The Athletic on Wednesday released a list of 50 rising coaches, executives, personalities and other personnel under the age of 40 who have impacted the NFL and will continue to do so.
Finding themselves on that list were a pair of Arizona Cardinals in offensive coordinator Drew Petzing (37 years old) and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis (31).
Petzing is viewed as a future head coach thanks to a steady climb from Cleveland Browns coaching intern in 2013, before holding various offensive assistant positions with Minnesota during a six-year span. The former Middlebury College (DIII) defensive back returned to Cleveland, where he was tight ends coach and then quarterbacks coach. Success under Kevin Stefanski with the Browns led Petzing to Arizona, where he has been offensive coordinator for the last two seasons. Players and colleagues praise Petzing for his vision, his knack for finding ways to maximize his players’ strengths and his strong communication skills.
Petzing was hired as Arizona’s offensive coordinator in 2023 to join head coach Jonathan Gannon’s staff. Petzing helped revolutionize the Cardinals run game as they finished fourth in the league in total rushing yards with 2,365 yards and second in the league in yards per carry at 5.0 yards.
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James Conner rushed for 1,040 yards in 2023 which was good for sixth in the league that season. He followed that up by rushing for 1,094 yards in 2024. It was the first time in his career that he rushed for back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.
Thanks to his work in Arizona, Petzing was among those interviewed for the Chicago Bears’ open head-coaching job before they landed on former Detroit Lions OC Ben Johnson.
Cardinals DC cracks under 40 list
And then there’s Rallis.
When Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon picked Rallis as his first-time defensive coordinator in 2023, everyone on staff understood the roster had a long way to go and expectations were low. But under Rallis, a talent-thin Arizona defense outperformed those expectations and — watch the tape — played hard every week for their young coordinator. Veteran quarterbacks such as Matthew Stafford noted Rallis’ scheme as malleable, able to shapeshift from week to week to attune to the matchup (and often experimentally so). With patience and roster investment, Rallis could be coaching one of the league’s top units in the coming seasons.
The Cardinals hired Rallis to be the team’s defensive coordinator in 2023. Gannon and Rallis spent time together with the Philadelphia Eagles from 2021-2022 where Gannon served as the defensive coordinator and Rallis the linebackers coach.
Under Rallis’ defensive creativity, safety Budda Baker turned in one of his best seasons as a pro in 2024, racking up a career-high 164 tackles to go along with 2.0 sacks and 10 tackles for loss across 16 starts.
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