The Arizona Cardinals appear to have narrowed their head coaching search down to two finalists, and Pittsburgh Steelers senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach Brian Flores is not one of them. Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo and New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka are both set to have their second interviews with the Cardinals over Zoom this week. Anarumo’s is scheduled for Friday, while Kafka’s date and time will be ironed out.
Kafka was in charge of one of the league’s best ground games this past regular season. He’s also interviewed with Denver and Indianapolis and twice with Houston after helping the Giants end their playoff drought. The Panthers opted to go with Frank Reich, Denver with Sean Payton, and Houston with DeMeco Ryans after also talking to Kafka.
Anarumo’s season came to a close last weekend in a conference championship loss to Kansas City. His unit had a solid rushing defense, allowing 106.6 yards per game in the regular season. It only let up 16.7 points per game over three playoff contests. Anarumo has been coaching in the NFL since 2012 and with the Bengals since 2019.
It’s been a busy hiring cycle for Brian Flores. His familiarity with new Arizona general manager Monti Ossenfort was assumedly a factor in him previously being the favorite for that job. Flores was previously linked to empty defensive coordinator positions in Cleveland and Atlanta. Flores has also interviewed to be Minnesota’s defensive coordinator and the Denver Broncos are in the market for the same spot to be filled after letting Ejiro Evero out of his contract Saturday.
The Broncos recently named former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton the new leader of their team. Denver requested to interview Flores for the defensive coordinator position as Payton looks to put together his staff.