Cardinals DC Nick Rallis: Budda Baker Sets the Standard

Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis is officially here, and there's one player in his mind that sets the standard for the rest of the league.

There's plenty of intriguing pieces for new Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis to work with upon his arrival to the team. 

Rallis - just 29-years-old and hired over the weekend - hopes to bring the same spark of juice and energy to the organization that has already been established by head coach Jonathan Gannon. 

During his near 20 minutes of speaking with reporters, Rallis highlighted a few different topics. When asked if there was anybody who stood out after his initial film review, Rallis responded with:

"There's a lot of players that play extremely hard [and] fly around. One that comes to mind is obviously is Budda [Baker]. Budda sets the standard on how you play this game. It is violent, it is high-motor 24/7. And I'm just picking one guy out," Rallis said.

"There's all kinds of guys on this defense that play to that standard, and we're going to continue to demand to push that even further and for everyone to be at that standard of playing violently, and being explosive. I'm going to continue to evaluate and watch the tape and we're going to figure out not just from a motor and violence standpoint, but everybody has to get better including us coaches. 

"So it's going to be the coach's job, it's going to be my job to develop improvement plans for each guy to say, 'Hey, this is going to take your game to the next level. How do we get them to maximize and hit their ceiling?' and that's a process that we're still going through right now at the moment."

Most fans would agree with the assessment on Baker, especially after watching him battle through a high ankle sprain and fractured shoulder on different occasions last season. 

The idea to implement development plans for everybody on the defense is also music to ears for those in the Valley, especially after watching a Cardinals defense that allowed 348.9 yards and 26.4 points per game in 2022. 

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