Speaker 1: Hey everybody, and welcome to another edition of the Dave
Speaker 1: Pash Podcast. I'm your host ESPN and Arizona Cardinals play
Speaker 1: by play announcer Dave Pash. Our guest this week is
Speaker 1: first year Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannett. Some great
Speaker 1: summer listening for Cardinal fans to get you ready but
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty three season. We'll talk with Jag about
Speaker 1: some of his coaching philosophies, some of the people that
Speaker 1: have mentored him over the years, what to expect from
Speaker 1: the Cardinals defense in twenty twenty three. We'll also get
Speaker 1: players specific. We'll talk about Kyler Murray as well as
Speaker 1: some of the young players like Isaiah Simmons and Zavian Collins.
Speaker 2: I think they need to be impact players for us,
Speaker 2: and that's how we retreating them. Both of those guys
Speaker 2: are extremely intelligent. So everyone sees a physical skill set,
Speaker 2: but they don't know what they have in their brain.
Speaker 2: And that's what excites me the most about those two
Speaker 2: guys is their brain.
Speaker 1: We'll also talk about the Cardinals first round draft pick
Speaker 1: Paris Johnson, what to expect from some of the young
Speaker 1: players this season, and we'll also get into his assistant
Speaker 1: coaches and the two coordinators hired in the off season,
Speaker 1: and what Cardinal Fann should look for in twenty twenty three.
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Speaker 1: problem called one eight hundred. Next step All right, time
Speaker 1: for our conversation with new Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon.
Speaker 1: So you introduce yourself as Jonathan Gannon, but everybody calls
Speaker 1: you JG. What do you prefer? Is it coach Gannon?
Speaker 1: Is it John Jonathan?
Speaker 3: It's definitely not John. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean some guys call me coach Gannon, but I
Speaker 2: go by JG. It's easy and quick, and to me,
Speaker 2: I'm one of the guys. So JG's a pretty good
Speaker 2: title for me, I think.
Speaker 1: And was that something that everybody called you when you
Speaker 1: were playing and stuff?
Speaker 2: It was Louisville, It was yeah, because I didn't honestly,
Speaker 2: I don't like John, so Jonathan johnan three syllables kind
Speaker 2: of longer, so it just turned into JG.
Speaker 3: Get over here.
Speaker 1: So, well, you got some energy man. I met you
Speaker 1: briefly with Michael. I don't know it was two or
Speaker 1: three months ago, but I could tell when you came
Speaker 1: into the studio. I could hear you down the way
Speaker 1: a little bit yelling out to Tim Delaney, our boss.
Speaker 1: So you got some energy, man, which has been contagious
Speaker 1: and infectious. I've heard a lot of guys talk about that.
Speaker 1: Have you had a chance to kind of get settled
Speaker 1: into the valley?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, my crews out here just got out here last week.
Speaker 2: I Memorial Day weekend and waiting for the house to
Speaker 2: get kind of done. But really enjoyed the city the times.
Speaker 2: I haven't been out a lot, but I like to
Speaker 2: go explore restaurants and I think that the city has
Speaker 2: some good things to offer. And excited to be here really,
Speaker 2: so it's good to get the crew here they start
Speaker 2: school in Augus or whatever. They older too, but really, honestly,
Speaker 2: really excited for a new city. You know, a lot
Speaker 2: of people talk about coaching, Well, one of the negatives
Speaker 2: is you move around. And my first year in the
Speaker 2: NFL is two thousand and seven. I've been on seven
Speaker 2: NFL teams. I always kind of thought it was a positive.
Speaker 2: I liked living in new cities. And then when people
Speaker 2: call you, hey, we're going for a you know, a
Speaker 2: bachelor party in Nashville.
Speaker 3: Oh, I lived there for two years. Where are you
Speaker 3: guys going? You know what I mean? Make sure you
Speaker 3: go to this spot or whatever it is. So I
Speaker 3: like that. We've lived in some different places.
Speaker 1: Do you have a spot picked out yet? Like a
Speaker 1: regular spot you guys go to?
Speaker 3: Not so much yet.
Speaker 2: I've been to some good places though, up kind of
Speaker 2: around the fashion mall right there. I like Francine, like Nobu,
Speaker 2: like Stake forty four.
Speaker 1: You're all the expensive places.
Speaker 2: I'm going to Ocean forty four in a week or two.
Speaker 2: So the Henry, I like the Henry a lot. Henry's
Speaker 2: cool for breakfast. I haven't been there for dinner, but
Speaker 2: I like the Henry. I went after church one Sunday
Speaker 2: morning it was packed. I was like, Wow, this is
Speaker 2: pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Are people starting to recognize you or can you pretty
Speaker 1: much go in and nobody says anything to you.
Speaker 2: It depends where you go, but you do get the
Speaker 2: recognization of oh, hey, you're the new coach.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean? Good luck? Go cards.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: It's cool.
Speaker 2: I kind of like to stay under the radar anyhow,
Speaker 2: but hopefully we start winning, get this thing rolling.
Speaker 3: You can't go anywhere.
Speaker 1: So obviously I want to talk a lot about you
Speaker 1: as a coach and philosophy and some of the things
Speaker 1: you've done in your career, But I want to go
Speaker 1: back to growing up. You grew up in Cleveland, right, football, basketball, track?
Speaker 1: Three sport guy?
Speaker 3: Correct?
Speaker 1: Who are your teams growing up? Browns, Calves?
Speaker 3: You know whoever? I was a front runner? Whoever was winning?
Speaker 2: Honestly, really, I was a huge Charles Woodson fan right
Speaker 2: kind of the end of grade school, high school, so
Speaker 2: he was a Michigan guy. So I was kind of
Speaker 2: always pulling for Michigan, even though I was on house
Speaker 2: to you know, Ohio guy. But you know, honestly, who
Speaker 2: was ever winning?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: I concentrated more on the players than the teams, I think.
Speaker 1: And you played football at Louisville, I know, until you
Speaker 1: had a career ending injury. But did you look at
Speaker 1: going elsewhere? Did you think about could you play basketball
Speaker 1: or done track?
