The phone calls, the text messages, Matt Schaub got them every year from coaches for whom he once played.
"You getting the itch?" they'd ask the former quarterback.
"It was tough," Schaub said, "because I love all those guys and I had to tell them no."
Schaub had played 16 seasons in the NFL over 17 years, and when that was over following 2020, he could've coached. But he had five kids and a wife with whom he wanted to spend time with, drive around town, and coach games.
Eventually, though, Schaub felt that itch. In December, it was he who started making the phone calls, sending the texts. His playing days had been spent in part with future head coaches like Kyle Shanahan and Matt LaFleur, and while they didn't have openings on their respective staffs in San Francisco or Green Bay, Matt's brother Mike was building a staff in Arizona.
It just made sense.
"It was always, 'Man if he ever wants to coach,'" Mike LaFleur said. "I know Kyle has always tried to get him to coach there. It never timed up there or timed up in Green Bay. Luckily it timed up for us. I actually got the call from my brother that Matt wanted to coach, and it was like, 'Wow, I hit the jackpot.'"
The Cardinals got a quarterbacks coach working during an interesting time for that room. Jacoby Brissett is the incumbent who currently has not shown up for voluntary work as he seeks a reworked contract. Gardner Minshew II enters his eighth season taking the No. 1 snaps in OTAs while playing for his sixth team. Kedon Slovis has made just two appearances in his two NFL seasons, while the team spent a third-round pick on Carson Beck.
Who Schaub will be giving the most attention to on game weeks is TBD. The Cardinals have not committed to a starter, and already the speculation has started about if/when Beck might be given a chance to play.
As a coach, Schaub's advice to Beck will be the same for the others when it comes to such talk.
"Block it all out," Schaub said. "The noise now is more invasive then it was years ago with social media. As hard as that is, you have to compartmentalize and keep things in perspective, no matter what stage of your career you are in. You tell the guys, 'nothing outside is going to affect how you play except your performance and your preparation.'"
With 93 starts in his career among 155 appearances, Schaub threw for more than 4,000 yards three times. Maybe his experience provides some gravitas when he enters the QB room, but Schaub won't say it, noting that even with his resume, "I'm not entitled to anything."
Then again, for the QBs he now teaches, it can matter.
"He played the position, he knows what it feels like, he knows what it looks like from the pocket," Slovis said. "Not saying you can't do it otherwise, but a lot of my favorite coaches have been (former) quarterbacks."
Slovis would know, starting back at Scottsdale Desert Mountain High School where Kurt Warner was his quarterbacks coach. Yes, Schaub has been mostly away from the game for a few years, but "it probably never leaves you," Slovis said.
"His recall is incredible. 'Oh, (Texans receiver) Jacoby Jones was doing this in 2010,' or '(Falcons quarterback) Matt Ryan was doing this.' He's a rolodex of information."
Schaub just wants to carry his grinder-like tendency as a player into coaching. That will help scratch the itch.
"I don't want to be the stereotypical former player that is doing this just because they think they can," Schaub said. "I want to be the best quarterback coach that I can."
