NBC Sports’ King likes Dan Quinn as Cardinals’ next head coach

The Cardinals have spent the last two and a half weeks looking for their next head coach since the firing of Kliff Kingsbury on Jan. 9.

Sean Payton, Vance Joseph, Brian Flores, Dan Quinn and Aaron Glenn are several candidates that have been interviewed over the last couple of weeks, but according to NBC Sports’ Peter King, there is one candidate that stands out for the job.

“The Cardinals’ job is interesting from a lot of different standpoints. One, are you going to be able to get on the same page and get the most out of an enigmatic player like Kyler Murray?” King said to Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta on Thursday. “That’s the huge, huge question. The thing about (Dan) Quinn, that if I were (owner) Michael Bidwill I would be tempted by, is that Dan Quinn is the most positive human being on the face of the earth.

“He will convince everybody on the team, but particularly Kyler Murray, he will look him in the eye and he will say, ‘we are going to win a Super Bowl,’ and that’s who Dan Quinn is.”

Quinn has been coaching in the NFL since 2001, spending time with 49ers, Dolphins, Jets, Seahawks, Falcons and most recently, the Dallas Cowboys. Quinn has always specialized on the defensive side, both as a defensive line coach and defensive coordinator. His head coaching experience came with the Atlanta Falcons from 2015 to 2020, where he led the team to a Super Bowl.

Hiring someone that can relate to Murray is key, but more importantly, King said Murray has to have belief in himself, the system he is in and the person he is in it with.

“He’s gotta believe in what you’re doing. That’s an absolute must,” King said. “The fact is, no matter how exciting it was at the beginning, the most amazing and least discussed stat in the last 13 months in the NFL is that the Arizona Cardinals in early December 2021 were 10-3 and the one seed in the NFC. Since that day, they are 5-18 and they’ve won one game at State Farm Stadium. That’s an absolute total disgrace.”

On Jan. 16, the Cardinals hired Monti Ossenfort as their general manager, one of many important steps that needed to be taken for the Cardinals during the offseason.

“Good for them in hiring Monti Ossenfort because he has a great pedigree … I don’t know Monti Ossenfort, but his resume speaks for himself,” King said. “He’s a very highly, highly regarded scout and a guy who knows where the players are. But I also think one of the things is you’re going to have to find a really good offensive voice, an offensive force to team with Kyler Murray and you’re also going to have to do well in personnel acquisition in the next year or two to really get the Cardinals back in contention.

“All I know is that Dan Quinn is the kind of guy who on day one is going to stand in front of the press and the public and he is going to convince you, ‘listen, don’t worry, we’re going to be fine. We have great pieces here and I am going to be the captain of this ship to turn this thing around,'” King said. “If that is what Michael Bidwill wants, there’s not a better guy than him.”