Speaker 2: I could have Yeah, yeah, I could have played. So
Speaker 2: my sophomore year, the head basketball coach of my high
Speaker 2: school and the head football coach hit me down and
Speaker 2: they say, you know, JG. You can go to a
Speaker 2: Division I school and play basketball. You can go to
Speaker 2: a Division I school and play football. You're not going
Speaker 2: to go to the NBA. You have a chance to
Speaker 2: go to the NFL. So their pitch to me was
Speaker 2: stop playing AU basketball and start running track. So that's
Speaker 2: when I really started. I started to run track after
Speaker 2: my going into my I guess after my sophomore year.
Speaker 2: My sophomore year and I lost my jump shot, but
Speaker 2: I got faster.
Speaker 3: So.
Speaker 2: I kind of I knew probably football was my you know,
Speaker 2: highest ceiling, I think, And that's what I did. So
Speaker 2: I had a couple different to play, pretty good offers
Speaker 2: to play Division one football. I picked Louisville because they
Speaker 2: were the one offer that was going to allow me
Speaker 2: to play dB. Because I played both ways in high school,
Speaker 2: A lot of teams wanted me to play receiver and
Speaker 2: I kind of wanted to play dB. So that's one
Speaker 2: of the reasons I picked Louisville and.
Speaker 1: Bobby Patrino was the head coach, right John L.
Speaker 3: Smith, John L. Smith.
Speaker 2: So I played for John L. Smith, got red shirted,
Speaker 2: played my reshirt freshman year. That's when I got hurt
Speaker 2: my tenth game there. But we were good that year
Speaker 2: for John Allen. He took a Michigan State head coaching job.
Speaker 2: Bobby Patrino comes. He was the offensive corner at the
Speaker 2: time at Auburn, so he comes and then so but
Speaker 2: I never really played for Bobby. I sat out that
Speaker 2: next year and then I tried to go through the
Speaker 2: following spring ball and I couldn't, you know, couldn't function.
Speaker 2: And that's kind of when I started student assistant coaching,
Speaker 2: and Bobby sent me down. He's like, have you ever
Speaker 2: thought about coaching? And I was like, well, yeah, but
Speaker 2: I wanted to play ten years in the NFL and
Speaker 2: then coach at my high school in Cleveland. He says, well,
Speaker 2: you're not going to do that. So I said thank you,
Speaker 2: and so he really gave me my first job, my
Speaker 2: first start, you know what I mean. And I was
Speaker 2: kind of submerged in and Bobby was a I mean
Speaker 2: a very detailed, disciplined guy, and I mean a mastermind
Speaker 2: of offense. So and I obviously was on defense. But
Speaker 2: it was cool. It was a cool transition for me.
Speaker 2: I was down about not being able to play, but
Speaker 2: it was like, Okay, I'm going to dive all into this.
Speaker 2: So then I started student assistant when I graduated, made
Speaker 2: me the defensive GA. My first year of the defensive GA,
Speaker 2: we're top five in the country, and he took the
Speaker 2: Atlanta Falcons head job and brought me with him. So
Speaker 2: I was in the NFL at twenty four and that's
Speaker 2: how I got my start.
Speaker 1: I remember my first college football game for ESPN. I
Speaker 1: was actually on Harry Douglas's radio show last week and
Speaker 1: we were talking a little bit about covering him, but
Speaker 1: then also we were talking about the NBA playoffs, but
Speaker 1: talking about covering him, and then mentioned to him. I
Speaker 1: remember two thousand and four, it was a Sunday night
Speaker 1: game against Kentucky. It was the first game of the season.
Speaker 1: I don't remember that you were there then I was there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, as a gay.
Speaker 1: Coach, Petrino I always felt and I know if there's
Speaker 1: you know, other things that have happened off the field
Speaker 1: that you know, he's already spoken of and had answer
Speaker 1: for it. But in terms of, like as a football mind,
Speaker 1: he's incredibly respected. What was like your biggest takeaway from
Speaker 1: being around him and from a football perspective in terms
Speaker 1: of how maybe he shaped you as a coach?
Speaker 3: Yeah, really good question, Dave.
Speaker 2: He I mean, the details of a play and it
Speaker 2: was like it was the first you know, because you're
Speaker 2: as a player you really don't you know, but you
Speaker 2: don't know. And I remember sitting in a staff meeting
Speaker 2: and him talking about outside zone out of twelve personnelic trips,
Speaker 2: wing and I'm like, wow, that is like I don't
Speaker 2: I don't have a clue what football is, and just
Speaker 2: the different ways to attack defenses and leverages and number
Speaker 2: counts and IDs in the run game. It was like,
Speaker 2: who you know, it's just exploded my brain. But he
Speaker 2: obviously has been a head coach at a lot of
Speaker 2: different places for a long time and has always had success.
Speaker 2: Good teams, always, good offenses. And we used to laugh
Speaker 2: with Bobby at Louisville. The offense was always better than
Speaker 2: the defense, I said, because he stole all the good
Speaker 2: players and put him on offense.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean, Harry Douglas.
Speaker 2: You know he should have been playing corner, but he
Speaker 2: goes and has a career being a receiver in the NFL.
Speaker 2: But it was really that kind of shaped my mind
Speaker 2: of just how detailed you have to be if you
Speaker 2: want to be a good coach. And I'm still working
Speaker 2: on that part of my game to this day, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean.
Speaker 3: But that was like it was like.
Speaker 2: A master class of footwork and leverage and hand placement,
Speaker 2: and it was like, Wow, there's a lot of stuff
Speaker 2: going on each play. You know that that fans really
Speaker 2: don't know. You know, how would they know?
Speaker 1: Sure?
Speaker 2: But you know, I think there was an appreciation from
Speaker 2: me that there's a lot that goes into this job.
Speaker 1: It's funny that you say that. So and I brought
Speaker 1: this guy up a couple of times on this podcast.
