Report: Cardinals interview former Packers play-caller Tom Clements
Jan 16, 2019, 11:30 AM
A 2016 photo of Tom Clements of the Green Bay Packers taken on Wednesday, May 25, 2016. (AP Photo)
(AP Photo)
Former Green Bay Packers assistant head coach and OC Tom Clements met with the Arizona Cardinals on Tuesday regarding their opening at offensive coordinator, reports NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.
According to Pelissero’s colleague, Ian Rapoport, Clements would be a candidate to land another assistant job with Arizona if the team hires somebody else as OC. Former Giants head coach Ben McAdoo and former Lions offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter are among the known remaining candidates for Arizona’s offensive coordinator opening.
The 65-year-old Clements last coached in the NFL in 2016, his second year as the Green Bay assistant head coach. Clements held play-calling duties then.
He coached Packers quarterbacks from 2006-11 before he was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2012. Prior to his tenure in Green Bay, Clements was offensive coordinator in Buffalo (2004-05) and quarterbacks coach for Pittsburgh (2001-03), Kansas City (2000) and New Orleans (1997-99).
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Arizona has shown interest in McAdoo, Cooter and former Vikings OC John DeFilippo, who has reportedly decided to sign with the Jacksonville Jaguars as their offensive coordinator. Arizona had also expressed interest in former Atlanta Falcons OC Steve Sarkisian, but he is no longer a candidate, reports 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s John Gambadoro.
To promote the growth of quarterback Josh Rosen, who is coming off his rookie season, the Cardinals have been targeting quarterback-focused candidates for head coach Kliff Kingsbury’s new staff. Kingsbury is expected to be the play-caller for Arizona’s offense and said he wanted to hire assistant offensive minds who could meld his offensive philosophies from the Air Raid offense he coached at Texas Tech with NFL concepts.
On Sunday, the Cardinals made a series of hires on the offensive side, including offensive line coach Sean Kugler, assistant offensive line coach Brian Natkin and wide receivers coach David Raih. Raih coached under Clements in Green Bay from 2014-16 as a coaching administrator and assistant offensive line coach.
The team also retained tight ends coach Steve Heiden and will reportedly bring on former Steelers assistant James Saxon as running backs coach.
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