While at his introductory press conference, new Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur was happy to reminisce on all the work that led to his dream coming true. From shagging balls at his dad’s high school camp in second grade, to taking his first job in organized football, coaching in the NFL was “an afterthought” for him, and whatever job he was doing at the time was the “coolest job in the world.”

Now at the helm of Arizona’s program, he is excited to rally the team and get them back on track.

“When I got some of those FaceTimes on (the day he was hired), whether it be for my family, some friends, the ones that fired me up the most was coming from (the players), and it got me just more excited to get going,” LaFleur said. “So, I appreciate you guys. Can’t wait to get to work.”

Formerly the Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator, LaFleur is only 39 years old and has already been around the NFL for 10 years. During his time, he has been actively learning from some of the league’s best coaches en route to Glendale, namely offensive gurus like the 49ers’ Kyle Shannahan and Rams’ Sean McVay.

The team he will be inheriting is coming off a 3-14 season, finishing the year on a nine-game losing streak. Although the record wasn’t there, LaFleur is optimistic about the talent in-house.

“When you look at the fourth quarter of a lot of these games, particularly in the mid part of the season, it was close, tight games, and we got to figure out what those little edges are to get us over,” he said.

Coming from the Rams, one of the Cardinals’ division opponents, LaFleur is already familiar with his new team. From game-planning against them, to seeing how they operate, he said that playing Arizona “was never easy.” The Rams swept the Cardinals in the 2025-26 season series, with wins of 45-17 and 37-20 in weeks 14 and 18, respectively.

“I’ve been in this division for seven years,” LaFleur said. “There’s some heavy hitters in here, no doubt, but I’ll say this at the same time, when I was on the other sideline, it was never easy going into State Farm (Stadium) to win a football game, ever, and we lost more than we won.”

During his time in Los Angeles, the 2025-26 Rams offense enjoyed the best year of LaFleur’s three-year tenure as offensive coordinator. Helping develop the gameplan that led quarterback Matthew Stafford to his first career MVP award, the offense ranked at the top of the league in EPA/play, a metric designed to calculate the expected points average on any given play. The Rams led the league in total yards, passing yards and points, which helped lead the team to a 12-5 record before losing to the Seattle Seahawks in the Divisional round, 31-27.

All eyes will be on LaFleur’s offensive knowledge to elevate what was a below average group last season. These struggles weren’t without reason though, as in the middle of the season, starting quarterback Kyler Murray was placed on Injured Reserve, thrusting offseason addition and veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett into the limelight.

Even still, players like Trey McBride, a First Team All-Pro selection and Michael Wilson thrived, providing a high floor for the team in the coming season amid uncertainty with who will be the quarterback.

“I’m just excited to get started in terms of building this staff and getting to know these guys and then really building out whatever this system is going to look like as the Arizona Cardinals, again, we’re going to have foundational aspects that are going to be tried and true.”

LaFleur is aware that the Arizona fanbase and organization are looking for wins, but feels that with both of their support, the team can be back to prominence soon.

“We’re putting our best foot forward to go win football games and hopefully update that back wall,” he said.