With the Cardinals hiring a G.M. well schooled in the Patriot Way, the next move could be to hire a coach with a similar pedigree.
The current rumor making the rounds in league circles is that Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill favors pairing with Monti Ossenfort former Dolphins coach (and current Steelers assistant) Brian Flores, as the successor to Kliff Kingbury.
From a football standpoint, Flores would fit the “exact opposite” formula that teams often employ when hiring a new head coach. Flores would bring discipline and accountability. He also would give quarterback Kyler Murray a wake-up call as to the work ethic and commitment that the quarterback position demands at the professional level. (Spoiler: It takes a lot more than four hours of study per week.)
For a non-football standpoint, hiring Flores would help both the Cardinals and the league within the context of the racial discrimination lawsuit filed last year by Flores against the NFL, the Dolphins, the Broncos, the Giants, and eventually the Texans. Former Cardinals coach Steve Wilks later joined the effort, claiming that he was basically hired to preside over a crappy 2018 season, and then to be fired.
Bidwill, a lawyer and former prosecutor, surely realizes the potential consequences of snubbing Flores -- and the potential benefits of giving him the job. Throw in the fact that Flores has proven to be a damn good coach (better than Kingsbury, frankly), and it’s a win-win-win for the Cardinals and Flores and the NFL.
Of course, the NFL’s ultimate exposure in the Flores suit hinges in large part on whether the litigation plays out in open court -- or whether it will be resolved by the league’s in-house, secret, rigged, kangaroo court. If it’s the former, the NFL and the teams named as defendants should be concerned. If it’s the latter, the legal issues necessarily take on less importance.
The NFL’s effort to force the case to arbitration is still pending, nearly a year after the lawsuit was first filed. Proving yet again that the wheels of justice often creep like a dollop of molasses on a frozen flagpole.
If there’s any chance the case will remain in court, hiring Flores won’t hurt the Cardinals from a legal standpoint. It may help them tremendously from a football standpoint.