offensive coordinator with the Rams. Because McVay calls the offensive plays, that amounted to a demotion for LaFleur, despite coming with the same title as his role in New York.

The results, though, have been excellent. This season, the Rams had the league’s best offense, by points scored and DVOA.

McVay also reportedly relies on his offensive assistants for playcalling duties more than most playcalling head coaches do. Plus, McVay’s tutelage has helped produce a remarkably successful crop of head coaches.

Since McVay was hired in 2017, he has had four offensive coordinators: Matt LaFleur (Mike’s brother), Kevin O’Connell, Liam Coen and Mike LaFleur.

Each of the first three is currently a head coach, with the Packers, Vikings and Jaguars, respectively. Combined, they are 132-69-1 (.653) with nine playoff appearances in 12 years. Of the group, O’Connell owns the worst win percentage, at .632.

Mike LaFleur’s lack of proven success as a playcaller is not unique among those peers. Coen is the only one of those coaches who performed well in that role before landing a head coaching job.

Matt LaFleur oversaw the 27th-ranked scoring offense in his one year as a playcalling offensive coordinator (with the 2018 Titans), while O’Connell was hired by the Vikings in 2022 with just 11 games of playcalling experience. That stint came after a midseason coaching change in 2019 with Washington, which finished dead last in scoring offense. McVay hired O’Connell after the season. 

Still, Mike LaFleur’s tenure with the Jets raises concerns ­— and helps explain why he reportedly landed only one other interview this cycle (with the Las Vegas Raiders).

In the end, that lack of interest played into the Cardinals’ hands. While many of the most sought-after candidates on the market passed up interest from the Cardinals, Arizona was able to turn its attention to a relatively under-the-radar option in LaFleur. 

Now, one trend will have to end. While McVay’s disciples have reached the playoffs nine times in 12 years, the Cardinals have nine playoff appearances in the Super Bowl era. Since arriving in Arizona in 1988, they’ve cycled through 11 full-time coaches. Only one, Bruce Arians, has a winning record.

O’Connell’s .632 win percentage would be the best of any Cardinals head coach since Norman Barry. His tenure lasted from 1925 to 1926, seven years before Charles Bidwill (current owner Michael Bidwill’s grandfather) purchased the team.

Breaking that century-long trend is the challenge ahead of LaFleur. He’ll have to do so with a flawed roster, as the Cardinals have uncertainty at quarterback and crucial holes throughout the depth chart.

While there is not expected to be a viable quarterback worth drafting at No. 3 overall, the Cardinals could look to free agency for their solution at the position — if they indeed move on from Kyler Murray. One option: Malik Willis, who has excelled under Matt LaFleur as the Packers’ backup. With Mike LaFleur now in Arizona, the connection there is obvious.

But beyond any potential personnel implications, the Cardinals are making a bet on LaFleur — and on McVay’s developmental capabilities. In a division with McVay and Shanahan, they evidently believe that plucking from that coaching tree is the best path toward becoming a competitor.

In a wide-ranging 2024 interview with The Athletic’s podcast series “The Playcallers,” LaFleur provided a window into his football philosophy — one that has grown in three years under McVay.

“Most people are running similar concepts, from college to the NFL,” LaFleur said.“Football’s football. People try to run a lot of the same plays. But (you have to) know the intent and the ‘why’ in what you’re trying to get done, what you’re trying to attack.”

In that interview, LaFleur also spoke about a key lesson that he learned in his Jets tenure.

“It’s just being true to yourself,” LaFleur said. “Who you are as a person, what character you are. If you’re trying to be someone that you’re not, these dudes will sniff you out so fast. And you’ve lost them. You’ve lost the room, you’ve lost the individual. They’re not gonna hear you at that point.”

Now, he’ll aim to implement those lessons in his biggest test yet.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cardinals set to bring on Rams assistant Mike LaFleur as head coach