Shanahan's Coaching Tree: LaFleur's Cardinals Face 49ers — SkimNews
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- Mike LaFleur leads the Cardinals against Kyle Shanahan's 49ers on Sunday (4:05 p.m. ET, Fox), one week after winning his head coaching debut against the Chargers.
- LaFleur worked under Shanahan for seven straight seasons — Cleveland (2014), Atlanta, and San Francisco (2017-2020 as pass game coordinator and wide receivers coach) — before facing him six times as the Rams' offensive coordinator.
- LaFleur is the seventh former Shanahan assistant to become an NFL head coach, joining Sean McVay, Matt LaFleur, Robert Saleh, Jeff Hafley, Mike McDaniel, and DeMeco Ryans.
- Shanahan called LaFleur "as good as any of those other guys" on his staff and said he "sees it a little bit better than most people."
- Dan Quinn hired LaFleur in Atlanta in 2015 alongside Matt LaFleur, Shanahan, and McDaniel — all four have since become NFL head coaches, and Quinn texted LaFleur the day the Cardinals introduced him.
Why it matters: The Shanahan coaching network now occupies six of the NFL's 32 head coaching positions, per the article, meaning this Sunday's NFC West game is a divisional matchup between a former boss and his protégé who cut his teeth across seven seasons in three different Shanahan-led offensive rooms.
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