News broke yesterday that the Arizona Cardinals have hired Frank Reich to be their new wide receivers coach. Coming over from the Indianapolis Colts, Reich formerly coach both the quarterbacks and wide receivers in 2010 and 2011 respectively. The hire became necessary after the Cardinals promoted their former wide receivers coach, John McNulty, to be the team's quarterbacks coach.
Confused? Let's break down both McNulty and Reich, while also taking a look at what they'll be in charge of accomplishing in their new positions with the Cards.
Although the hiring of Reich is bound to drive the speculation fire of Peyton Manning coming to Arizona, the move seems to have been a good one, regardless of how that situation turns out. As I have said on many other occasions, the Cardinals were looking for a guy that could help develop their youth into playmakers for the team. Reich has a resume to support that he can do just that.
Players such as Pierre Garcon, Austin Collie and to an extent, Reggie Wayne, have all developed into fine receivers under the watch of Reich. The hope will be that he is able to work the same magic with the young receivers on the Cardinals' roster. Andre Roberts, Early Doucet (who is a free agent, but could return), Stephen Williams and DeMarco Sampson are all athletes that could benefit from Reich's tutelage.
When asked about developing players, Reich had this to say to azcardinals.com writer, Darren Urban:
"The key is the players," Reich said. "They want to get better. If you get a guy who has talent and wants to get better, they will develop."
Leaving behind Larry Fitzgerald and company for a different section of the offense is John McNulty. After being denied by Ken Whisenhunt and the Cardinals organization to interview for the Buccaneers offensive coordinator position, McNulty was officially made the new quarterbacks coach as of yesterday.
Ken Whisenhunt was quite impressed with McNulty's interview saying, "the things he talked about would be a good mix for our quarterbacks and developing that position and getting more consistent play from them."
When talking with Urban about his plans and how he intends to improve the play of Kevin Kolb and John Skelton, McNulty had some very interesting things to say:
"Everybody is in agreement that after the last two years, we need better play at the quarterback position," McNulty said. "I think that's pretty much the directive of the organization at this point."
McNulty also noted that the Cards have definitely moved on from the post-Kurt Warner era and that there are no guarantees as to who will be the team's starting quarterback next fall.
With the hiring of Reich and the official promotion of McNulty, the Cardinals coaching staff search is now complete. Speculation as to who would be taking over as the next assistant is now over, but talk of where Manning may end up has only just begun.
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