SANTA CLARA — There was a time during the preseason when speculation was rampant the
Arizona Cardinals were tanking the season under rookie head coach Jonathan Gannon. Why else would general manager Monti Ossenfort release five-time All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins and release quarterback Colt McCoy, giving the
Job to untested Josh Dobbs, and make other roster moves that were deemed dubious by the general public? No one knows when or if quarterback Kyler Murray will play this season. But when the Cardinals could have (and should have) beat
Washington and the
New York Giants in Weeks 1 and 2 and then rose up and smacked the Dallas Cowboys 28-16, 49ers defensive tackle Javon Hargrave wasn’t surprised. Nor will Hargrave be shocked if Arizona gives the 49ers all they can handle Sunday at Levi’s Stadium. “I know he’s highly motivated so he’s going to have them boys ready to play,” Hargrave said Wednesday. “They’re going to play good ball. He’s a smart coach and I expect him to have a great game plan for us.” Hargrave and Gannon are on opposite sides of the field because each helped the other become more upwardly mobile during their two years together with the
Philadelphia Eagles. With Gannon running the defense as coordinator, Philadelphia finished second in the
NFL in total defense at 301.5 yards per game, just behind the 49ers at 300.6. The Eagles’ 70 sacks were No. 1, and 15 more than Kansas City’s second-highest total of 55. Pushing the pocket from the interior, Hargrave had a career-high 11 sacks, tying him with teammates Brandon Graham and Josh Sweat behind team leader Hasson Reddick. Reddick had 16 sacks in the regular season, not including the one that injured quarterback Brock Purdy’s right elbow in the NFC Championship game. The Eagles’ season ended with a sackless 38-35 loss in the
Super Bowl to Kansas City, but that didn’t stop Gannon and Hargrave from being hot commodities in the offseason. Gannon, 40, was hired by Arizona on Feb. 14 to replace Kliff Kingsbury. A month later, the 49ers signed Hargrave, 30, on the first day of free agency to a four-year contract worth a maximum of $84 million. In four years with Pittsburgh and one with Philadelphia before Gannon was hired by coach Nick Sirianni, Hargrave was regarded as a good pocket pusher but had never had more than 6 1/2 sacks. In two seasons with Gannon, he had 7 1/2 and 11. Gannon arrived in 2021 as a first-time coordinator, having most recently coached defensive backs for the Indianapolis Colts from 2018-20. Rather than lay down the law upon arrival, Hargrave was impressed that Gannon sought his opinion. “He gave me a lot of freedom and talked to me during the week about what I liked and some of the plays he was going to call if we liked them,” Hargrave said. “He’s one those players’ coaches that listens to players a lot to get the best out of them.” When training camp opened, a video of Gannon greeting his new team went viral with the first-time head coach getting criticism in waves for being less than inspiring. Cardinals’ HC Jonathan Gannon tries to set the tone for the season in the latest episode of , “Coach and the Coordinators”. Now available on Cardinals
YouTube channel: — Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) Hargrave, however, said being a firebrand isn’t Gannon’s style as much as building trust and relationships. “He’s smooth. He’ll come talk to you and he knows the right words to say to each player,” Hargrave said. “He knows how to make people believe in what we’re doing to win the game.” Conversations went beyond Xs and Os and the best way to get to the quarterback. “We had conversations about life,” Hargrave said. “We’re both into
Drake and talked about maybe going to a concert. Or just about the new cars we get or personal stuff we have going on at the time.” Hargrave, who signed with the 49ers before Gannon and the Cardinals could make a run at him in free agency, has made an immediate impact on an already stacked defensive front. He sacked Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett in Week 1 and the Giants’ Daniel Jones in Week 3. Against the
Los Angeles Rams, Hargrave shot the gap so quickly he nearly took a handoff from quarterback Matthew Stafford. Related Articles At 6-foot-2, 305 pounds, Hargrave is paired with the more angular Arik Armstead (6-7, 299) inside with the added bonus of Javon Kinlaw finally being healthy enough to play closer to the potential he had as a first-round draft pick in 2020. It’s even allowed the 49ers, who lead the NFL with 41 pressures to go along with eight sacks, to utilize some five-man fronts under new coordinator Steve Wilks. Hargrave said he and Gannon took a moment to express reciprocal gratitude for where they wound up in 2023. “I needed him, he needed me,” Hargrave said. “I said thank you for everything he’s done and he said the same to me.”