Another week has passed and the Arizona Cardinals remain without a head coach.
Following the Cleveland Browns’ hiring of Todd Monken on Wednesday, the Cardinals now represent just one of two teams with a head-coach opening alongside the Las Vegas Raiders.
Joining The Pat McAfee Show, former Cardinals defensive lineman J.J. Watt said the waiting game likely has to do with one big factor: Quarterback.
“Right now, they need to figure out what their quarterback situation is for the future,” Watt said Wednesday. “When you’re a head-coaching candidate and you’re sitting there and looking at opportunities, the No. 1 first thing you’re looking at is who’s the quarterback of the team and is this somebody that I can build off of. Am I going to tie myself to this and my personal success, knowing this might be my only shot at the apple? Can this be my future?
“There’s a reason I went out there. I thought we had a chance to win. We started out 7-0, we were very successful and everything was going great and then it kind of fell apart. But it’s a beautiful place. It’s a great place to go, and when you get the players right, everything can happen. But that’s why it’s still vacant in my mind right now, and that’s why it’s not necessarily super attractive at the moment because you don’t have an answer for what that quarterback future looks like.”
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Yes, the Cardinals still have signal caller Kyler Murray under contract, but the belief is the QB has played his final games for the franchise after seven seasons and just one playoff appearance.
And although Arizona didn’t win as many games with Jacoby Brissett under center, the offense looked noticeably better with the journeyman running the show.
Brissett, however, doesn’t represent a realistic long-term answer at quarterback. A solid bridge option? Sure. But with limited draft options and an iffy free agent pool in 2026, the avenues for Arizona landing its next franchise option this offseason seem bleak.
While the quarterback situation ranks No. 1 in Watt’s eyes when talking about head-coaching vacancies, it’s one of the many factors head-coaching candidates must weigh when deciding.
“Then after quarterback, you start to look at the organization as a whole and you like how it’s run and if you think there’s potential for them to add an influx of cash and everything to help build this roster to be as good as possible and the staff,” Watt said.
“But No. 1 comes down to quarterback, and right now, they don’t have that solution for what their quarterback solution is going to be, so that’s what makes it tough.”
The Cardinals’ head-coaching search is currently more than three weeks in since Arizona fired Jonathan Gannon on black Monday, the day after the season ended.
Eight other teams have since filled their vacancies. That includes the Buffalo Bills firing Sean McDermott and hiring Joe Brady despite getting in on their search later than everyone else.
Arizona, meanwhile, remains in the interviewing phase of the process, with a meeting set up with Seattle Seahawks Klint Kubiak on Saturday.
Las Vegas is also in the mix and has a clearer quarterback situation given where they sit in the 2026 NFL Draft. With the No. 1 overall pick, the Raiders are expected to land their next franchise signal caller and Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza.
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