Speaker 1: Urban Meyer, who I worked with in between Florida and
Speaker 1: Ohio State. He was my booth partner, him and Chris Pielman.
Speaker 1: We had a three man booth together, and I remember
Speaker 1: I used to watch film all the time, like in
Speaker 1: preparation for games. And he said to me one time,
Speaker 1: He's like, well, what are you looking at when you're
Speaker 1: watching film? What are you looking at? And I said, well,
Speaker 1: I'm just kind of watching the players for me for
Speaker 1: my job play by play. I'm not as focused on
Speaker 1: zone defense and all this stuff. But anyway, after working
Speaker 1: with him, I stopped watching film because I realized it
Speaker 1: wasn't doing me any good because I had no idea
Speaker 1: what the call was, no idea what certain individuals. And
Speaker 1: that's one thing I think about football that most people
Speaker 1: don't understand is players. There's so many things that go
Speaker 1: into a play. Responsibilities that a player has, or maybe
Speaker 1: they misheard something or something that you prepared for changed, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, and as a coach, and I got to
Speaker 1: think of the NFL, your brain's constantly go and thinking
Speaker 1: about Okay, if they do this, how do we do this,
Speaker 1: and how much? Who else were some of your influence
Speaker 1: as a coach that got you kind of to this point?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, right from the jump. When
Speaker 2: we went to Atlanta, the defensive coordinator was Mike Zimmer
Speaker 2: for Bobby and the dB coach was Emma Thomas and
Speaker 2: so long time NFL guys, both had coordinated, both.
Speaker 3: Were dB coaches.
Speaker 2: I would say those two from the start just about
Speaker 2: dB play and philosophy of how to play defense with
Speaker 2: coach Zimmer, and then I, you know, then I went
Speaker 2: and scouted for a couple of years after that, and
Speaker 2: then I got back into coaching. I was quitely controlling
Speaker 2: Tennessee and Jerry Gray was a coordinator. It was kind
Speaker 2: of a different philosophy than Zim. And there's a lot
Speaker 2: of ways to play defense you know, out there that
Speaker 2: can be successful. And that was kind of cool because
Speaker 2: it was like, oh wow, like there's different ways you
Speaker 2: can do this and there's you know here, look at
Speaker 2: the advantages of doing it like this. And then I
Speaker 2: got back with Zim. And the thing about coaching is
Speaker 2: is pretty cool. I think the best coaches are curious.
Speaker 2: And what I mean by that is is just because
Speaker 2: I believe something or something has worked, or you know,
Speaker 2: I'm convicted about this technique or this style of defense,
Speaker 2: Like there's always change every year. I think the best
Speaker 2: coaches are adaptable and they liked they They're curious, They
Speaker 2: watch tape, they talk to people, they ask questions, they
Speaker 2: watch more tape, they talk to the players.
Speaker 3: It's like, hey, this is how we've.
Speaker 2: Always done it, but what if we could do it
Speaker 2: like this, Like what if we just added this, or
Speaker 2: what if we took out this? And when I got
Speaker 2: back with Zim, which so two thousand and seven twenty fourteen,
Speaker 2: so seven years in between there, and it was like
Speaker 2: there's a couple things that were the same, but then
Speaker 2: there are some other things. As he was a defensive
Speaker 2: coordinator from Atlanta, went to Cincinnati and had all those
Speaker 2: good defenses with Marvin Lewis, and it was like wow,
Speaker 2: like Zim, I thought, you said this is the way
Speaker 2: to play it, and he was like, yeah, I've changed
Speaker 2: here's why.
Speaker 3: And then you'd show you the tape.
Speaker 2: So it was it was always kind of cool to me,
Speaker 2: Like that kind of hit me, and you know, like
Speaker 2: I said, then I you know, went to Indy and
Speaker 2: Matt Eberflus was the coordinator under Frank Reich, and he
Speaker 2: came up a different style of defense. He was a
Speaker 2: longtime coordinator in college and then was in Dallas for
Speaker 2: a couple of years and he was under some different
Speaker 2: coordinators and we played a significantly different style of defense
Speaker 2: in indye than we did in Minnesota. And that was
Speaker 2: pretty cool for me because I was kind of my
Speaker 2: first true position, first dB job that I had, because
Speaker 2: I was an assistant dB coach for a ZIM and.
Speaker 3: I had to kind of learn on the run.
Speaker 2: And I would ask flu things, you know, hey, like
Speaker 2: how do you want this being played? How do you
Speaker 2: see this being played? And he gave me a lot
Speaker 2: of autonomy, like here's what I need out of the call.
Speaker 3: You get it done.
Speaker 2: And I had to study Like it wasn't like, oh,
Speaker 2: here's your manual, go go teach this. You know what
Speaker 2: I mean, anyone can really do that. It was like,
Speaker 2: all right, how do I make this make sense?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: How do I make it clear for the players? What
Speaker 2: can we execute? We got to change your leverage here,
Speaker 2: you got to do this, You got to do that.
Speaker 2: And that was really cool for me and I really
Speaker 2: felt like that style of defense for three years. Then
Speaker 2: when I became a coordinator in Philly, I kind of
Speaker 2: meshed what I liked off of both of them. And
Speaker 2: there's some similarities between the two, but there's some significant
Speaker 2: differences too. And I was like, man, well, if we
Speaker 2: can do this, then why can't we do that?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: And then also with saying that I was always in
Speaker 2: a four down system, Flu and Zim were four down guys.
Speaker 3: Jerry was a four down guy.
Speaker 2: And you start to see like, here's the good things
Speaker 2: about playing four down all the time, but here are
Speaker 2: some downfalls of playing four down all the time. You
Speaker 2: start to talk to offensive guys, Hey, how do you
Speaker 2: attack Zim? How do you attack Flu? How do you
Speaker 2: attack Jerry? You know, how do you attack four down teams?
Speaker 2: And mixed downs, pass downs, this and that, And you
Speaker 2: start to talk to offensive guys. And that led me
Speaker 2: to think, Okay, I need to start studying some three
Speaker 2: four teams. So I started studying some three four teams
Speaker 2: and then I started reaching out to people that knew
Speaker 2: the ins and outs.
