The Arizona Cardinals' decision to hire one of San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan's former assistants from not too long ago, Mike LaFleur, as their new head coach was a wise move.
And it certainly helps extend Shanahan's own coaching tree even further, now effectively dominating the NFC West with all four rivals having one of the Niners coach's previous assistants in some high-profile role.
However, one of Kubiak's first moves as head coach was a puzzling one.
According to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, Arizona is hiring Nathaniel Hackett as its next offensive coordinator:
The Cardinals are hiring Nathaniel Hackett as their offensive coordinator, sources tell The Insiders.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 4, 2026
Hackett, 46, was the offensive coordinator for three seasons under Matt LaFleur in Green Bay. Now, he teams up with Mike LaFleur in Arizona. pic.twitter.com/y0yM9gUltQ
As Pelissero pointed out, Hackett has worked in a Shanahan-like system after serving under the elder LaFleur brother, Matt LaFleur, with the Green Bay Packers.
Since that point, though, Hackett's coaching pedigree hasn't exactly inspired confidence.
Bad for the Cardinals, potentially. Good for San Francisco and the rest of the NFC West.
49ers don't have to worry about Cardinals joining NFC West's competition party
It's not hyperbole to say the NFC West was the league's toughest division in 2025 with three of the four teams (you can guess the outlier) winning 12-plus games and earning postseason berths.
The Cardinals, who went 3-14 and haven't been to the postseason since 2021, hope the LaFleur-Hackett combination can be enough to turn their franchise around. But, with all kinds of roster questions facing them this offseason, including what to do about quarterback Kyler Murray, it won't be easy joining the rest of the NFC West party.
Hackett, meanwhile, couldn't have flamed out any harder in his one-and-only stint as head coach: the Denver Broncos in 2022 where he was fired with two games remaining in the season.
A subsequent tenure with the New York Jets as offensive coordinator between 2023 and 2024 didn't exactly go much better.
Granted, LaFleur might end up calling offensive plays for the red birds this season, leaving Hackett to more of a preparatory role rather than being coerced into making in-game decisions.
That said, at least as shown over the last few stops, having Hackett on staff isn't exactly a recipe for success.
The 49ers (and the rest of the NFC West, for that matter) don't mind that at all, though.