Mike LaFleur Already Setting New Cardinals Example

TEMPE — It's the first day of offseason activities for the Arizona Cardinals, and new head coach Mike LaFleur is already laying the groundwork for what's ahead.

The Cardinals, thanks to the presence of a first-year head coach, were able to start strength and conditioning work weeks before other NFL teams. It's a long process to get everything from practice times to plays installed ahead of 2026, though LaFleur wasted no time with team meetings this morning.

"Having our first team meeting with him today. How he wants things, what he expects out of us. He's very clear on that, there's no confusion whatsoever. It's really nice. You can tell how he wants his ship ran and it's a really good starting point to see how it's all going to go," Cardinals starting outside linebacker Zaven Collins told reporters today.

"Very to the point on how he wants things done, what he expects from us when we're in the building, what he allows, what he doesn't allow, stuff like that. You can kind of tell he's a no b.s. guy, he's going to tell you what he wants, how he thinks ... sometimes guys try to be too nice or this or they don't tell you the right things. It gets very confusing for an athlete, especially young athletes. So I think that's something he does a very good job of."

Collins says everybody was in attendance for today's voluntary strength and conditioning program, which shouldn't be made into a massive deal — though it's clearly a sign guys are on board.

LaFleur is tasked with turning around a Cardinals team that finished with a 3-14 record last season, ultimately seeing Jonathan Gannon fired at its conclusion.

LaFleur had to quickly assemble a staff and prepare for free agency within a short amount of time after officially accepting the job. There's been no time off since then with the NFL Draft just weeks away.

"It was Day 1, but it was good tone setter, we got some of the foundation down" Cardinals center Hjalte Froholdt said of today.

"... Passionate guy. Been around the league for quite awhile. It's interesting having a head coach in an offensive meeting room, haven't had that in awhile. A lot of enthusiasm around there about the scheme and what we're going to set up, but truly just basics today. Simple stuff."

While games will be played later this year, the building blocks of LaFleur's vision are currently being established in the offseason.

LaFleur's been heralded for his attention to detail after spending time with faces such as Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan, and thus far that's been the case in the desert. Froholdt said today consisted of breaking the huddle, how to go about it, the tempo in getting to the line of scrimmage and more.

Those things don't always matter to the outside eye, but in the National Football League every detail earns you wins and losses.

Maybe a dash of authenticity should help, too.

"I think it was good. I think it was natural," Froholdt said of LaFleur's command of the room when speaking.

"I think he's been around and seen a lot of really good coaches so it's natural for him to go up there and speak from the heart. There's some scripting of course, some things he needs to go over, but there's also something natural you can see comes off the bat, off the rip, it's authentic. That's good."