Speaker 3: Of three four defense.
Speaker 2: So when I got to Philly, you know, they asked, hey,
Speaker 2: what scheme you're going to rune?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: And I said, I really don't have one, And that
Speaker 2: was true. I know, yeah, we have a scheme, we
Speaker 2: have a way to play defense. But my point to
Speaker 2: that was is you're got to be able at certain
Speaker 2: offenses that you go against. You if you only have
Speaker 2: four down you know, there's some hard downs that are
Speaker 2: going to go on. If you only play three down,
Speaker 2: there are some hard downs that are going to go on.
Speaker 2: So I always thought, like, hey, it's all about the players.
Speaker 2: It doesn't matter the scheme or anything like that. It's
Speaker 2: the execution and what the players are doing. But hey,
Speaker 2: if we can align our people differently versus different people
Speaker 2: to get them in advantageous positions, we should be able
Speaker 2: to do that. And that's kind of where we're at
Speaker 2: right now, you know. And that's how we kind of
Speaker 2: played in Philly and taking over Philly. Jim Schwartz was
Speaker 2: a coordinator who's a four down guy, and that team
Speaker 2: was four down for a long time and there was
Speaker 2: really good elements of four down. We played more four
Speaker 2: down than three down. But I thought the three down stuff,
Speaker 2: it took a little bit of time to get kind
Speaker 2: of grooving where we wanted it to be, but it
Speaker 2: was good for us, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 2: I think that helped us play good defense.
Speaker 1: So what you're saying is you don't have a dogmatic approach,
Speaker 1: like I'm going to do it this way, and there
Speaker 1: are obviously guys that are like that, and it's hard
Speaker 1: to survive anymore in the NFL.
Speaker 3: Do it? You can? You know what I mean? You can?
Speaker 3: But I you know, I use the phrase adapt or die. Man.
Speaker 2: You know, the game's changing, The players are changing, you know,
Speaker 2: Like I mean even you got a a seven or
Speaker 2: eight year vet and a rookie coming in. Like they're
Speaker 2: different people, you know what I mean? They play football differently.
Speaker 2: That eight to ten year gap of age difference for
Speaker 2: players that are on our team. They grew up playing differently,
Speaker 2: They went to high school and played differently, they played
Speaker 2: college ball is significantly different right now. So it's like,
Speaker 2: you know, you got to be able to blend the
Speaker 2: two there. But yeah, I'm very I guess I'm curious.
Speaker 2: I would say that's kind of a word growth, mindset,
Speaker 2: whatever you want to call it. Like, hey, what is
Speaker 2: the best way in twenty twenty three?
Speaker 3: You know what I mean?
Speaker 2: You try to figure it out. Sometimes it works, sometimes
Speaker 2: it doesn't. But I am not here's my playbook and
Speaker 2: here's what we're running. I don't think that's the way
Speaker 2: to go.
Speaker 1: So what should Cardinal fans expect in terms of how
Speaker 1: this defense looks? Will this defense look a lot like
Speaker 1: your Philly defenses in terms of scheme, in terms of alignment,
Speaker 1: or will they look like maybe something you did earlier
Speaker 1: in your career.
Speaker 2: You were figuring that out right now, that's a good
Speaker 2: that's a good question, Dave. Obviously we'll have elements of
Speaker 2: what we did in Philly. But again, my first thing
Speaker 2: about schematics is it's all about the players that you
Speaker 2: have and who you're going again, so we're going to
Speaker 2: try to I don't really care what we look like
Speaker 2: as long as we're executing at a high level and
Speaker 2: doing enough on each all three phases to win the game.
Speaker 3: And that's the most important thing.
Speaker 2: It's not hey, that's I want to look like this,
Speaker 2: I want to play like this. Like we play significantly
Speaker 2: different from week to week. That's predicated on who we
Speaker 2: have and who they have. So I think that's that's
Speaker 2: the main point. Is I want us to be adaptable,
Speaker 2: you know, and you heard that in my press conference,
Speaker 2: Like I that the heart coaches and players and schematics,
Speaker 2: you want to be adaptable. Yeah, you have to have
Speaker 2: a philosophy of what you want to get done, how
Speaker 2: you want to play a game. But I think that
Speaker 2: throughout the week of preparation when the players understand the
Speaker 2: why behind why you're doing things, I think it helps
Speaker 2: their learning process. I think it helps their buying and
Speaker 2: I think ultimately it should help them on game day.
Speaker 1: You guys obviously had a tremendous defense a son Reddick
Speaker 1: had some good years before last year, but obviously took
Speaker 1: it to a new level. Brandon Graham, I think when
Speaker 1: he came out of Michigan, I feel like his first
Speaker 1: two years he didn't play much and he wasn't productive,
Speaker 1: and he got really good as the years went on.
Speaker 1: And the reason I bring that up is, you've got
Speaker 1: two guys here in Isaiah Simmons and Savan Collins, who
Speaker 1: former first round picks, and some fans have already kind
Speaker 1: of labeled and obviously these guys are incredibly talented, very athletic.
Speaker 1: What do you see in those two guys and what
Speaker 1: are your reasonable goals for them in year one adjusting
Speaker 1: to a new defense and a new voice.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think they need to be in players for us,
Speaker 2: and that's how we're treating them. You know, both of
Speaker 2: those guys are extremely intelligent. So everyone sees the physical
Speaker 2: skill set, but they don't know what they have in
Speaker 2: their brain and that's what excites me the most about
Speaker 2: those two guys is their brain. And why that excites
Speaker 2: me is is when they can understand why you're doing
Speaker 2: things and how we're deploying them and different rules for
Speaker 2: how they are deployed, it allows you to be creative
Speaker 2: with what you can do with them so and with
Speaker 2: how they fit into the whole defense. So I'm very
Speaker 2: eager to get those two you know, going going, we're
Speaker 2: doing that right now, but you know, we're still kind
Speaker 2: of figuring that out a little bit with both of them.
