Rapoport: Falcons’ Armstrong to interview with Cardinals on Friday
Jan 17, 2018, 3:44 PM | Updated: 3:45 pm
Atlanta Falcons special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong, left, confers with head coach Dan Quinn before an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, Dec. 24, 2016. The Falcons won 33-16. (AP photo/Bob Leverone)
(AP photo/Bob Leverone)
As the pool of Arizona Cardinals head coaching candidates grows more shallow, the team will continue setting up a second round of interviews.
The first known scheduled meeting is with Atlanta Falcons special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong, who NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports will visit Arizona on Friday.
Armstrong, 54, played as a defensive back for Temple from 1983-86 under recently-retired Cardinals coach Bruce Arians. He worked under Arians as a grad assistant in 1987 before taking on assistant jobs of varying capacities at Miami (1988), Akron (1989), Oklahoma State (1990-92) and Notre Dame (1993).
He joined the Falcons as a safeties coach, holding that position from 1994-95 before becoming secondary coach in 1996. From 1997-2000, he was the Chicago Bears’ special teams coach and held the same position with the Miami Dolphins from 2001-07 before returning to Atlanta with the same duties in 2008.
The news of Armstrong meeting with the Cardinals comes after Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line coach Mike Munchak turned down the chance to interview with Arizona a second time. Munchak said the timing for his family was not appropriate.
Armstrong joins Patriots linebackers coach Brian Flores and potentially Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo and Panthers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks. All were among the nine candidates the Cardinals reportedly interviewed in their coaching search.
