During their seek for a head coach to switch the fired Jonathan Gannon, the Cardinals identified NFC West offensive coordinators Klint Kubiak (Seahawks) and Mike LaFleur (Rams) as favorites. Each coaches interviewed with Arizona twice, but LaFleur was the pick after Kubiak agreed to take the Raiders’ job.
If the Cardinals had their way, they’d have hired Kubiak as an alternative of LaFleur, an NFL general manager told Jason La Canfora of SportsBoom. They’d have been willing to attend until after the Super Bowl to make it official, because the Raiders did.
“Trust me, Kubiak was their guy,” said the GM, who also had interest in hiring Kubiak. “They’d have done whatever they may to get him, nevertheless it wasn’t going to occur. They’d have waited so long as it took. After which they’d to scramble.”
The Cardinals aren’t known for spending big on head coaches or assistants, as La Canfora notes, but they’d have veered from their usual modus operandi on this instance. It’s easy to know why Kubiak went in one other direction, though, and it begins with the presence of influential Raiders minority owner and legendary quarterback Tom Brady. The seven-time Super Bowl champion “made a novel appeal to Kubiak,” La Canfora writes.
In joining Brady and the Raiders, Kubiak will grab the reins of a team that would reel in a long-term quarterback solution with the primary pick on this 12 months’s draft. After winning the Heisman Trophy and national championship at Indiana in 2025, Fernando Mendoza is the overwhelming favorite to turn into a Raider in late April.
The Cardinals, then again, don’t have a solution at the sport’s foremost position. Although they drafted one other former Heisman winner, Kyler Murray, first overall in 2019, they’re now hoping to trade him seven years later. Arizona joins Las Vegas in owning a premium draft pick (No. 3 overall), but barring an unexpected development, there isn’t a QB on this class price taking that top. It’s not considered a powerful group of signal-callers beyond Mendoza. That’s a harsh reality for the Cardinals and other QB-needy near the highest of the primary round.
Along with the No. 1 pick within the draft, the Raiders possess the league’s second-most cap space ($91.52MM, per OverTheCap). The Cardinals are also in good condition in that regard, but at $42.19MM, they’re about $50MM behind the Raiders.
Each LaFleur and Kubiak have their work cut out in turning around long-suffering franchises, nevertheless it must be harder for the Cardinals. While Kubiak will walk right into a very difficult AFC West and battle the Broncos, Chargers and Chiefs, the NFC West was the most effective division within the league in 2025.
Kubiak’s Super Bowl-winning Seahawks, LaFleur’s Rams and the 49ers combined to go a dominant 38-13 within the regular season. All three swept the 3-14 Cardinals. Now, after losing out on Kubiak, the Cardinals are left to hope LaFleur will lead them out of the basement.