Speaker 2: But even today we practiced and both of them made
Speaker 2: some big time strides where it's like all right, hey, man,
Speaker 2: like just work on this one thing and let's get
Speaker 2: this down before we kind of you know, two twenty
Speaker 2: one A before we go to three thirty one A,
Speaker 2: you know. And I thought they both took a jump today.
Speaker 2: So that's good when you see that as a coach,
Speaker 2: because all right, gave him something to work on. Hey,
Speaker 2: I need to see this a little bit better before
Speaker 2: we do something else. And I saw it today where
Speaker 2: it's like, okay, there it is, and you can teach
Speaker 2: all right, here's what we're looking for. And then you
Speaker 2: can move on to the next thing to make sure
Speaker 2: they master that, and then you move on to the
Speaker 2: next thing. And so but you know, those are only
Speaker 2: two guys that you have to fit everybody, all eleven
Speaker 2: pieces in together to make the defense good.
Speaker 3: It's not about one or two guys.
Speaker 1: And obviously you've got a lot of time to figure
Speaker 1: that out. You get a whole training camp. Who are
Speaker 1: some of the young guys early on here that have
Speaker 1: stood out to you that you really like and what
Speaker 1: you see in terms of and it could just be
Speaker 1: guys that maybe are able to pick things up quickly
Speaker 1: that maybe weren't high draft picks, or guys that were
Speaker 1: higher picks, or guys that have been around that weren't
Speaker 1: productive that you're like, you know, I think this guy's
Speaker 1: got a chance maybe with some of the things we'll
Speaker 1: do with himm.
Speaker 2: You know, I wouldn't single anybody out, honestly, Dave, like,
Speaker 2: we're kind of still figuring that out. I do like
Speaker 2: the rookie class where they're at from a standpoint of
Speaker 2: learning what we're trying to get done, how they handle
Speaker 2: their business on a daily basis, the weight room, the
Speaker 2: meeting rooms, the training room, on the practice field, working
Speaker 2: on their body compositions, you know, all those things. I
Speaker 2: think that I'm very pleased with those guys of how
Speaker 2: they're going about their business. And so I'm not going
Speaker 2: to single one out, but I a lot of them
Speaker 2: have impressed me so far.
Speaker 1: One guy, do want to get your thoughts on it?
Speaker 3: Again?
Speaker 1: I realize it's June second that we're recording this and
Speaker 1: there's still a lot to be you know, a lot
Speaker 1: of time before even camp starts. But my Jay Sanders,
Speaker 1: somebody that we saw flash here towards the end of
Speaker 1: last year when he got more reps. What do you
Speaker 1: think so far?
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's got a unique skill set, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. I mean he can bend, he's explosive, He's
Speaker 2: got really good feel and coverage, you know, when we
Speaker 2: drop him into coverage, and I think he can be
Speaker 2: one of our better rushers when it's all said and done.
Speaker 3: So he's just like everybody.
Speaker 2: He's got a lot to work on part of his
Speaker 2: game too, but he's taken the coaching. He doesn't make
Speaker 2: the same mistake twice, which I like because then you
Speaker 2: can kind of keep moving on, you don't have to
Speaker 2: keep correcting certain things.
Speaker 3: But I got high hopes for him.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about the coaching staff, in
Speaker 1: particular the coordinators, obviously with with Drew Petsing and Nick Rawlis.
Speaker 1: You're you're hiring two really young guys. What's your relationship
Speaker 1: with those guys? When did it start with each guy
Speaker 1: and what got you to the point where you thought, hey,
Speaker 1: they can run an offense, they can run a defense.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Drew I met in twenty fourteen. He was on
Speaker 2: zim staff and he was came with Norf Turner, so
Speaker 2: his first style of playing offense was kind of NORV.
Speaker 2: And then you know, NORV left and Pat Shermer took over,
Speaker 2: and then Kevin Stefanski, I think the Philippo was in there.
Speaker 2: Then Stefanski took over, and then Stefanski went to Cleveland
Speaker 2: and brought him with him, and Drew, you know, went.
Speaker 2: He didn't skip any steps. He was a quality control first,
Speaker 2: and he's a receivers coach, and he's a tight ends coach,
Speaker 2: and he's a quarterback coach. And I always thought Drew
Speaker 2: was about the right things as far as from a
Speaker 2: team standpoint, character standpoint. And I was just telling somebody
Speaker 2: the other day, I said, I don't have a very
Speaker 2: large network, but by the network that I kind of
Speaker 2: talk a lot of ball with, Like, I'm selective with
Speaker 2: those guys that I talk with because I know one
Speaker 2: they'll tell me the truth when I ask a question,
Speaker 2: because a lot of coaches, well, I'm not going to
Speaker 2: tell you that, you know what I mean. So it's like,
Speaker 2: why am I wasting my coaches being yeah, it's it's.
Speaker 3: Unbelievable, But.
Speaker 2: Myself included, no, not at all. If you want to
Speaker 2: you ask me anything, I'll tell you. But but yeah,
Speaker 2: I just I liked his I always thought like he
Speaker 2: was curious about the game, and hey, this is how
Speaker 2: Norv did it.
Speaker 3: But then I like, this is what Shermer did.
Speaker 2: And then Kevin kind of changed this, and then he
Speaker 2: was with Kubiak for a little bit, and I just
Speaker 2: loved that he coached different positions on the offense and
Speaker 2: really I think at the end of the day, had
Speaker 2: the right answers with how we want to play as
Speaker 2: a team and as an offense. And so that's why
Speaker 2: uh drews the offense coordinator here. And then when I
Speaker 2: left to go to Indy, they bumped the quality control
Speaker 2: up to my spot, and then they hired Nick as
Speaker 2: a quality control and the guy that they bumped up
Speaker 2: to my spot, who was a quality control in Minnesota
Speaker 2: at the time, he's the linebacker coach with the Chargers
Speaker 2: right now. He I always thought he was really, really
Speaker 2: good and he went with Kevin two. He was a
Speaker 2: dB coach in Cleveland. I was with Brandon Stalely in LA.
