Mike LaFleur - Head Coach, cardinals Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-03 | Full transcript (primary source).
Mike LaFleur, Head Coach of the Cardinals, addressed the media during a press conference on September 3, 2026. The event focused on recent developments within the team, including the extension of a key player's contract, highlighting the positive impact on both the locker room and the fan base.
Transcript
LaFleur: All right. No, it's awesome. It's great for the Cardinals. It's great for his teammates, this locker room. It's good for our fan base. Anyone that really knows Mike, you can't help but root for the guy. So that's awesome. I'd be remiss not to point out Monte and their team, too. I don't know who the agent is, but they've been working for quite some time at this. And so to get it done today is awesome. But more importantly, I'm happier for him. Happy for Mike Wilson. Michael Wilson is my son would correct me on. I'm happy for Sophia. I was just able to meet his mom. His mom's here. I was just able to meet his little daughter who's as cute as you would think. So it's a neat day.
LaFleur: Before you've been coaching him to know you've got that guy until 2029, wasn't he sweet to you? Yeah, again, it's awesome for our organization. Now you just go to put all that aside and you just say the football player. This is a special player who I don't even think even come close to reaching how good he could be. And he knows that the way he works, the way he goes about it, there's things that we're working on behind the scenes that I know he's talked about, too. I want to be a better yak guy. He's good. You want to be better. And that's just his mindset. He has a growth mindset every single day. He's about process. He's just about all the right things that you want in a football player on top of being an incredible human being.
LaFleur: How quickly did you kind of understand like this guy gets it? He's going to help our offense take that next step. I would say having to go against him. I mean, he popped last year when you naturally see these offenses more because of the crossover tape, getting ready for the defenses. So I had respect for him coming out of college. The guys that I respect most in terms of the coaching world loved him coming out. And so to see where he's gone and to know that there's even more out there is pretty neat.
LaFleur: It seems like a lot of this kind of accelerated and came together in the last 24 hours. What was the impetus for that? I wouldn't read too much into that. Everyone was, for the most part, on the same page. I mean, it's a negotiation, right? I mean, there's a business side to it. But I would say both sides had full grasp of this the whole time.
LaFleur: Was there a certain thing where I know some guys don't want to deal with these things once the season begins? Was there kind of an internal deadline if we want to get this done? Yeah, I think, again, I mean, Monty and the Cardinals wanted to lock up a really good football player for as long as we could. And at the same time, the player wants the insurance and the security that he's got a long-term deal. So it was both sides wanted to get this done and got it done.
LaFleur: OK, Michael, maybe just relief inside the locker room. And a guy like Michael gets this deal done. Does that bring to this team to kind of pull it together ahead of people? Yeah, I think you'd have to ask the players that. From my perspective, I think this shows them that we're trying to keep really good players that are really good for the locker room that are going to help us, in this case, on offense, move the ball forward and cross into the end zone. And so I love where our guys' mindset, even if this didn't get done. But I think, naturally, in any locker room, when you sign something like that, those guys are going to be happy for, one, the Arizona Cardinals, and two, for the human.
LaFleur: I know you're not in the GMC, but how important do you think it is to not only draft and develop, but also kind of take care of the home-grown guys? Yeah, I think it's awesome. Because, like you said, you drafted them. You put a lot of time into that process, then they get here. And then you're working on developing the person and the player. And to have one of those guys in this situation get signed to the deal he did, it's a big deal.
LaFleur: You get to see him on a daily basis here. Obviously, there's only so much that we're able to see behind the scenes. What is something that he might do that shows that he's different than maybe some of the others? Well, again, it's just his approach every single day. He is just so consistent. And it's the meeting rooms, his attention to detail, just how he goes about his business. He's the perfect example of don't mistake his kindness for weakness. This dude is a tough dude. And got to see a little bit more of that. I knew it, and I've seen it, but then you get to see even a little bit more in competition when we're in Green Bay. And it's pretty neat.
LaFleur: So again, just because this is done, the only thing I would say, again, I don't think he's going to make stuff up now. I think he's just going to go about his business just like he does in his process and try to be the best he can be every single day.
LaFleur: Notice how smart he was. Besides him going to Stanford, like beating him. Probably then. But I've talked about this a few times. Like, yeah, OK, he went to Stanford. Guy goes to Ivy League, dah, dah, dah, whatever it is. But don't overanalyze either. And I think he's got that good threshold of understanding, like, OK, I play Z in this offense. Who's a Z that has played well in this offense before? And you guys know the names. I'm not going to mention names. OK, so let me study some of that stuff. But I'm not him either. I'm Michael Wilson. This is my game. And it's my job and Hackett's job and our job to put him in positions that put him in positions to be successful. And some of it is like some of those old guys, the Pukas, the Roberts, and stuff like that. And some of it is he can do some pretty special things. So yeah, it's neat.
