Like many coaches on the Arizona Cardinals coaching staff, linebackers coach Sam Siefkes is young and earning his stripes in just his fourth season as an NFL coach.
Siefkes is 33 and played one season (2011) at Wisconsin-LaCrosse, but injuries ended his playing days. He was a student assistant there in 2012-13 and then coached in college for six years before landing with the Vikings as a defensive quality control coach in 2021.
Siefkes was an assistant linebackers coach in 2022 before joining head coach Jonathan Gannon’s staff in 2023. He earned a degree in exercise and sports science from Wisconsin-LaCrosse and then a master’s from Wisconsin in educational leadership and policy analysis.
He discussed the Cardinals linebackers group Friday and the discussion follows in a Q&A format.
Q: Being consistent leaders of the defense, what have Kyzir (White) and Mack (Wilson Sr.) brought to the unit that you think has really paid off beyond making a sack or tackle?
A: I would say their accountability. They do a really good job of owning their mistakes throughout the course of a game and really after the game. I think when guys see that leadership quality, it helps the rest of the defense and the team feel that and be able to kind of move past some mistakes that they may make in a game or after a game.
Q: How much did you know about Mack before he got here and what were your original thoughts on how you were going to be able to utilize him?
A: Not a lot besides watching his tape in the previous couple of places he’d been in Cleveland and New England. But really in New England, he showed a lot of the versatility that we had looked for at that position. And we thought he could be a nice fit for us and being able to utilize that skill set. I think it’s paid off, obviously, for him as well as our defense.
Q: From a physical standpoint, what allows him to be so versatile?
A: I think the fact that when he plays, his strongest attribute is that he doesn’t think. He goes to a place where he knows it good enough to be able to just execute and he feels strongly about that. When guys have that ability, it allows them to play faster which equates to more physicality.
Q: How could you see that versatility on his tape or were there things that he did that made you realize he could do this?
A: You could tell in New England he was involved in some different packages that put him on the line of scrimmage, off the line of scrimmage, in coverage, playing the run, doing, different things that we thought we could be able to utilize him for in this defense.
Q: How hard is it to go from the inside to rushing off the edge to covering guys, like all that in one game?
A: To his credit, I think it’s extremely difficult. He’s done an exceptional job of being able to do all those things that we ask him to. Because speaking from an inside linebacker standpoint, it’s hard to bring a guy that’s come from on the line of scrimmage to off the line of scrimmage. Luckily with him, he was the opposite. He was off the line and moved to on the line, so that’s helped him a little bit. But it’s a hard thing to do especially when you’re doing it from play to play. So I think that’s a credit to him.
Q: How did the free-agent process work for you? Are you involved? Obviously, (general manager) Monti (Ossenfort) and JG (head coach Jonathan Gannon) are the decision-makers, but are they saying, “Hey, can you look at this guy’s tape and let us know what you think you can do with him”? How does that collaboration work?
A: It starts with the personnel department and identifying guys that they think would be good fits for us. And then, we go through those guys, give them our thoughts on them and how they would add value for us in this specific defense. What are their strengths, what are their weaknesses, how can we utilize them and what’s our vision for them in the defense that we have?
Q: It seems that he was able to pick up the defense pretty quickly in terms of learning it at all.
A: When he got here, part of the first conversation was, “Hey, this is kind of what we’re thinking for you. What are your thoughts? Do you think this is something that you could relish in”? And we took it from there and felt like it would be a seamless fit on his end and on our end and I think it’s played out to that advantage.
Q: How have you seen Owen (Pappoe) grow and what’s been standing out about him so far.
A: Owen’s done a nice job. With him, he’s been involved in a lot of our different situational packages and he’s done a good job of fitting in in those moments where he can. For him, it’s just continuing to grow and I think he’s done a nice job of relishing in the role that he’s had for us.
Q: With Mack and Kyzir, are both similar not only on the field, but off the field in terms of what they mean in the room and with all the other guys?
A: I think so. The quality that I think sticks out the most with both of them is the physicality piece and the violence that they play with. And obviously they like that about each other, so they kind of gravitate towards one another. But what’s helped is that other guys in the room, Owen and Krys (Bafnes) especially, they’ve seen that. And I think it’s helped them want to play with that type of violence and physicality as well.
Q: How much collaboration if any is there between you and (outside linebackers coach) Rob (Rodriguez) and with both groups of linebackers?
A: A ton. Yeah, there’s a ton. I think that’s the great part of the thing I love most about this staff is there’s a lot of seamless fit in terms of we want to just win and it doesn’t really matter how we do it. And sometimes that means that Mack goes with Rob for maybe a couple of pass-rush reps. Sometimes that means I might have his guys and do a couple of coverage things. And I think that helps in playing out when you’re selfless like that.
Q: How would you assess Mack in coverage?
A: I think he’s done an excellent job. I mean that was one thing that I’ve talked to him about. Like, “Hey we got to do a good job in these different coverages that we’re going to play.” We play a lot of them and I think he’s done an exceptional job of helping out because that allows for our safeties and corners to play better.
Q: So going against that Seattle offense a couple weeks ago and (offensive coordinator) Ryan Grubb; that scheme for the first time. What did you learn? What are some of the challenges?
A: I think Grubb has done a really nice job. Obviously, they play with a little bit higher of a tempo, but one thing that they do a good job of is that they balance the run and the pass and he does a good job of trying to attack scheme. And I think we’ve done a good job of hopefully learning from that first game into the second game on how we can balance that out and attack it.
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