The Arizona Cardinals are in the middle of a transformative offseason. The club revamped the masthead by hiring GM Monti Ossenfort and recently brought in Jonathan Gannon to be its next head coach. As the Cardinals go through this change, the organization is shedding itself of some figures from the regime, including defensive coordinator Vance Joseph. The Cardinals informed Joseph that they intend to relieve him of his coaching duties, according to CBS Sports NFL Insider Josina Anderson.
Joseph had been leading the Cardinals defense dating back to 2019 when they initially hired Kliff Kingsbury as head coach. Given that the Cardinals are going through a coaching change, it's not a big surprise to see them hand the reins over to Gannon and allow him to craft his staff in his own image, which oftentimes comes at the expense of coaches like Joseph. That said, Arizona's defense wasn't exactly pristine under Joseph in 2022. Last season, the unit allowed 26.4 points per game (second most in the NFL) and 348.9 yards per game, which ranked in the bottom half of the league.
That said, it doesn't sound like Joseph will be out of a job for long as he has a couple of interviews already lined up across the NFL. The 50-year-old is set to interview on Friday with the Denver Broncos for the open defensive coordinator position on Sean Payton's staff, according to 9News in Denver. He is also set to interview later with the Eagles for their open defensive coordinator job following Gannon heading to Arizona.
Of course, Joseph is no stranger to Denver as he was the head coach of the Broncos from 2017-2018.
Joseph, who played in the NFL for two seasons, first entered the coaching ranks in the league with the San Francisco 49ers as an assistant defensive backs coach in 2005. He made stops in Houston and Cincinnati as a defensive backs coach before ascending to defensive coordinator for the Dolphins in 2016. After that season he became the Broncos head coach and then found his way to Arizona more recently.