LaFleur: What do you expect today as far as the season? I was one second away from walking on out of here. As far as practice, typically you said that Tuesday was going to be kind of the big day. What are you expecting the rest of the week? Yeah, let me clarify that too, because I did see that. When we hit the field for 17 weeks, now obviously we'll scale back at the end of the year. But we're going to use all our padded practices during the season. What I meant by that was this is the last time we're going to have ones on ones for over 40 plays. It's just going to be scaled back, but it's still going to be ones on ones today. But the intensity, the way that we work, we're going to incorporate a little bit more tempo today, kind of have it almost like a faster day as they go into their break. So make sure I clarify that we're going to be working. We're going to be working to our standard throughout the season. There's only so many padded practice you can have. And obviously, you can't go ones on ones. We'll have some periods that we call a mamba period, an ode to Kobe Bryant, where it's just competition. And you'll get two or three plays of red zone, or two or three plays of third down, or normal downs on Wednesdays. But what I was insinuating was outside 40 plus plays, ones on ones. That's kind of the last time we'll have that. Today's more like 30.
LaFleur: Back to Michael, in those kinds of discussions and negotiations, what is your role in those conversations? And how do you compliment and work with Monty? And what are his responsibilities when you're in response? I just bother Monty, and just am a pest about it. So no, this was not like everyone was on the same page the whole time. I mean, you got here, and the love that they've always had for Michael before I got here to when I got here, and to knowing what we feel like he can do in this offense on Sunday.
LaFleur: So Monty's as big of a fan as Michael Wilson, as I am, as anyone in that locker room. And when you're actually sitting down and having the negotiations and all that, is that entirely him talking? I would say I don't go into the nitty-gritty details, and nor do I want to know how these contracts are being like. I've got enough stuff we're focused on in terms of the team, the unit, working with the quarterback, stuff like that. But just like I've said since I've been here, the communication's been outstanding. I hope he feels the same way in terms of how I talk to him about what we're doing schematically and stuff like that. So it's been great.
LaFleur: How's it cross your mind at all? You've got Jeremiah, Marv, Mike, Trey, all locked in. In the next couple of years, what type of continuity that could play to your offense? Yeah, I mean, on paper, there's a lot of skill there. But it takes more than that. It's going to take all 11. It's going to take solid skiing by us each and every week. The defenses have a say in it, too. So there's a lot of factors. But on paper, it looks good. But we've got to go put in our work.
LaFleur: How is Jeremiah feeling? He's good. He's progressing.
LaFleur: Will he practice? He'll be doing what he did the other day.
LaFleur: What about a guy like Isaiah? How's he doing? Progressing, progressing really well. But he will not be practicing today.
LaFleur: Will Johnson? Progressing really well. He will not be practicing today.
LaFleur: You talked earlier in the week about having some roles still kind of being undefined before the end of the season. Is there anything those players can kind of show you between now and the week on? Or is that just more so you got just starting to sort through everything? I mean, yeah, we got a day to day. We got practice Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Again, you don't script for success when we get into season. You script to show them, hey, these are the looks you're going to get. And you want to put them in some bad situations, too. But it's the ones versus it's not a scout team, because these are NFL players. But they are presenting a different scheme. And that said scheme is not going to be typically like your said scheme. So there's only so much that can obviously happen. But I do think it's our responsibility as coaches to hold them to the same standard in terms of their practice habits and the work that they're putting in while also making sure that we get them to Sundays as clean as possible. So I'd say, hey, today there's still an evaluation. But the next real evaluation is going to be, obviously, Sunday when the lights are on.
LaFleur: What's your plan for this weekend? Do you get away, or do you just kind of grind through until Friday? No, I'm not getting away, no. It is Labor Day weekend, right? I thought I was going to have some kids sports because I was kind of looking forward to. But my wife said no. But I really like the house that we have in terms of the setup. My office is connected to the family room, which is connected to the kitchen. So it's so easy for me to work and then feel like I'm still present with them. Obviously, they're kind of going in. And they're not four and five years old, so they don't care about the remote, like I was saying, I think, to you guys a few weeks ago. They're actually more interested in actually kind of watching the tape a little bit now. So I just kind of see myself wandering for three days, throughout the house. If I don't leave the house, that's great. So might head to the high school football game on Arcadia Friday. We'll see.
LaFleur: Mike, you said your son would correct you on Mike versus Michael. It seemed like a totally dialed in one of them. Totally dialed in. I said Mike Wilson the other day, he goes, it's Michael. And so I texted Michael that I got corrected. And he said he's in game form or something like that. So yeah, they had their fantasy draft. And yeah, you can imagine who he drafted in that. So we better score a gazillion points for him to win.
LaFleur: Will you go to you for advice on who to draft? No, they don't listen to me for nothing.