Why keeping Nick Rallis is apt to set back the Cardinals for another 2-3 Years
By Walter Mitchell
Note: it pains me to feel compelled to document the reasons why Nick Rallis should have never been retained as the team's defensive coordinator because I consider Nick Rallis to be a bright, articulate and diligent coach --- but it is going to be extremely difficult for him to thrive as a DC in the NFL until he can move off from the Eberflus/Gannon "caution and cushion" style of defense --- which to this point in his career has been the only system he really knows inside and out.
In my opinion, what would be best for him would be to go learn a new system under the guidance of one of the more proven defensive coaches in the league. He's had no help here coaching-wise in Arizona. Jonathan Gannon was clueless and he hung Rallis out to dry.
Reasons why keeping Nick Rallis as the defensive coordinator is apt to backfire:
1. His "Caution and Cushion" philosophy of defensive football is doomed to fail in today's NFL.
2. The Cardinals' players need to be "untaught" and reconfigured into a 21st century style of aggressive, attack-style football --- and for the Cardinals' players to have to work another year working in this passive scheme, the integrations for them into a new system is apt to take a year or two longer in order to reverse old habits.
3. One could call Rallis' coaching of his 16 draft picks "arrested development." He hasn't developed a single draft pick as a consistently good starter in three season. Think about this. Here is the list of his draft picks:
2023: B.J. Ojulari, Garrett Williams, Owen Pappoe, Kei'Trel Clark, Dante Stills
2024: Darius Robinson, Max Melton, Elijah Jones, Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, Xavier Thomas, Jaden Davis
2025: Walter Nolen, Will Johnson, Cody Simon, Denzel Burke, Kitan Crawford
Can you point to one player here who has consistently thrived under his tutelage?
4. His players have learned that they can miss as many tackles as they want and not be threatened with any sort of benching. This is why the team's tackling has progressively declined over the course of three seasons.
5. Playing a heavy load of soft, poorly coached zone coverages allows for offenses to march down the field on numbers of long, time-consuming drives. The unit's 3rd down conversion percentage was #27 and its #29 ranking in points allowed are a clear sign that Rallis' defense can't get offenses off the field.
6. His misuse of personnel starts right in the middle of the defense at MIKE, where he has chosen to start Kyzir White and Mack Wilson Sr., neither of whom have the speed to cover running backs like Kenneth Walker III, Christian McCaffrey and Kyren Williams, especially on wheel routes in man coverage. So given that man coverage disadvantage and given that Rallis prefers to play zone-type cornerbacks who lack the skills and physical abilities to be good in man coverage, this makes it virtually impossible for him to play anything other than zone coverage. Neither Kyzir White nor Mack Wilson Sr. would start at MIKE for any other NFL defense. And neither would soft tackling, high cushion zone cornerbacks.
7. In 3 years, have you ever seen Rallis take one of his cornerbacks and have him shadow the best receiver on the other team? In today's NFL that is unthinkable. And it explains why in the 4th quarters of games receivers such as Justin Jefferson, Jaxson Smith-Njigba, Puka Nacua and Jauan Jennings wind up wide open versus Rallis soft zones. The two most talented man-to-man cornerbacks on the roster, Max Melton and Elijah Jones are veritable outcasts in Rallis' system.
8. In 3 years, the Cardinals' pass rush has been #31 in the NFL in sacks averaging a mere 34.6 sacks a season. This past season, despite adding Josh Sweat, Calais Campbell, Walter Nolan and Jordan Burch and re-signing Baron Browning and Zaven Collins, the Cardinals' pass rush mustered up a paltry 30 sacks, raking it #30 in the NFL.
9. The perception that Nick Rallis was going to be a veritable head coaching candidate in 2026 because of the genius of his creative schemes and blitz packages was never based on factual evidence that those schemes were consistently working. For example, on crafty blitz calls, so often the opposing QB was able to exploit the call because Rallis decided to stay in soft zone coverage behind the blitz. This is why his defensive schemes can aptly be described at beat as "passive aggressive." Another example is Rallis' penchant for dropping his best edge rushers into zone coverages on key third down situations, which basically has led to easy wide open "hole shot" conversions. One can tell by Josh Sweat's reactions after those calls that this was not what he signed up for. Not one iota.
