Cardinals name Vance Joseph DC, Bill Davis LB coach

The Arizona Cardinals have hired former Denver Broncos head coach Vance Joseph as Kliff Kingsbury’s defensive coordinator and also named Bill Davis the team’s linebackers coach and Jeff Rodgers as special teams coordinator.

With the Cardinals hiring an offensive-minded head coach in Kingsbury with no NFL experience, they expressed a desire to find a defensive coordinator with experience. GM Steve Keim added the team would seek a coach who would direct a 3-4 defense, which Joseph does.

The 46-year-old interviewed in Arizona on Thursday. He was under consideration for the head coaching job with the Cincinnati Bengals, who instead are reportedly planning to hire Rams quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor.

Joseph also reportedly met with the Cleveland Browns with interest in their DC job on Thursday and was an option to land in the defensive coordinator post with the New York Jets. New York will reportedly hire former Browns interim coach Gregg Williams, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said.

He was one of several names under consideration for the defensive coordinator opening in Arizona. That also included Dom Capers, Mike Nolan and Chuck Pagano, per 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s John Gambadoro.

After a two-year career in the NFL playing defensive back in the mid-1990s, Joseph coached in college from 1999-2004 before joining the San Francisco 49ers in 2005 as an assistant defensive backs coach. The next year, Joseph became the team’s primary defensive backs coach until 2010. He held the same position for the Houston Texans from 2011-13 and with the Cincinnati Bengals the two following seasons.

Joseph then became the defensive coordinator of the Miami Dolphins in 2016. Miami made the playoffs that year, recording the fourth-most takeaways in the NFL.

One year later, Joseph was hired by the Broncos as the team’s next head coach. He went 11-21 in two seasons before being fired on Dec. 31.

Joseph will take over a defense run by former Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks and former defensive coordinator Al Holcomb. The Cardinals ranked 21st overall in team defense under Wilks, posting the second-worst rushing defense and the No. 8 overall passing defense.

The Broncos ranked fifth overall in team defense last season, including the fourth-best pass defense and 16th-ranked rush defense.

The Cardinals went 3-13 under Wilks in his first season and fired the first-year head coach on Dec. 31.

Davis previously worked as Arizona’s defensive coordinator from 2009-10 and was its linebackers coach from 2007-08.

He has since worked as Browns linebackers coach (2011-12), Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator (2013-15) and was previously Ohio State’s linebackers coach (2017-18).

Rodgers remains with the Cardinals and served as Arizona’s special teams coordinator under Wilks in 2018.

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