Report: Vance Joseph interviewing for Cardinals’ head coach job Wednesday

The Arizona Cardinals are reportedly interviewing defensive coordinator Vance Joseph for the team’s head-coaching vacancy on Wednesday, per ESPN’s Dan Graziano.

Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill during general manager Monti Ossenfort’s introductory press conference on Tuesday confirmed that the team was planning on meeting with Joseph over the opening.

The news of the scheduled interview comes a day after it was reported that Arizona had interviewed former Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich for the position.

Aside from the team’s interest in interviewing Joseph and Reich, the team has also requested permission to interview Broncos DC Ejiro Evero, Pittsburgh Steelers defensive assistant Brian Flores, San Francisco 49ers DC DeMeco Ryans and former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton.

Serving under Kingsbury the past four seasons, Joseph has garnered a lot of respect within the franchise. The familiarity is certainly there.

Arizona’s defense had improved each year under Joseph through his first three seasons at the helm, allowing 27.6 points per game in 2019, 22.9 in 2020 and 21.5 in 2021.

This year, however, was a different story, with the Cardinals allowing 26.4 points per game. Only the Chicago Bears, who finished with the worst record in the league, gave up more points (27.2).

Despite that final tally, Joseph found some consistency in what was supposed to be the team’s weakest link even with a plethora of key injuries and an offense that struggled to find rhythm.

Joseph knows a little about being an NFL head coach, too.

Before taking his coordinator role with the Cardinals in 2019, Joseph was the Denver Broncos’ lead man for two seasons (2017-18) before his firing.

Denver went 11-21 under Joseph and struggled mightily to find a starting quarterback.

Joseph also split head-coaching duties with special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers when Kingsbury missed the team’s 2020 matchup against the Browns due to COVID-19. The Cardinals didn’t miss a beat in the matchup, winning 34-14.

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