New Arizona Cardinals coach Mike LaFleur has been busy filling out his assistant roles.
After tapping Nathaniel Hackett to be their next offensive coordinator, LaFleur has hired Matt Merritt to be their next running backs coach, replacing Autry Denson, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Merritt comes from the college ranks with the Miami Hurricanes, where he held the same role.
He just finished up his second season with the Hurricanes, ending with a national championship loss to the Indiana Hoosiers.
After the crushing end to the season for Miami, there were many positives to bring out.
Who is Matt Merritt of the Arizona Cardinals?
Merritt led a very promising running back group led by junior Mark Fletcher.
In 14 games, Fletcher rushed for 1192 yards on 5.5 yards per carry and 12 touchdowns. Sophomore CharMar Brown added 474 yards and seven touchdowns as the primary backup.
As a team, Miami averaged 4.3 yards per carry and 28 touchdowns.
Before that, Merritt was the associate head coach/run game coordinator/running backs coach at the University of Southern Florida in 2023. In addition, he held the running backs coach position at Georgia Southern in 2022.
Merritt also coached at the University of Tennessee, James Madison, and Ohio State University. He was part of the 2019 James Madison staff that reached the FCS National Championship game and Ohio State’s 2015 National Championship.
While he hasn’t had a position above running backs coach yet, he is considered an up-and-coming coach who will now get his first chance at an NFL job.
Who Will Merritt be Working With?
Now, Merritt will be working with a talented but oft-injured running back group.
As of now, James Conner is the starting running back for Arizona. Having rushed for 1,000 yards in two consecutive seasons, Conner was looking to continue a solid comeback with the Cardinals.
However, he played in just three games last season as his campaign ended due to a right foot injury. In those three games, Conner was unimpressive, with just 95 rushing yards and a touchdown.
Now, going into his age-31 season, Conner is entering the twilight of his career and the final year on his Cardinals contract.
Backing up Conner is 2024 third-round pick Trey Benson. Like Conner, Benson was injured most of the season.
He played just four games before suffering a knee injury that would end his season. In those four games, he rushed for just 160 yards and no touchdowns.
While Conner will more than likely be the starter in 2026, Benson is a talented back that Merritt will be working with closely, as he looks to break out.
With Michael Carter hitting unrestricted free agency and Emari Demercado and Bam Knight hitting restricted free agency, Arizona will likely invest in the position in free agency or the draft.
Merritt has his work cut out for him with a team coming off a 3-14 season and tons of injuries, but if he can work his magic with Conner and Benson, it will have been a successful hire for Arizona.
Cardinals, Mike LaFleur Finalize Another Coaching Hire: Report