Jan. 27, 2026, 5:27 p.m. MT
Just when you thought the Arizona Cardinals‘ search for a new head coach couldn’t get any more interesting, a bomb dropped Tuesday afternoon. A new name emerged as a candidate the Cardinals brought in, and it is a name out of left field.
According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, the Cardinals managed to bring is former Carolina Panthers and Washington Commanders head coach Ron Rivera for an in-person interview for the head coaching job without it being known immediately.
Rivera is the general manager of Cal Football in college. He was fired from his job with the Commanders after a 4-13 2023 season.
In his career, he is 102-103-2. He went 76-63-1 with the Panthers and made the playoffs four times, once making it to the Super Bowl. He went 26-40-1 with one postseason appearance with Washington. In his time as a head coach from 2011-2023, he never had consecutive winning seasons. Two of his playoff appearances came with losing records.
He is now 64 years old.
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Is he a serious candidate to replace Jonathan Gannon? That’s what we don’t know. We do not know when the interview happened. It might have been early on in the process.
But with a name like that in the ether, it is something to watch, as it appears that the Cardinals are not done with their search.
We will keep you posted.
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