Nick Rallis appears to be a popular man around the NFL these days. The 29-year-old was recently hired to become the next defensive coordinator for the Arizona Cardinals, which makes him the youngest coordinator in the entire league. Given his age, you may wonder if Rallis is too green for the gig, but that doesn't appear to be the case considering that Arizona wasn't the only club looking to secure him for the same job in the NFL.
In the hours after the Cardinals offered Rallis the defensive coordinator job, multiple teams tried to lure him away from the gig and to join their club instead, according to Tom Pelissero. While it's unclear which teams attempted to snatch him away from Arizona at the last second, Ian Rapoport did note that Denver Broncos and Philadelphia Eagles, Rallis' former team, both had defensive coordinator job openings and interest in Rallis.
Of course, there is a relationship between Rallis and new Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon, which likely helped secure him as defensive coordinator even as other teams came calling. Rallis coached under Gannon with the Eagles for the past two seasons as Philadelphia's linebackers coach. He initially broke into the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings in 2018.
After fending off those potential suitors, Rallis will get to work helping reshape a Cardinals defense that struggled a season ago. The unit ranked 24th in the NFL in DVOA and allowed 26.4 points per game, which was the second most in the NFL.
One thing that will be interesting to see with this marriage between Rallis and Gannon, however, will center around who will call plays defensively. Gannon is a former defensive coordinator with Philadelphia and we have seen first-year coaches be a bit reluctant to relinquish play-calling duties (on either side of the ball) when they initially ascend to a head coach. With that in mind, the defensive play-caller role could be a fascinating subplot to the 2023 Cardinals once the season gets a bit closer.