10. Only 4 Cardinals' defenders in 2025 graded above 65.0 on both their tackling and coverage grades:
* Elijah Jones (37 snaps) --- tackling: 76.7 --- coverage: 83.0
* Kitan Crawford (142 snaps) --- 69.9 --- 71.8
* Jalen Thompson (978 snaps) --- 85.9 --- 69.2
* Owen Pappoe (96 snaps) --- 82.8 --- 70.3
Only 3 other level 2 or 3 defenders graded above 65 in tackling:
* Dadrion Taylor-Demerson --- 74.8
* Jordan Burch --- 71.9
* Josh Sweat --- 69.3
No other Cardinals' defenders graded above 65 in pass coverage.
Here are the Cardinals who graded sub 65 on both tackling and pass coverage:
* Zaven Collins --- 38.8 --- 59.0
* Garrett Williams ---29.1 --- 64.2
* Will Johnson --- 51.2 --- 60.7
* Mack Wilson Sr. --- 41.9 --- 53.8
* Cody Simon --- 36.3 --- 57.9
* Kei'Trel Clark --- 39.1 --- 54.1
* Denzel Burke --- 34.5 --- 61.2
* Baron Browning --- 27.2 --- 42.7
* B.J. Ojulari --- 54.5 --- 41.6
* Darren Hall ---52.5 --- 46.1
* Max Melton --- 32.8 --- 56.1
* Jaden Davis --- 28.9 --- 49.3
Now, let's talk about the big boys up front per their tackling and pass rush grades.
Not one of them graded 65.0 or better in both tackling and pass rush.
* Walter Nolen --- tackling: 73.8 --- pass rush: 60.0
* Zach Carter --- 47.9 --- 60.0
* Calais Campbell --- 35.5 --- 69.2
* L.J. Collier --- 71.4 --- 63.2
* Anthony Goodlow --- 70.7 --- 54.5
* Dante Stills --- 27.5 --- 55.4
* Dalvin Tomlinson --- 28.8 --- 55.4
* PJ Mustipher --- 70.9 --- 54.9
* Bilal Nichols --- 70.2 --- 47.5
* Darius Robinson --- 52.9 --- 44.3
2023, 2024, 2025 Cardinals' Defensive Rankings (per PFF)
* DEF - #32 --- #23 --- #30 --- average: #28
* RDEF - #32 --- #20 ---#29 --- average: #27
* TACK - #17 --- #19 ---#32 (steadily regressing) --- average: #23
* PRSH - #29 --- #30 ---#29 ---(#31 in NFL last 3 years) --- average: #29
* COV - #29 --- #16 --- #27 ---average: #24
Contracts:
* SOLB Zaven Collins --- 2/$14M
* SDE Calais Campbell ---1/$6M
* NT Dalvin Tomlinson --- 2/$29M
* WDE Darius Robinson --- 4/$13.9M
* Walter Nolen -4/$19.4M
* WOLB Josh Sweat --- 4/$76M
* MIKE Mack Wilson Sr. --- 3/$12.7M
* WILB Akeem Davis Gaither --- 2/$10M
* Nickel Edge Baron Browning ---2/$15M
* CB Will Johnson --- 4/$9.4M
* SS Jalen Thompson --- 3/$36M
* FS Budda Baker --- 3/$54M
* CB Denzel Burke --- 4/$4.5M
* NCB Garrett Williams - 4/$5.6M
* NS Dadrion Taylor-Demerson ---4/$4.9M
Financial Investment: $114.4M
The question is --- can you point to as a single reason to retain any of the Cardinals' defensive coaches?
What Nick Rallis' return confirms, aided and abetted apparently by the recommendations that Matt LaFleur's and Jonathan Gannon's discussed with Mike LaFleur and the fact that Michael Bidwill and Monti Ossenfort insisted that Mike LaFleur interview Nick Rallis who was in the building all along for being under contract --- think of how awkward that is for a new HC to see him each day in the building and how he could easily feel bad for him. Obviously, Bidwill and Ossenfort wanted LaFleur to keep Rallis all along --- so what does all of this confirm? It confirms that
Bidwill and Ossenfort didn't really want to fire Jonathan Gannon.
I, for one, will never forget Bidwill and Ossenfort exclaiming at the announcement presser of Gannon's firing, "He made all of us BETTER." What a scam.
What it also confirms is how Bidwill and Ossenfort could sit through three of the worst seasons of Cardinals' defense and yet STILL be committed to the "caution and cushion" style, the coordinating of it and the discouraging lack of player development in it --- just shows how incorrigibly inept they are as football decision makers, to the point of being an abject dereliction.
Was hoping LaFleur would bring in defensive asst coach like a Marvin Lewis to help develop some of our younger players. It felt like a lot of players on defense didn't buy into or just quit on it end of the year. This defense underperformed all year. A new set of eyes would have breathed life into it. We will be regressing player development for another 12 months. How many more 40 point blow outs do you need to see on tape to figure out its not working?
