How Jonathan Gannon has brought ‘culture shock’ to Cardinals

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Zaven Collins walked into the Arizona Cardinals‘ team meeting on the second day of OTAs this spring with a bowl of eggs.

Collins, the third-year linebacker, didn’t think anything of it. He had eaten in meetings throughout his first couple of years in the NFL and figured he’d be able to do it under new coach Jonathan Gannon.

“I thought we could do this because the rules hadn’t come out yet,” Collins told ESPN.

The next day, his No. 25 jersey number was displayed on the big screen when he walked into the meeting room. Collins was bewildered. Then Gannon explained it: Eating in the meeting room was a no-no. Gannon told his star linebacker and the rest of the team to get to the facility 10 minutes earlier so they can eat and be finished by time they walk into their meetings.

“We’re trying to talk about defensive stuff and offensive philosophies, team philosophies, defensive philosophies, all in the team meeting, so everyone gets a grasp on each other’s knowledge. And you’re over there eating, you’re not paying attention,” Collins remembered Gannon said. “I was like, ‘OK, that makes sense.’”

That was one of several moments this offseason when Cardinals players realized life would be different under Gannon than it had been under previous coach Kliff Kingsbury, who was fired in January.

“It’s been a culture shock,” left tackle D.J. Humphries said. “It ain’t even been no gradual shift. It’s shock. Either get with it or get going.”

Since the players arrived in the Cardinals’ facility back in April, Gannon and his staff have emphasized changes big and small, focusing on details that were largely overlooked before.

“It’s a lot more detail-oriented,” quarterback Kyler Murray said.

Players need to wear team-issued gear at all times in the facility. That’s a fineable offense. It also takes one more thing off players’ minds, cornerback Antonio Hamilton said.

“We don’t wake up and thinking about what it is we gotta wear,” he said.

If they’re 30 seconds late to a meeting, they get fined about $5,000. There are now hard start times in the weight room and not being there at the assigned time is a fineable offense. Just recently, players ran out of the locker room to get to the weight room in time.

Not in their rooms at curfew? A fineable offense.

To wide receiver Greg Dortch, the changes are beneficial, helping to build a cohesive group. Dortch has spent time with five different teams — the Jets, Panthers, Rams, Falcons and Cardinals — and has seen some of them operate like Gannon wants and some that haven’t.

“It sounds simple, but it just keeps everybody as one and as a team,” Dortch said. “This is the NFL and you would think guys are worried about themselves, but you can get everybody together. That’s how you win games.”

Depending on the player, the changes may be significant. But, Gannon said, don’t call them rules.

“Rules can be distractions to me,” Gannon said. “So, it’s more like ‘Hey, this is how I want us to behave as a team,’ and all these things that you could have questions about kind of fall into that and they’ve done a good job with that.”

Offensive lineman Will Hernandez doesn’t see them as rules, either, but for a different reason.

“It’s just like s— you should be doing anyway because if we have to worry about s— like that, then it’s not a good sign,” he said.

Since he was hired by Arizona in February, Gannon has used the phrase “winning behavior” multiple times. On the surface, it’s coachspeak — but there has been more accountability under the new regime, players said.

Murray said communication has improved this year in addition to the accountability.

“He knows football. He coaches it,” Murray said. “Guys that already know football will get even smarter. … He’s teaching the scheme. And if you don’t understand it, OK, we’re in a meeting and he calls you out and you don’t get it, OK. We just know you don’t know it and at this point, we don’t need you to know it right now. The season’s not here yet, but when the season comes and we’re on the field, you gotta know it. …

“I love what he’s doing.”

Players also pointed out no one is above the rules.

“With this new culture, team meetings are a lot more inclusive of everyone,” Collins said. “Everyone’s gonna be involved. Like, if you had a bad day, you’re probably gonna be nervous going in a team meeting because they show everyone’s mistake. Everyone’s treated fairly. So that aspect of the new culture, it makes you lock in.”

Some players described the changes as 180 degrees from what the culture was like under Kingsbury.

“I think we’re definitely going in a more positive direction as far as accountability and different scheme,” Hernandez said, “and pretty much the opposite of what has been going on.”

When second-year linebacker Cameron Thomas was drafted by the Cardinals last season, he said players knew what they had to accomplish each day but there was little structure around how to achieve it.

“I wouldn’t say the rules were loose, but some of them were up in the air,” Thomas said. “This year, there was no gray line. [Gannon] tells us exactly what there is. There’s non-negotiables that he lays out for us.”

The results may not be seen for a few more weeks — or even more. Hamilton believes Gannon’s changes can produce a more focused team than in the past and that, players hope, leads to more wins than in the past.

“Everybody’s just trying to win,” Murray said. “We’re all trying to be on the same page.”