Cardinals HC LaFleur Reveals 'Extremely Embarrassing' Story With His Dad and Autographed Ball

Arizona Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur got an unexpected autograph request after taking the job this offseason.

Asked by The Athletic's Mike Jones about the "silliest thing" he encountered so far as part of the role, LaFleur immediately cited small details for his office such as pen preferences and where to put the whiteboard.

"But the silliest thing truly was I had a football on my desk about two months ago, and it said, 'Can you sign this?'" he said. "And I brought in my assistant, Jay, and I said, 'Who's this for?' And he kind of looked at me, goes, 'Your dad. He didn't want to ask you.' … That's extremely embarrassing!"

The elder LaFleur might already have an autographed ball from son Matt, who coaches the Green Bay Packers. In that case, it would only be natural to get one from Mike alongside it.

Having a brother in the coaching ranks is undoubtedly beneficial. Mike told Jones one of the best pieces of advice came from Matt and was about time management. There's only so much he can accomplish in a given day, so it's important to set realistic targets.

"And that really pertained in that first month as you are interviewing people, building your staff, getting to know your players, getting to know (GM Monti Ossenfort), getting to know the draft, getting to know the free agents, trying to get your scheme," LaFleur said.

San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch conveyed a similar message when LaFleur left the Bay Area to become offensive coordinator for the New York Jets in 2021. Lynch suggested to "just try to get three things done every day" to avoid getting overwhelmed.

For LaFleur, this is a mindset his team can adopt.

"It's like if you look at it in that big picture, just like our players, if they're looking at it like it's a 17-game season, that's overwhelming," he said. "If you're looking at it like, 'Hey, man, we got practice at 1 tomorrow.' Oh, shoot, we can all handle that, right? We can handle one practice, and so it's kind of in that same realm where it's just like a singular focus, and in certain moments, and then just keep chipping away at it."

That kind of attitude will be helpful for the Cardinals given how they're likely to fare in 2026.

Arizona was 31st in Bleacher Report's NFL power rankings prior to training camp. Even if LaFleur's squad doesn't finish as one of the worst in the league, this figures to be a rebuilding year.

Assuming the losses start to pile up, Cardinals players and coaches will have to accept incremental progress rather than try to turn the season around in one game.