The Arizona Cardinals have, essentially, filled out their coaching staff.
In January, they hired Mike LaFleur as head coach. Last week, they announced the additions of coordinators Nathaniel Hackett (offense), Nick Rallis (defense) and Michael Ghobrial (special teams).
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And now, they’ve filled out their positional coaching vacancies as well, according to CBS Sports. There are still some minor roles that remain vacant — namely assistant positional coaches — but the most important jobs on the staff are accounted for.
Here is their full list of positional coaches:
Quarterbacks: Matt Schaub
Offensive line: Justin Frye
Running backs: Mike Merritt
Tight ends: Jake Moreland
Wide receivers: Tony Sorrentino
Defensive line: Pete Kwiatkowski
Outside linebackers: Matt Feeney
Inside linebackers: Rod Wilson
Safeties: Cristian Garcia
Cornerbacks: Zac Etheridge
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Arizona Cardinals introduce coordinators for 2026 season
Nick Rallis (defensive coordinator) answers questions during a news conference at the Arizona Cardinals training facility in Tempe on Feb. 18, 2026.
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Arizona Cardinals introduce coordinators for 2026 season
Nick Rallis (defensive coordinator) answers questions during a news conference at the Arizona Cardinals training facility in Tempe on Feb. 18, 2026.
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Arizona Cardinals introduce coordinators for 2026 season
Nick Rallis (defensive coordinator) answers questions during a news conference at the Arizona Cardinals training facility in Tempe on Feb. 18, 2026.
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Arizona Cardinals introduce coordinators for 2026 season
Nathaniel Hackett (offensive coordinator) answers questions during a news conference at the Arizona Cardinals training facility in Tempe on Feb. 18, 2026.
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Arizona Cardinals introduce coordinators for 2026 season
Nathaniel Hackett (offensive coordinator) answers questions during a news conference at the Arizona Cardinals training facility in Tempe on Feb. 18, 2026.
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Arizona Cardinals introduce coordinators for 2026 season
Nathaniel Hackett (offensive coordinator) answers questions during a news conference at the Arizona Cardinals training facility in Tempe on Feb. 18, 2026.
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Arizona Cardinals introduce coordinators for 2026 season
Michael Ghobrial (special teams coordinator) answers questions during a news conference at the Arizona Cardinals training facility in Tempe on Feb. 18, 2026.
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Arizona Cardinals introduce coordinators for 2026 season
Mike LaFleur (head coach) answers questions during a news conference at the Arizona Cardinals training facility in Tempe on Feb. 18, 2026.
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Arizona Cardinals introduce coordinators for 2026 season
Mike LaFleur (head coach) answers questions during a news conference at the Arizona Cardinals training facility in Tempe on Feb. 18, 2026.
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Arizona Cardinals introduce coordinators for 2026 season
Mike LaFleur (head coach) answers questions during a news conference at the Arizona Cardinals training facility in Tempe on Feb. 18, 2026.
Of that group, three coaches were on the staff last season: Frye, Feeney and Garcia. With Rallis also returning, it’s a surprising amount of carryover from the team that went 3-14 last season. By contrast, Jonathan Gannon retained just one coach from Kliff Kingsbury’s staff, keeping special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers.
Frye’s return is perhaps the most unusual move. After his arrival last season, the Cardinals’ offensive line regressed in both pass protection and run blocking. Per Next Gen Stats, they allowed a 38.7% pressure rate, up from 28% a year earlier. In the run game, they generated 1.66 yards before contact per attempt, down from 2.21 in 2024.
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Another significant trend was the Cardinals’ hiring from the college ranks. Merritt was the running backs coach at Miami last season, Kwiatkowski was the defensive coordinator at Texas and Etheridge was the cornerbacks coach at Miami.
As such, the Cardinals have a notably inexperienced staff. Their 10 positional coaches have spent just 27 cumulative seasons coaching at the NFL level. Of those, just nine seasons were spent as positional coaches.
In other words, the Cardinals’ average positional coach has fewer than one season of experience doing that job in the NFL.
By contrast, last year’s Super Bowl participants — the Seahawks and Patriots — had 119 seasons and 74 seasons, respectively, of NFL positional coaching experience among their position coaches.
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Schaub’s hire exemplifies the Cardinals’ strategy. He has strong ties to the LaFleurs. From 2008-09, he was the Texans’ starting quarterback when Matt LaFleur was an offensive assistant. And from 2015-16, he was the Falcons’ backup quarterback when Matt LaFleur was the quarterbacks coach and Mike LaFleur was an offensive assistant. He knows this scheme and knows how Mike LaFleur wants to coach offense.
But he has also spent just one season as an NFL coach, having worked as a football analyst for the 2023 Falcons. That introduces inherent risk, as the Cardinals learned a year ago, when many of their least experienced coaches struggled in new jobs.
It is a bet, though, that they were willing to make once again.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals fill out coaching staff for 2026 season