Cardinals’ Kliff Kingsbury to miss Browns game, Vance Joseph and Jeff Rodgers to coach

The Arizona Cardinals will face the Cleveland Browns Sunday without head coach Kliff Kingsbury, who is unavailable after testing positive for COVID-19 late in the week. Kingbury, who, like all NFL coaches, is fully vaccinated, was at practice Friday but apparently learned of his positive status late in the day.

With Kingbury unavailable, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and assistant head coach/special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers will jointly serve as head coach. But Kingsbury is more than that. He’s also Arizona’s offensive play-caller. Many believe that offensive line coach/run game coordinator Sean Kugler will take over those duties Sunday.

But the Cardinals will nonetheless be short-staffed on offense. Quarterbacks coach Cam Turner also tested positive and did not make the trip to Northeast Ohio. Kugler, 55, was the head coach at UTEP from 2013-2017. But he has almost exclusively been a position coach in the NFL.

Why is Kliff Kingsbury out against the Browns?

The Cardinals have a COVID-19 cluster despite Kingsbury insisting that the team is 100% vaccinated. Along with the aforementioned coaches, edge defender Chandler Jones and defensive tackle Zach Allen are both on the reserve/COVID-19 list, and general manager Steve Keim has also reportedly tested positive.

Kingsbury, whom ESPN reports is asymptomatic, is not the first NFL coach sidelined by a positive test. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski had to miss the Browns’ Wild Card playoff game against the Steelers in 2020, a game that Cleveland won 48-37. Arizona’s most experienced available assistants in Week 6 will be Jerry Sullivan (in his 27th NFL season), wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson, and running backs coach James Saxon.

Together, they helped Kingsbury create game plans for the NFL’s No. 4 scoring offense — Arizona averages 31.4 points per game.

Who is Vance Joseph?

The Cardinals will benefit from not having a first-timer in charge of in-game management. Joseph was the Denver Broncos head coach in 2017 and 2018, going 11-21. Joseph entered 2021 with 16 years of NFL coaching experience, including a season as the Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator and the previous two in his current role.

Arizona currently ranks sixth in scoring defense (19.0 points per game). Additionally, they are in the top 10 in passing yards per game (214.4), yards per pass (6.2), interception rate (2.9%), third-down defense (31.6%), and goal-to-go defense (50%).

Who is Jeff Rodgers?

Rodgers is in his 17th NFL season coaching special teams. He had previous stops in Chicago (2015-17), Denver (2011-14), Carolina (2009-10) ,and San Francisco (2003-07). The Cardinals rank seventh in punt-return average (10.3) and fourth in both punt-return defense (5.1) and kickoff-return defense (18.0).

Rodgers was not only a high school teammate of record-breaking quarterback Drew Brees at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, but he was also the center who snapped to Brees. Rodgers’ brother, Jay, is the defensive line coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.