in the statement by schefter and the context to follow, it is hard to tell if he is citing inside sources or it is pure speculation... at first i thought the former, but as i read on i wasn't so sure...
i could see it as being a good fit... the article didn't mention it, but i think martz has strong ties to the state of arizona... i think he coached in some capacity (probably not HC) there... maybe northern arizona (?)...
i'm not so sure he would be one of first people to get a call (for cards or around the NFL... ron rivera has been mentioned recently, and he was thought early in rams hunt that ended with linehan to be strong contender, though reportedly his organizational & communication skills & ability to convey a vision for the future & action plan that came across as thorough & balanced in terms of defense & offense suffered in comparison with linehan)... there were plenty of openings this offseason, & while i thought he would get a job, it wasn't clear if he even got a sniff... i thought with the skill position weapons in DET (roy williams & KJ) & a strong defensive presence & charismatic leader in marinelli it would deflect attention aawy & take pressure off his first post-rams job & would be perfect scenario for rehabilitating his image... maybe he would get another crack at a HC job in a few years (i have invoked the belichick example before as well... martz hasn't done a lot to suggest that he could climb to those heights with a second chance... but the point is neither did belichick first time around, and was heavily criticized for some of the same supposed personality flaws)...
he has done well turning around the lions offense, but that probably wasn't a huge surprise (except to those in DET hardened by experience to be pessimistic!
)... maybe that turnaround came relatively quickly, not a given in a complex offense... it is possible that he is a good teacher (on offense at least) as well as being one of the best innovators & schemers on offense...
since he had already demonstrated what he can do with an offense in STL, it still leaves the question if the larger supposed flaws he has/had first go round as HC, as a leader, communicator, organizationally & his failures on defense (after lovie smith left) & ST that spooked so many teams in 06 will evaporate with merely a one year interval?
ARI might be the kind of team that takes a shot like that... they probably need to shake things up in a way that we wouldn't say in the case of a team like the cowboys, if parcells retires after this season...
* another possible convergence... when the rams offense was at its apex, warner made it so dangerous (there were other factors like having awesome chess piece like faulk as WR mismatch & red zone weapon) not so much because he had a rocket arm or threw deep all the time... more often it was for being decisive, fast & accurate on intermediate routes & getting the ball in the hands of the right person... leinart could do that, because those are some of his best attributes (i don't mean his career will unfold identically, but there are some parallels in their respective skill sets)... if boldin & fitz may not immediately seem like "martz" WRs, boldin isn't as fast as bruce but could run some of same intermediate crossing routes, & after the catch adds a dimension bruce doesn't have... not sure if fitz is as fast as holt, but a lot of what makes holt's speed so dangerous is that he can maintain it through the route stem & he runs very polished routes... areas WR prodigy fitz is improving in... & he is deceptively faster than many think... i'm pretty sure he ran a 4.4 at his pre-draft workout (plenty fast, and if so i think same as holt), and he is capable of getting behind secondaries...
