CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reports the Cardinals will retain DC Nick Rallis.

13 February 2026

The Cardinals’ defensive coordinator each of the past three seasons, 32-year-old Rallis was the youngest DC in the league when he was first hired three years ago. He’s had a rollercoaster ride in Arizona thus far, finishing bottom four in scoring defense two of the past three years. Discouraging, though former head coach Jonathan Gannon was largely responsible for his own defense. Rallis evidently impressed enough people inside the building to hang around under new head coach Mike LaFleur. It’s a gamble for a Cardinals team that arguably needed wholesale change, but also an olive branch to players who will at least now have one familiar face sticking around.