{"id":662149,"date":"2026-01-07T21:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T21:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/662149\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T21:53:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T21:53:12","slug":"making-a-case-for-the-cardinals-to-bring-in-john-harbaugh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/662149\/","title":{"rendered":"Making a case for the Cardinals to bring in John Harbaugh"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Black Monday, the Arizona Cardinals severed ties with their head coach<\/a>, Jonathan Gannon. On the very next day, an interview with DC Vance Joseph was scheduled. Then, the franchise contacted five more candidates in order to set up interviews, some via Zoom, while the others will come in since their teams did not make the postseason tournament.<\/p>\n

RELATED: WOULD A DEFENSIVE-MINDED COACH FIT?<\/a><\/p>\n

Back in the day, players had games from September to Christmas, then went home and found an off-season job. Y.A. Tittle sold insurance. Vince Lombardi worked in a bank. Don Hutson worked at a paper mill. Chuck Bednarik was employed by a concrete company.<\/p>\n

And except for the college draft<\/a>, nothing happened all year until training camp began, which is how it got its name, because players showed up out of shape and had to have their bodies \u201ctrained\u201d again for exercise.<\/p>\n

But in today\u2019s NFL, if you notice, something is going on every month. This is by design.<\/p>\n

And as the playoffs are set to begin, for some clubs, the hot topic going around is who is going to be their team\u2019s next head coach? The league never stops moving.<\/p>\n

A recent firing seems almost unbelievable. The Baltimore Ravens waited an extra day and let go of their head coach, John Harbaugh, late Tuesday afternoon. No, really. He was their head man for 18 years, went to the playoffs 12 seasons, captured six division crowns, and won a Super Bowl title. What more does a coach have to do to keep his job?<\/p>\n

Seven teams reached out to Harbaugh\u2019s agent with interest in the hour after his dismissal. It should be noted that there are only seven vacant NFL head coaching jobs, one of which is in Baltimore.<\/p>\n

Already, clubs such as the New York Football Giants have been mentioned as the most likely landing place for Harbaugh. This much is certain: he won\u2019t be accepting any coordinator jobs. And then again, he just might want to pull a Sean Payton, take a year off, then choose his vacancy to suit his needs. Or go the Bill Cowher route, take an analyst job, and never go back.<\/p>\n

Harbaugh is considered a defensive-minded coach, and for the past decade, the Ravens have always had great defenses. It has been mentioned that the Cardinals\u2019 defense is just a guy here and there<\/a> from being an exceptional group, so for Harbaugh, he may see that the defensive core is intact without having to strip the entire group down and start over.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

For now, Harbaugh, age 63, isn\u2019t saying if he is or isn\u2019t going to be on some teams\u2019 sidelines in 2026. Let\u2019s just assume he will. So, why not the Cardinals? Why not come to the desert?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s just make a list and see what we can rustle up about coming to Arizona, with a few reasons Harbaugh might have an interest in:<\/p>\n

EDGE Josh Sweat: The Browns have Myles Garrett, the Steelers have T.J. Watt, and the Cardinals possess Sweat.Family ties: The Cardinals are in the NFC West Division and play the Los Angeles Rams on the road every season. His brother Jim is the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. So, an instant family reunion every year on Arizona\u2019s dime.Family flies: Glendale, Arizona, to Inglewood, California, is just six hours the remainder of the year. What is that by private jet? 45 minutes?Kyler Murray: Harbaugh is used to a running QB in Lamar Jackson. The Cardinals have their mini-Lamar in Murray.Offense: The Cardinals\u2019 offense will need some help with the offensive line, but in reality, the offense is just a few pieces away. Harbaugh will need to hire a very good offensive mind. His OC in Baltimore, Todd Monken, is also unemployed. In fact, Baltimore has a full coaching staff looking for work, including Chuck Pagano.High draft picks: Arizona has the third overall pick, the second selection in Round 2 (#34), and the first pick in the third round (#65).Cap space: The Cardinals will have about $21.3 in cap space.Trey McBride: Harbaugh has always had a stud at the tight end position.Investment: The Cardinals will have a heavy investment in the offensive and defensive lines.Positive record: While playing in Arizona, lifetime Harbaugh is 2-1.Calais Campbell: Campbell played in Baltimore for three seasons and earned one of his six Pro Bowls, and also won the Art Rooney Award under Harbaugh.Unies: Both the Cardinals and Ravens have a black-out uniform.NFC: By choosing Arizona, Harbaugh will rarely step foot in any more AFC North Division stadiums where he coached for 18 seasons.Weather: If you were 63 years old and had your choice of where to live next, why choose a cold-weather city? Plus, the Cardinals\u2019 stadium is indoors. The practice facility is inside. His SUV is climate-controlled. And so will his new home.Defensive backfield: Harbaugh is a former defensive back and has always taken pride in this position group. The Cardinals have Pro Bowler Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson at the safety position, plus the youngster Will Johnson and Denzel Burke, who were each named to the ESPN All-Rookie Team<\/a>, waiting at cornerback.Turf: M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore and State Farm Stadium in Glendale both use Tifway 419 Bermuda grass. Maybe it\u2019s a thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Black Monday, the Arizona Cardinals severed ties with their head coach, Jonathan Gannon. On the very next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2078],"tags":[375,390,84773,2604,1327,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-662149","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arizona-cardinals","8":"tag-arizona","9":"tag-arizona-cardinals","10":"tag-arizona-cardinals-coaching-staff","11":"tag-arizonacardinals","12":"tag-cardinals","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115856041958728130","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}