ReplyDeleteWalt, thanks for ruining my Sunday! my only hope is that (1) Rallis is adaptable on scheme and MLF will dictate changes; (2) MLF will hire a senior defensive advisor to help Rallis; (3) the Cardinals will hire a dedicated, tackling coach, as some teams have done, and include live tackling in practice; (4) the Cardinals will revamp their strength and conditioning program; and (5) the Cardinals will conduct a serious study on whether the field may be contributing to an abnormal amount of injuries. The likelihood of this is zero, which means I’ll probably be banging my head against the wall and gouging my eyes out for another season. Go Cardinals!
ReplyDeleteGreat suggestions, CF31. We will try to keep track of these suggestions as we go along. Hopefully you won't have to play the part of Oedipus Rex at the end of the play.
DeleteFrom the beginning, I thought we should bring in an offensive-minded coach to pair with the new QB we will be getting in the next 1-2 years. But that was predicated on a strong DC hire.
ReplyDeleteNow we’re back to the age old question of “are we tanking or just incompetent?”
Incompetence, plain and simple — and the inevitable result is tanking.
DeleteUnlike most Cardinals podcasts currying favor or paid commentators who sugarcoat or politely gloss over the continued lack of effort, competence, and accountability, the ugly realities will be confronted head-on and discussed without mercy on behalf of a suffering fanbase that has been ignored and abused for decades on tomorrow’s RedRain Podcast.
Show no mercy, Sam! Can’t wait to hear it!
Delete""He made all of us BETTER." What a scam."
ReplyDeleteLOL I hadn't seen the presser. Someone who persistently lies, even when the audience knows they are lying is a pathological liar. I have a gut this is a big part of the reason people don't want to work for this team.
Incompetence - Bidwillian failure at its most simple analysis. It is quite obvious that Bidwill is in control of this failed franchise. Tanking for a QB replacement in '27. LeFleur is nothing more than the next scapegoat. Rinse-n-Repeat. Fans should be outraged. This did nothing to make me renew my season tickets, and nothing to make me want to support my home team. It is looking like another 3/4 win season in '27; Will we win a game against any division foe? Unlikely. It makes me sick to my stomach knowing that no Defensive coach (a) wanted to be a coach in AZ and (b) our best chance was 're-hiring' our worst coordinators/coaches.
ReplyDeleteOutstanding Red Run. The real gut punch? Prospective hires looked at a job working for the worst owner in sports, evaluated the roster they’d be expected to elevate, and quickly passed. The Cards couldn’t even present a remotely workable, talented, or even improbably competitive squad to sell the opportunity.
DeleteHey guys, we are taping the Red Rain Podcast tomorrow morning at 7:30 am AZ time. If you want us to address any of your thoughts and ideas or questions, please write them here and we will do so. "We get by with a little help from our friends."
ReplyDeleteIs retaining Rallis for the purposes of (1) fueling the tank job for a QB in 2027, (2) saving $$$ (I assume he was already under contract), (3) allowing a scapegoat for LaFleur if things go poorly, and/or (4) some other reason(s)?
DeleteMake it make sense!
Possible Kyler Murray landing spots. Vikings, Jets, Falcons is what I've read. What are your opinions on what's going to happen with Kyler.
DeleteWalt - always enjoyed reading your opinions on the Cardinals. Though I think I am tapping out. Growing up I did not follow the Cardinals, but I was able to attend the 1st game the Cardinals played in Arizona, and while living down there they became over the years the team I rooted for, but does anything really ever change. I do hope the LaFleur has success but it feels that he is already behind the 8 ball. I am getting to old to spend my time on a team that continues to do the same thing over and over. I will poke around here to see how things are going, but I just don't want to invest any more time or money into this team.
ReplyDeleteThe most frustrating aspect of this all is that this Gannon/Rallis system is basically the exact same system that produced 70 sacks and was near top of the NFL is all categories in 2022. Is it really the case that the system can't work, or is it more accurate to say that the system only works when you have both an elite pass rushing DL and an elite secondary, and then it works well enough to carry a team to the SB.
ReplyDeleteWalt if Reuben Baine is on board at three would you draft him and wait until second round for offensive tackle. What running backs do you like in this years draft?
ReplyDeleteIt's a best player available kind of class this year for the Cardinals. Although we make a great point on the Podcast about the Cornerbacks coach hire having a connection to Baine at Miami...
Delete