Vance Joseph will join the Cardinals as their new defensive coordinator, as Josina Anderson of ESPN.com tweets. The Cardinals have since announced the addition of Joseph, also noting Ohio State linebackers coach Bill Davis will take the same job in Arizona.
Joseph wasn’t successful during his run in Denver (11-21 record), but he was viewed as a desirable defensive coordinator during his time with the Dolphins in 2016. He’s generated plenty of DC interest thus far in 2019: Joseph had been set to interview for the Browns’ DC position today, and was reportedly in contention for the same role under Adam Gase in New York. He also met with the Bengals regarding their head coaching job, but Cincinnati has since gone with Rams quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor.
Arizona and first-time NFL head coach Kliff Kingsbury had been searching for a veteran defensive coordinator, and they’ll get that in Joseph. Other reported candidates for the job included former Packers DC Dom Capers and ex-Colts head coach Chuck Pagano, but it doesn’t appear either ever actually interviewed for the job.
The Cardinals had indicated they’d look for a coach who would run a 3-4 defense, but that hasn’t been Joseph’s specialty. While he kept the Broncos’ 3-4 in place when he was hired as Denver’s head coach, Joseph used a 4-3 look as the Dolphins’ DC in 2016.
Sweet