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The Arizona Cardinals are reportedly expanding their search for their next head coach.
Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reported Tuesday that the NFC West team requested to interview Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero for the head coaching position that is open because Arizona fired Kliff Kingsbury after the season.
The Cardinals already received permission to interview former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton, but that figures to be a crowded race with a number of teams involved for the high-profile candidate with a Super Bowl title on his resume.
Arizona already checked one thing off its offseason to-do list when it announced Monday it hired Tennessee Titans’ director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort as the general manager. That position was open because Steve Keim resigned after the 2022 season.
Now the focus can turn toward the head coaching vacancy for a team looking to bounce back from a last-place finish in the NFC West at 4-13.
Kingsbury had an offensive background, and things did not work out on the way to a 28-37-1 record in four seasons. The Cardinals made the playoffs just once during his tenure and did not win a single postseason game.
Perhaps the team will look toward the defensive side of the ball for its next head coach after the Kingsbury experiment failed.
That would benefit Evero, who was in charge of a Broncos defense that finished seventh in the league in yards allowed during the 2022 campaign. While Denver finished 5-12, its defense was hardly the problem as Russell Wilson and the offense consistently failed to live up to expectations.
Evero doesn’t have any head coaching experience, but he has been an assistant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams and Broncos. He was the Rams defensive passing game coordinator and secondary coach during the 2021 campaign when they won the Super Bowl.
He parlayed that into his position with the Broncos and may be in line to become the next head coach of the Cardinals.
