TEMPE, Ariz. — The Arizona Cardinals have hired Mike LaFleur as their new head coach with the Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator agreeing to a five-year contract, the team announced Sunday.
The Cardinals met with Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak on Saturday night but he is expected to become the Raiders’ head coach after the Super Bowl, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter, so Arizona pivoted to another offensive coordinator in the NFC West.
“We had the opportunity to speak with an outstanding group of candidates during this very thorough process and gathered tremendous insight from each of them. At the end of that process, it was clear that Mike LaFleur possesses all the traits necessary to lead this team to success as its head coach,” Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill said in a statement. “He is highly intelligent with an exceptionally sharp, creative football mind. Mike is also a dynamic and innovative leader and exactly the type of person we were looking for to guide our team as its head coach.”
Arizona initially interviewed LaFleur virtually early in the cycle and then hosted him for a two-day interview, which included dinner with team executives, last Monday and Tuesday.
“I couldn’t be more fired up to become the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals and am beyond grateful to Michael and [general manager] Monti [Ossenfort] for this opportunity,” LaFleur said in a statement. “Having competed against them in the NFC so many times in recent years, I know the type of talent and toughness the team has and cannot wait to get to Arizona to hit the ground running.”
LaFleur, 38, replaces Jonathan Gannon, who was fired as Arizona’s head coach Jan. 5, kicking off a search for Gannon’s replacement that nearly than a month.
LaFleur is the sixth straight head coach hired by the Cardinals who does not have full-time NFL coaching experience.
He comes to Arizona with a coaching pedigree and experience as an offensive playcaller. He spent the past three seasons as the Rams’ offensive coordinator and was the New York Jets’ OC from 2021 to 2022. However, LaFleur didn’t call the plays for the Rams, who reached the NFC Championship Game on the shoulders of quarterback Matthew Stafford, who threw for the fourth-most passing yards of his career in an MVP-caliber season.
The Rams’ offense, under head coach Sean McVay’s guidance, ranked first in points per game, yards per game, total yards per play, passing yards per game and first downs per game.
“In his career, Mike has been around some of the best and brightest coaches in football and has been a key contributor to highly successful teams,” Ossenfort said in a statement. “He understands what winning football looks like and what it takes to achieve it. Mike is a strong communicator with a detail-oriented teaching style that has always gotten the best from his players and we are incredibly excited for him to bring that to the Cardinals.”
LaFleur’s older brother, Matt, is the Green Bay Packers‘ head coach.
LaFleur has a deep familiarity with the NFC West, having spent three seasons with the Rams and four seasons — 2017 to 2020 — with the San Francisco 49ers.
LaFleur inherits a Cardinals team that finished 3-14 last season, owns the third-overall pick and has a major question mark at quarterback. It’s still unknown whether Kyler Murray, Arizona’s incumbent starter, will remain on the team for the 2026 season, despite having $39.8 million already guaranteed for 2025. Should Murray remain on the roster on the fifth day of the 2026 league year, his $19.5 million base salary for 2027 becomes fully guaranteed.
LaFleur will be leading a team whose offense dropped off in 2025 to become the 19th-ranked unit in the league, a year after being ranked 11th. The Cardinals’ defense was ranked 27th last year after being ranked 21st in 2024.
Now LaFleur embarks on trying to complete a quick turnaround, which owner Michael Bidwill said he hoped takes place “in the first year, not in the second year,” in the vaunted NFC West, which had the three other teams all make the playoffs this year.