Speaker 2: But I remember him calling me and he was like, Dude,
Speaker 2: this guy that we just hired as a freaking home run.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, what do you mean, man, Like, you.
Speaker 3: Know what I mean? Come on, He's not better than me.
Speaker 2: He's not better than you, right, He's like, dude, I
Speaker 2: think he's better than both of us and not even close.
Speaker 2: And so I was like, well, let me meet this guy,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean? And I remember I met
Speaker 2: with him at the Combine when he was a quality control.
Speaker 2: So this is probably after my first year in India,
Speaker 2: I think, And I remember I called Gina. I met
Speaker 2: with him and for about an hour and a half,
Speaker 2: two hours, and we talked football, and I called my
Speaker 2: wife and I was like, man, if I get a
Speaker 2: coordinator job, I got to hire this guy like he was.
Speaker 3: He was he was.
Speaker 2: Light out, so that's what I did. So and he
Speaker 2: was with Zim too, so he knew some of the
Speaker 2: things that I like to do. And then he was
Speaker 2: very curious about what we did in Indie, different style
Speaker 2: of defense, how you guys do that, this and that.
Speaker 2: And so then when I went to Philly, I hired
Speaker 2: him as a linebacker coach. He was there for two years,
Speaker 2: and you know, just talking through him through the interview process.
Speaker 2: Obviously he was with me for two years as a
Speaker 2: position coach for me, so he kind of knows, you know,
Speaker 2: how I kind of want to play, you know, how
Speaker 2: I go about our business, how you know, what's important
Speaker 2: to me for a defense, and he echoes those things.
Speaker 2: But I really think what I'm very excited to see
Speaker 2: is is he's changed a lot already. You know, it
Speaker 2: wasn't hey, this is the like when he went into
Speaker 2: the defense of me. This is not the twenty twenty
Speaker 2: one Philadelphia Eagles playbook. Why Well, because you guys are
Speaker 2: different than they are, you know what I mean? And
Speaker 2: the games different are twenty twenty two Eagles, it's twenty
Speaker 2: twenty three. Like, the game's different, and we have different plays.
Speaker 2: So we're going to do things a little bit differently.
Speaker 2: So I really like both of their command over the
Speaker 2: entire unit, their command over the position coaches, meaning with
Speaker 2: the position coaches, not over a meaning that you know,
Speaker 2: they know all the details of each position. And I
Speaker 2: think that they're not dogmatic.
Speaker 3: To use your word, Dave.
Speaker 2: Is they ask for input, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: They use everybody's brain in those rooms, and I think
Speaker 2: that's extremely important to make sure it's not whose idea,
Speaker 2: like this's just get the right idea and the right
Speaker 2: way to do it for us.
Speaker 3: You know. And I think it's it's been pretty cool
Speaker 3: to watch both of those guys.
Speaker 1: I got about a few more questions.
Speaker 3: We'll let you go.
Speaker 1: I'm curious because most first year head coaches, when you
Speaker 1: ask what the biggest challenge is, they'll say it's after
Speaker 1: they get through a year, They're like, man, it's all
Speaker 1: the other stuff. It's the media obligations, it's managing things
Speaker 1: you never even thought about as an assistant or a coordinator.
Speaker 1: What have you found to be most challenging so far?
Speaker 1: Realizing again that we're in early June here and we're
Speaker 1: not even near the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I've had really good mentors. I feel
Speaker 2: like they prepped me for a good job because, like,
Speaker 2: you know, someone called me or someone text me and
Speaker 2: he said.
Speaker 3: Hey, how you holding up?
Speaker 2: And you don't know that the tone in a text, right,
Speaker 2: but the tone of how you holding up is, oh,
Speaker 2: I'm sure you're struggling right now with it whatever is
Speaker 2: going on of a first year head coach. And I said,
Speaker 2: I literally text better, this is the best job I
Speaker 2: ever had. Like it's awesome, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: I I don't mind. I think what I would what
Speaker 2: I would say is is a lot of balls in
Speaker 2: the air.
Speaker 3: You know, I was a little late to this.
Speaker 2: I apologize, but it's like, all right, I'm in with
Speaker 2: the defense, I'm in with the offensive, in with special teams,
Speaker 2: I'm doing the schedule. I'm talking about hotels with this guy,
Speaker 2: I'm talking about logistics for camp for this Like but I.
Speaker 3: Don't I don't really mind that. I kind of like that,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: You just got to be you got to be focused
Speaker 2: in detailed, and you got to take all the information
Speaker 2: in and you got to make decisions. And then when
Speaker 2: you make a decision, we just changed something for next week.
Speaker 2: It says, you know what this, I'm not We're not
Speaker 2: getting out of what I wanted to get out of this.
Speaker 3: We're not getting out of it. So that's that's put
Speaker 3: our heads together and change this.
Speaker 2: And I think as long as you can be focused
Speaker 2: on the task at hand, with what you're doing, but
Speaker 2: then also be able to juggle the different balls in
Speaker 2: the air, then you should be okay. But there's a
Speaker 2: lot of things that come across my desk every day
Speaker 2: that it's like, wow, like all right, well, let's let's
Speaker 2: talk about that, you know what I mean. That's that's
Speaker 2: we gotta we gotta make a decision on this, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean. So I would say that just
Speaker 2: really your time management, and that's that's not too much
Speaker 2: different than being a coordinator or position coach. Now you
Speaker 2: do deal with more people in the building, you know
Speaker 2: That's but I kind of like that.
Speaker 1: We had many on last month. He detailed draft night
Speaker 1: and the tense moments, and I'm curious your take on
Speaker 1: it because I assume you've been in draft rooms before,
Speaker 1: but not as the head coach, So what was that
Speaker 1: like for you?
