The coaching carousel continue to spin in the desert. Xtra 910's Mike Jurecki reported via Twitter yesterday that the Arizona Cardinals have promoted assistant coach John McNulty to quarterbacks coach. McNulty was set to interview with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for their vacant offensive coordinator position, but was denied by Ken Whisenhunt and the Cardinals front office. Kent Somers noted that this was likely because of his talent and ability to coach in many areas of the game. It appears that the Cardinals have chosen to take advantage of those talents.
The good news is that the Cardinals have now filled their quarterback coaching position, so that search is over. The bad news? They now need a new wide receivers coach.
While McNulty was definitely a qualified candidate to become the coach of Kevin Kolb, John Skelton and Richard Bartel, he leaves behind a position that could also use some work. Larry Fitzgerald is the only receiver on the roster that is a clear cut starter and because of that, he consistently sees multiple defenders on him. Some of the younger players such as Early Doucet and Andre Roberts were able to step up, but the Cardinals seem to lack talent at the position.
With McNulty taking up his new position, Arizona will be in search of someone who can help develop their youth. Someone that immediately comes to mind is Todd Haley, who is still looking for a job after being fired as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.
When Haley was the offensive coordinator of the Cardinals a mere three years ago, he was able to take players with potential and turn that potential into talent. Take Steve Breaston for example. He was never thought to be more than a great return man at first, but he eventually turned into a solid #2 wide receiver and earned himself a big free agent deal with the Chiefs before the 2011 season.
Obviously, I am just speculating with names at this point, but the possibilities are beginning to thin out. Many of the big name coaches have already been signed by various teams around the league. It is no time to panic, but if the Cardinals want to land a top tier guy, they will need to work with diligence.
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