Mike LaFleur was discussing the coaches he was bringing back from Jonathan Gannon's staff when he brought up two things he sought for his own staff: character and capacity.

"The guys that were retained have high character," LaFleur said. "The guys that were retained have high capacity. That was evident.

"I'm just going to be myself and have honest and open dialogue. We will hold our staff to a standard, which will start with me."

The Cardinals announced the original version of that first staff on Friday with a total of 10 holdovers from the previous season. The biggest name was defensive coordinator Nick Rallis, with offensive line coach Justin Frye also staying and Cristian Garcia being moved from linebackers to safeties.

The strength and conditioning staff is still being finalized and will be announced at a later date.

The bulk of the staff heads out next week to take part in the annual Scouting combine. The team will begin their offseason program in early April, and teams with new head coaches – including the Cardinals – can hold an extra minicamp as well.

Staff that was announced Friday:

OFFENSE

Coordinator: Nathaniel Hackett
Pass Game Specialist: Connor Senger*
QB: Matt Schaub
RB: Matt Merritt
WR: Tony Sorrentino
OL: Justin Frye*
Asst OL: Chris Cook*
TE: Jake Moreland
Quality Control: Brett Ekkens

DEFENSE

Coordinator: Nick Rallis*
DL: Pete Kwiatkowski
Asst DL: Alec Osborne*
ILB: Rod Wilson
OLB: Matt Feeney*
CB: Zac Etheridge
DB: Cristian Garcia*
Quality Control: Brent Jackson

SPECIAL TEAMS/SUPPORT

Coordinator: Michael Ghobrial
Assistant ST: Sam Sewell*
Director, Football Strategy: Kenny Bell*
Assistant to head coach: Jay Razzano*

* - returning from 2025 staff