Speaker 2: It was an awesome experience, I said, there's no doubt
Speaker 2: I was more nervous than he was, and it was
Speaker 2: it was really cool to kind of watch that process
Speaker 2: and how it all came about, and just you know,
Speaker 2: leading up for two or three months since we've been here,
Speaker 2: talking about the draft and all the things that could
Speaker 2: happen and what we're trying to get out of it
Speaker 2: and this and that, and then you start doing the
Speaker 2: mock drafts and where we're going to pick, and who's
Speaker 2: going to be there, and who do we want, who
Speaker 2: do we feel good about? All those those kinds of things.
Speaker 2: It was like he gave me a hundred scenarios, and
Speaker 2: the scenario that happened on draft night we really didn't
Speaker 2: talk about.
Speaker 3: Now we had prep for it.
Speaker 2: He had prep for it, but it was a little
Speaker 2: bit different with who got picked in front of us
Speaker 2: and this and that, and it was just really cool.
Speaker 2: He was I always talked to the coaches about, especially
Speaker 2: on game day, emotional stability, Like you gotta be, you know,
Speaker 2: pretty flatlined.
Speaker 3: Football is an.
Speaker 2: Emotional game, and yes, your emotions run hot, but like
Speaker 2: if that turns, if your emotions turned into a negative,
Speaker 2: then you got to be able to subdue him somehow.
Speaker 2: And I thought that everything that was going on on
Speaker 2: phone calls. I mean three four guys are on the phone.
Speaker 2: He's on two different phones. You know, the clock's running down.
Speaker 2: I'm like, god, this this feels worse to me than
Speaker 2: a two minute drive, like when they're getting ready to score,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. It was like, holy Colic money,
Speaker 2: what are we going to do?
Speaker 3: Man, there's a minute fifty the clock, you know what
Speaker 3: I mean.
Speaker 2: But it was really cool, and he obviously did a
Speaker 2: great job and being the first time he's ever really
Speaker 2: done that in that seat, I think he hit it
Speaker 2: out of the park.
Speaker 1: You end up with Paris Johnson. What are your thoughts
Speaker 1: so far?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's a stud. He's everything that you
Speaker 2: want in your you know, your first pick of your regime.
Speaker 2: I think, you know, he's a team first guy. You know,
Speaker 2: he's a versatile player, he's smart, he's got obviously a
Speaker 2: big time skill set, and he's he's been really a
Speaker 2: joy to be around, so I you know, he's got
Speaker 2: he's going to be a really good player.
Speaker 1: I keep hearing that Kyler Murray has been here early,
Speaker 1: he's been here often. He's all in. What have you
Speaker 1: been your takeaways in your conversations because obviously we you know,
Speaker 1: we can't we can't know for sure how Kyler is
Speaker 1: going to be until he comes back healthy. But just
Speaker 1: based on conversations and work ethic and things you've seen
Speaker 1: from him, what do you like?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, you know, as a you know, as
Speaker 2: a head coach, you got to have a And I'm
Speaker 2: not an offensive guy. I'm not going to call the
Speaker 2: offensive plays. But you want a big time relationship with
Speaker 2: the quarterback because quarterbacks the most person that's a coach
Speaker 2: on the field, I think, And just to talk football
Speaker 2: with him and you know, philosophy of this or what's
Speaker 2: hard or what's good or hey, when we played you,
Speaker 2: this is what I was trying to do. This is
Speaker 2: what I was worried about. That's why you saw this
Speaker 2: or saw that teams are going to try to counterbalance
Speaker 2: your skill set by doing this. Some teams might play
Speaker 2: you this way, some teams may play you this way.
Speaker 2: And it's just been good to really, you know, connect
Speaker 2: with him and develop a relationship on and off the
Speaker 2: field or in the building and out of the building.
Speaker 2: But I know this he Uh, I'm excited when he
Speaker 2: gets back because I think he's he's he's got what
Speaker 2: you're looking for the franchise player of your organization. And
Speaker 2: I think ultimately you know, he's a he's got fire
Speaker 2: in his gut, big don competitor, and he's he's gonna
Speaker 2: will his team to win. So I'm excited that he's
Speaker 2: on our squad.
Speaker 1: Without putting words in your mouth, I have to assume
Speaker 1: when you were game planning for him, there are things
Speaker 1: he does that other people can't do, so that means
Speaker 1: longer hours for you and trying to figure out, Okay,
Speaker 1: we've got to be really concerned about A, B and
Speaker 1: C as opposed to maybe just A and B for
Speaker 1: other quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no doubt, and you better have those answers
Speaker 2: before Monday before you play him, you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: Because it's too hard to try to get that done
Speaker 2: in five six days. So that's why you got a
Speaker 2: research in the off season and study guys that you
Speaker 2: know have similar skill sets to him. But yeah, he
Speaker 2: presents big time challenges for a defense because of you know,
Speaker 2: his mobility, you know, and obviously he's the arm talent
Speaker 2: he has. He can make every throw and make the
Speaker 2: right reads and deliver it on time. And put it
Speaker 2: in tight windows. But then you know, you got to
Speaker 2: rush him a certain way. You got to be careful
Speaker 2: about certain pressures when you pressure them. And you know,
Speaker 2: he's it's it's he's a he's a headache to prepare.
Speaker 1: For last one. Even Bill Belichick takes the cape off meeting.
Speaker 1: He's got a life outside of football when he's not
Speaker 1: grinding like he does. We see Bill Belichick, you know,
Speaker 1: having extracurricular activities. What are yours when you're not grinding away?
Speaker 1: And maybe you know, maybe when before your family was here,
Speaker 1: it was all football. I don't know if that's changed
Speaker 1: now because the kids around, But what are some of
Speaker 1: the things you do to unwind take your mind off
Speaker 1: of football?
Speaker 2: You hit it, I mean the family, You know what
Speaker 2: I mean. I like to spend time with the family.
Speaker 2: Date Night's always extremely cool for me. I'm grateful for
Speaker 2: my wife. But you know, I think I do do
Speaker 2: a pretty good job of when I go home, I
Speaker 2: kind of leave it at home now that that part's changed.
