High-energy introduction for Nick Rallis as Arizona Cardinals' defensive coordinator
The door to the interview and media room at the Arizona Cardinals training facility swung open a few minutes before 2 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, and shouts of "Hey! Hey! Hey!" were amplified by the brick walls.
Jonathan Gannon, days into his new job as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, followed that up with a "Happy Wednesday!" and instructed reporters to go ahead with questions.
"Shoot!!!" he exclaimed.
New Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis walked in behind Gannon and the two took seats at a table. The 29-year-old Rallis wasn't as bubbly despite being 11 years younger then the head coach, not that it mattered much.
"I run circles around this guy," Gannon said.
"I'm not going to refute that," Rallis countered. "This guy is is high energy all the time. I have a little bit more mellowness to me."
Rallis on Wednesday had to answer plenty of questions about his youth and being in a top assistant coaching position for the Cardinals. But the former Philadelphia Eagles linebackers coach, who worked with Gannon at Super Bowl 57 this month, does have a solid coaching resume.
His linebackers had 19½ of the Eagles' NFL-best 70 sacks last season. Two Eagles linebackers had 125 or more tackles. In Minnesota, when Rallis was on the Vikings staff in 2020, linebackers Eric Kendricks and Eric Wilson were the only pair of linebackers in the league to have 100-plus tackles and three or more interceptions that season.
Rallis went from quality control coach at Wake Forest in 2017 to the NFL and Minnesota for the next three seasons. He's only seven years removed from his last season of college football at Minnesota of the Big Ten.
"What's my quote that I use?" Gannon asked.
"Experience is not synonymous with knowledge," Rallis said.
Gannon said Rallis will call the Cardinals' defensive formations in games.
"There's definitely a lot of talent for the defense to be working with. And I'm excited to work with a lot of these guys from the front to the back end," Rallis said. "Trying to reach out to a handful of guys and communicate with them. Some of our guys are here working out, which is good to start to connect with them. But I'm excited to eventually get to the point where we are all in the building together."
Rallis mentioned Cardinals star safety Budda Baker when asked about his early evaluations of the defensive player roster.
"Obviously, Budda sets the standard on how you play this game. It is violent, it is high motor 24-7. And I'm just picking one guy out, there's all kinds of guys on this defense that play to that standard," Rallis said. "We're going to continue to demand to push that even further and for everyone to be at that standard of playing violently and being explosive."
Gannon was impressed by Rallis in the interview process.
"I said, 'Boy, this guy was honest, like, we need to research this and think about this. This was a cool idea,'" Gannon said of Rallis. "But you know, ultimately I have a vision in my brain of what I want as far as coordinators go and position coaches go, and he fit that mold."
Gannon's staff grows
The Cardinals reportedly added two new assistant coaches on Wednesday, including one on defense. According to ESPN, Ryan Smith, former cornerbacks coach at Northwestern of the Big Ten, will coach the Cardinals cornerbacks as part of Gannon's staff. It's Smith's first NFL job after nine seasons in college coaching.
Arizona's new tight ends coach, according to a report from NFL Media, is Ben Steele, who has coached with four other NFL teams. Most recently he worked with the Denver Broncos' offensive line.
Steele also played in 17 NFL games with the Green Bay Packers in 2004 and 2005 before going into coaching college football.
According to multiple reports, former Florida co-defensive coordinator Patrick Toney will join the Cardinals' staff, along with Gators tight ends coach William Peagler.
Get in touch with Jose Romero at Jose.Romero@gannett.com. Find him on Twitter at @RomeroJoseM.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Nick Rallis joins youthful Arizona Cardinals coaching staff, will call defense
