Cardinals Coach Ready to See Defense Take Next Step

Nick Rallis awaits what the Arizona Cardinals can do in 2024.

Jul 27, 2023; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis talks to head coach Jonathan Gannon during training camp at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-Arizona Republic / Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY

ARIZONA -- Training camp is nearly here - but you don't have to tell Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis.

Rallis oversees Arizona's defensive unit for a second season since being brought on by head coach Jonathan Gannon in 2023. With room for improvement in nearly every statistical category, his defense can seemingly only trend upwards.

Last season was a rebuild in the desert, an expected down season while the roster was trimmed and the future was laid out.

Much of the attention in Arizona is focused on the offensive side of the ball when it comes to new additions and what the Cardinals can accomplish - but Rallis says his squad has improved significantly, too.

"We've improved in a lot of different ways. I love what Monti [Ossenfort] was able to do over the course of the offseason and improve really the depth and the competitiveness of each position," Rallis said.

"I would say, individually, the players, there was a lot of improvement I saw from guys that were here last year going into this spring. From the start of spring to the end of spring, guys committed to it and put a lot of work in and got better from a schematic standpoint, technique standpoint, physical, psychological, health, all of it."

Coaches are able to talk up their players in the offseason when wins and losses don't count. Everybody believes they'll have one of the top units in the league before Week 1, and while the Cardinals can only improve from their low performance last season, the reality is the defense still has plenty of question marks.

You can first start at the cornerback position, where Sean Murphy-Bunting arrives as the lead veteran in a room that features a whopping six players who are either in their second season or were freshly drafted months ago.

Youthful? Sure. Rallis believes the competition is open for anybody to claim a spot, however.

"I think it's pretty simple. It's highly competitive and it's up for grabs for guys to go take and earn spots, which is a great problem to have. I'm excited, it's going to be really good competition," Rallis said.

"I want to see a lot of guys take strides during training camp, and I want there to be tough decisions on who's going to earn certain roles."

Arizona also essentially swapped out their starting defensive line from 2023, as names such as Bilal Nichols and Justin Jones look to form a dynamic trio with first-round pick Darius Robinson.

"Any time you have guys that can play multiple spots from covering the center to covering the guard to tackles to outside that tackle, it gives you a lot of versatility up front within a single guy being able to do a lot," said Rallis.

"With the guys that we have, there's definitely a lot of versatility just because they're big guys that are highly athletic. You can ask them to do a lot of different things. ... I think when you have that versatility throughout the defense, it allows you to be very flexible within having the same group of guys on the field."

The Cardinals brought in new faces this offseason, though a chunk of their progress will be marked by previous veterans who stuck around. With a full offseason to digest the scheme and improve as a player, guys will have opportunities to step forward and help the Cardinals reach new heights.

"That's why I do what I do. That's why I wanted to coach is because the development of the players. The coach's job is to serve the players and get them to play at their highest level," said Rallis.

"And when you have players that have that football character and that are all in and they're reciprocating that effort that you want to put into them, and they're putting back into themselves, then you know that the result is going to be that much greater. It's a good feeling as a coach when you know that this guy is going the extra mile.

"You see Starling Thomas in the offseason not skipping a morning where he's not meeting extra and put in all kinds of work. You know Zaven [Collins] and Kyzir [White], I walk into this facility right now and I see them working like they're working because I know the kind of football character that those guys have.

"It's almost calming for me as a coach to know we're all in. Like we got a group of guys that are all in - and I'm ready to go to war with anybody like that."