Cardinals Announce Mike Lafleur As Their New Head Coach

The Cardinals made it official Sunday, announcing they have agreed to a five-year contract with Mike LaFleur.

LaFleur replaces Jonathan Gannon as the team's new head coach.

"I couldn't be more fired up to become the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals and am beyond grateful to [owner] Michael [Bidwill] and [General Manager] Monti [Ossenfort] for this opportunity," LaFleur said in a statement. "Having competed against them in the NFC so many times in recent years, I know the type of talent and toughness the team has and cannot wait to get to Arizona to hit the ground running."

LaFleur, the younger brother of Packers head coach Matt LaFleur, served as the Rams' offensive coordinator for the past three seasons. While he didn't call plays for head coach Sean McVay, LaFleur did gain play-calling experience in two seasons as offensive coordinator with the Jets.

He turns 39 in March.

"In his career, Mike has been around some of the best and brightest coaches in football and has been a key contributor to highly successful teams," Ossenfort said in a statement. "He understands what winning football looks like and what it takes to achieve it. Mike is a strong communicator with a detail-oriented teaching style that has always gotten the best from his players and we are incredibly excited for him to bring that to the Cardinals."

LaFleur began his NFL coaching career under Kyle Shanahan, working with him in Cleveland and Atlanta before becoming Shanahan's passing game coordinator in San Francisco from 2017-20. He was then hired by the Jets under then-head coach Robert Saleh.

LaFleur becomes the 11^th Cardinals' coach since the team moved to Arizona.

"We had the opportunity to speak with an outstanding group of candidates during this very thorough process and gathered tremendous insight from each of them," Bidwill said in a statement. "At the end of that process, it was clear that Mike LaFleur possesses all the traits necessary to lead this team to success as its head coach. He is highly intelligent with an exceptionally sharp, creative football mind. Mike is also a dynamic and innovative leader and exactly the type of person we were looking for to guide our team as its head coach."