Cardinals hire former Dolphins DC Matt Burke as next DL coach

The Arizona Cardinals hired former New York Jets and Miami Dolphins coach Matt Burke as the team’s next defensive line coach, the team announced on Tuesday.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero first reported the hire back on Feb. 14.

Burke, 46, takes over for Brentson Buckner, who actually joined the Jacksonville Jaguars coaching staff in the same capacity.

The new Cardinals coach heads to the Valley after spending last season in New York as a game management coach.

The new line coach will be tasked with continuing the growth of the unit’s young guys, on top of building a rapport with defensive lineman J.J. Watt.

While the Cardinals defensive line had a number of injuries in 2021, most notably to Watt and Jordan Phillips, the Cardinals saw improvement from the likes of Zach Allen in Year 3.

Over 15 games played, Allen put up career highs in tackles (48), sacks (4.0) and QB hits (14). He also notched the first interception of his career against the Chicago Bears in Week 13, returning the pick for a score.

Burke has been in the NFL since 2004, getting his start as an administrative assistant with the Tennessee Titans (2004-05). From there, he was promoted to defensive quality control coach (2006-08) before joining the Detroit Lions as their linebackers coach for five seasons (2009-2013).

He would go on to fill the same role with the Cincinnati Bengals for two seasons (2014-15).

After taking over as the Miami Dolphins linebackers coach under then-defensive coordinator Vance Joseph in 2016, Burke finally got his crack at leading Miami’s defense from 2017-18. Joseph took the open head-coaching gig with the Denver Broncos, making way for Burke’s promotion.

He would eventually find himself in Philadelphia, taking over the title of Eagles defensive special assistant (2019) before being promoted to run game coordinator and defensive line coach in 2020.

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