We are officially headed into championship Sunday in the NFL season, and while fans are hyper-focused on that, it is important to know that teams are still in the midst of their search for their new head coaches.
Today, we saw the Baltimore Ravens finalize a five-year deal with now former L.A. Chargers defensive coordinator, Jesse Minter. And we’ve already seen the Atlanta Falcons, Miami Dolphins, and Tennessee Titans hire their new head coaches.
At the moment, teams are in the middle of interview processes with candidates, including the Arizona Cardinals.
Thus far, Arizona has reached out to a total of 15 candidates, in hopes of being able to find the ideal guy for the job out of that crop. However, one NFL insider believes there are two names in particular to watch out for.
MORE: Cardinals To Bring In Defensive-Minded HC Candidate For In-Person Interview
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer believes it is between Vance Joseph and Joe Brady
Vance Joseph is the mastermind behind what was the second-best defense in the league this season, ranking only behind the Houston Texans. On top of his success as a coordinator, Joseph has, in fact, held down a head coaching role before, with the same Broncos team he coaches now.
Joseph, 53, preps his unit for the AFC Championship Game on Sunday, where the Broncos take on the New England Patriots at Empowr Field at Mile High.
Joe Brady, on the other hand,d saw his season end at the hands of that same Broncos defense in the Divisional Round last Saturday. A game where his quarterback, Josh Allen, committed four turnovers in a loss that panned out to be only a three-point deficit.
The loss led to nine-year head coach Sean McDermott’s firing on Monday. Brady is one of the candidates being interviewed for the job in Buffalo, but don’t count out other teams. Arizona is definitely one of the ones looking in on the 36-year-old offensive mastermind.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out over the next few days.