Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon pleased with foundation of second season

The word "culture" came up on Monday when Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon took some time to speak to local media on the day the Cardinals opened offseason strength and conditioning workouts at their Tempe facility.

The Cardinals feel they have a good one that is only continuing to develop as Gannon enters his second season at the helm. Where last year Gannon and his coaching staff were tasked with implementing the foundation for the team, starting from scratch, they now have had a full season and soon, a full offseason together.

There are some new faces, but not too much is new. The idea is to have the players be the messengers in sharing Gannon's plan with the newcomers. For example, team captain and linebacker Kyzir White sharing information with new linebacker Mack Wilson Sr.

"I think they (returning players) know how we want to operate on a daily basis with our process. And then in turn, they did it last year, but they take it over. So the new guys, I don't have to tell Mack what's expected, Kyzir tells him, and that's a cool thing, because then you see kind of the connection with the players go on and they kind of take the team over," Gannon said. "So we'll lay out the blueprint for them, show them the good and the bad and keep them aligned, but ultimately the team is going to take it over."

Year 2, Phase I: Offseason program

Gannon said the offseason program will last eight weeks. He's excited about the improvements made in the offseason to help the players.

Gannon had a few things to say to his players on Monday when they met prior to workouts.

"I told them, there's going to be some things that are same as. I told them there's gonna be some things that are slightly tweaked. And there's gonna be some brand new things," Gannon said. "So hopefully the growth that we had throughout the year and then this offseason, the players feel that and they understand the 'why' behind it, and they can improve."

Gannon takes a lot of player and coach input.

"If you want to know something, ask the players. So you guys know, I value their opinion, what they need, what they want to, (what) they think in their mind that can help everybody. I try to listen to all that and implement a lot of those things," Gannon said.

Cardinals' culture

Gannon was asked to describe the team's culture, as it stands today.

"We've got a bunch of guys that are team-first guys in there, that are competitive and want to improve their games. That's what the culture is," Gannon said. "And I think you have to work on that daily because your actions go into culture on a daily basis. So we all gotta be aligned, and we gotta be on it. And when we get out of alignment, that's OK, you gotta get back in alignment quick. So that's what wins. And our guys understand that and I'm happy where it's at."

The process of getting to where he wants the team to be wasn't always easy, but Gannon had a plan and has the Cardinals where he likes them.

"How we had it laid out, you know, going into Year Two, what this offseason looks like now with the players back in the building, what that looks like for these eight weeks, you know, time's ticking eight weeks, I keep saying that," Gannon said. "It's not a lot of time. We gotta do a lot and improve a lot before we go on break to get to training camp and going into Year Two. But yeah, that's kind of how I always envisioned it. That's what we're doing."

A message to the coaching staff

Gannon spoke of a community board he has set up inside a staff meeting room for everyone to share likes and dislikes, ideas and thoughts. Defensive coordinator Nick Rallis, Gannon said, jokingly calls it the board's "Power of Attorney."

"That's like a safe space. So I'll go in and say 'Who wrote this?' I'm not gonna say what certain things are written on the board, but put your initials on it," Gannon said, lightheartedly. "It's good. I believe in open, honest communication to get better."

Gannon met with his coaches last Friday after they put in months of hard work.

"Now is our time to make the players feel that improvement from us. So they need to feel that improvement, and it could be how you have something written on a PowerPoint slide, like that's better this year than it was last year," Gannon said.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals coach wants players to share his message with new teammates