Aaron Glenn lined up to have second interview for Arizona Cardinals head coaching job

As the Arizona Cardinals move forward in their head coaching search, Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn appears to be among the finalists.

Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn was among the first wave of interviews the Arizona Cardinals did for their head coaching opening. Former Saints head coach Sean Payton seemed to be moving to the top of the list for a bit, but that’s not clear.

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, appearing on The Pat McAfee Show this past week, Brian Flores, Glenn and Ejiro Evero will get second interviews with the Cardinals if Payton is not hired. Flores has been reported as “firmly in the mix” and/or the front runner for the Cardinals job.

Payton has lost some steam in terms of getting a head coaching job this year. Despite a long meeting with Payton this past week, new general manager Monti Ossenfort is not resting on that potential laurel.

Could Aaron Glenn get the Arizona Cardinals head coaching job?

For all the fear Lions fans had that offensive coordinator Ben Johnson would leave for a head coaching job, Glenn has had interviews with the Indianapolis Colts and the Cardinals for their head coaching jobs and now appears to be a finalist (with the big Payton caveat) in Arizona.

The raw season-long results for the Lions’ defense in Glenn’s two seasons as the coordinator haven’t been great. But as the team won eight of it’s last 10 games this season, the Lions were a top-12 scoring defense in the league (20.2 points allowed per game; 11th-best during that stretch) with notable improvement against the run on the whole.

Glenn is also well regarded as a leader, and the development of some young Lions’ defenders (Aidan Hutchinson, Kerby Joseph, James Houston) is a credit to him. He is a future head coach, it’s just a matter of when.

Time will tell who becomes the Cardinals next head coach. But Glenn shouldn’t be dismissed as a legit top candidate.