Speaker 2: Being a head coach, I will say, going back to
Speaker 2: your question about being a head coach, like I used
Speaker 2: to laugh, like when I was out of the building,
Speaker 2: all my other jobs. That phone was put away and
Speaker 2: I didn't have to respond to anybody for the most part.
Speaker 2: Now that phone kind of rings about certain things and
Speaker 2: like I got to take this, you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: So that part changed a little bit. But I like
Speaker 2: to play golf, I like to work out. But it's
Speaker 2: funny about taking your mind off of it, because it'll
Speaker 2: be whole three or four and be like, hey, what.
Speaker 3: Are we doing in that one blitz? You know what
Speaker 3: I mean?
Speaker 2: You know, is that the right thing? Or you know,
Speaker 2: when you're working out, that's a good time, you know.
Speaker 2: I feel like that's a good mental release or to
Speaker 2: get your brain going a little bit. And it's like,
Speaker 2: you know, you schedule forty five minutes for a workout
Speaker 2: and it's like it gets thirty in and you're like, man,
Speaker 2: I need to go, like watch the tape right now
Speaker 2: because I just had an idea or something like that.
Speaker 2: So but I do think, like you do want to
Speaker 2: stay balanced, and I think that is part of If
Speaker 2: people say I have pretty good energy, I think that's
Speaker 2: part of it.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean.
Speaker 2: I've tried to get enough rest I work out, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean. I think that's part of physical
Speaker 2: I just we had coach Peterson in here from you know,
Speaker 2: Boise in Washington. He came and watch practice today and
Speaker 2: it was really cool to hear, you know, obviously a
Speaker 2: long time successful head coach. And he was like, if
Speaker 2: I said, what you got for me, coach, like give it,
Speaker 2: give me the answers, you know, and he had some
Speaker 2: really cool things to talk about. But he was like,
Speaker 2: you know, the people that I don't want to say
Speaker 2: aren't successful in the job, but they you know, the
Speaker 2: pressure and there's all this stuff going on this and
Speaker 2: then they're not really healthy humans.
Speaker 3: And that kind of hit me. I was like, well,
Speaker 3: what do you mean.
Speaker 2: He's like, you better work out, you better sleep, you
Speaker 2: better because that impacts your emotions, how you handle people.
Speaker 2: That impacts your energy levels when you're with the players,
Speaker 2: like and they see that, they see you walk into
Speaker 2: a meeting dragon, But well, what do you think they're
Speaker 2: gonna do?
Speaker 3: You know what I mean?
Speaker 2: So I do believe in in trying to stay fully functioning,
Speaker 2: mental and physically healthy to do your job the best
Speaker 2: you can do it. So but play a little golf
Speaker 2: shop a little bit, go out to dinner and play
Speaker 2: with the kids.
Speaker 3: Lift weights. That's about it.
Speaker 1: So along those lines in closing, will you have a routine,
Speaker 1: set up a schedule for in season of Okay, I
Speaker 1: need to make sure I'm getting X amount of sleep,
Speaker 1: I need to make sure I'm up at this time,
Speaker 1: working out, making sure I'm setting aside, I'm compartmentalizing, setting
Speaker 1: a side time just for the kids, just for my wife,
Speaker 1: still doing date night. Do you have that all planned out?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: But I think you got to go through because I
Speaker 2: had that planned out as I was a coordinator for
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one, and it changed after week three.
Speaker 2: I was like, no, I got to restructure how I'm
Speaker 2: doing things. You know what I mean, I'm not getting
Speaker 2: you know, whatever it was. So I think that'll be
Speaker 2: a little bit of a learning process for myself. And
Speaker 2: even when you develop your process and what you're convicted
Speaker 2: on what works for you, I think that always kind
Speaker 2: of can change a little bit, you know. I thought
Speaker 2: like after kind of like the middle of the year
Speaker 2: my first year as a coordinator, I kind of changed
Speaker 2: how I was doing a couple of things early in
Speaker 2: the week and that helped me. And then you know,
Speaker 2: then I figured, like my second year as a coordinator.
Speaker 2: I kind of changed early in the year about what
Speaker 2: I was doing, and I think that you can continually
Speaker 2: get better a little bit at all your process, you know,
Speaker 2: and it takes some time and an experience does help
Speaker 2: you there where all right. I did this for four
Speaker 2: weeks and I felt like this, I needed, you know,
Speaker 2: adjust this, I need to put more time to this,
Speaker 2: whatever it is. I think that's the main thing is
Speaker 2: is stick with your process what works for you, but
Speaker 2: don't be able. Don't be afraid to change it when
Speaker 2: you know that you think you can tweak it to
Speaker 2: get it a little bit better.
Speaker 1: Well again, I think the thing that stands out coach,
Speaker 1: just spend a time with you is your energy, your passion,
Speaker 1: your love for your job. I think people appreciate that
Speaker 1: when coaches love their job, but that they are relatable
Speaker 1: and friendly, which you are both. It stands out. So
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed this and look forward to to know
Speaker 1: you the course.
Speaker 3: Of your coach. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it,
Speaker 3: appreciate it, all right.
Speaker 1: So a snapshot there of Cardinal's new head coach, Jonathan
Speaker 1: Gannon something to wet your appetite, as Carton fans before
Speaker 1: we get into training camp and then of course the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three season. A lot of great stuff there
Speaker 1: from JG about his coaching philosophy, some of his mentors
Speaker 1: over the years. I loved this story about Draft Knight
Speaker 1: being in that position for the first time as a
Speaker 1: head coach, and also the respect he has for maniasin
Speaker 1: for and watching MANI make that trade on Draft Night
Speaker 1: to get Paris Johnson. We are presented by BETTMGM, the
Speaker 1: official sports vetting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by
Speaker 1: Heila River Resorts and Casinos. You can follow us on
Speaker 1: Twitter at pash pod. We also would appreciate if you
Speaker 1: would rate us, review us, tell us what you think
Speaker 1: on your favorite podcast platform. Hope you have a great summer.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed our conversation with Arizona Cardinals head
Speaker 1: coach Jonathan Gannon.