Arizona Cardinals announce changes to strength and conditioning staff

The Arizona Cardinals took a while, but they now have a strength and conditioning staff. Some changes were made. They announced the new staff on Thursday, just a few days ahead of the start of the offseason program.

Shea Thompson remains as the director of football performance, but previous lead strength and conditioning coach Evan Marcus, brought on by head coach Jonathan Gannon in 2023, was replaced by Kyle Sammons.

Sammons got a promotion, as he was previously was the assistant strength and conditioning coach and sports science coordinator, coming on in 2023.

Also gone are Mark Naylor, Jason Benguche and Everett Gathron, all of whom were assistants under Marcus.

Buddy Morris remains on staff as senior reconditioning coordinator, working primarily with injured players trying to return.

They added three to the staff, replacing the three who departed. They hired Matt King, Rich Pruett and Aaron Sanchez.

King and Pruett are assistant strength and conditioning coaches, while Sanchez holds that title along with reconditioning, so he will work more closely with Morris.

Sammons worked in college prior to the Cardinals, at Nevada from 2011-2014 and Washington from 2015-2021.

King, Pruett and Sanchez all are new to the NFL.

King spent the last 14 years in college, most recently at Michigan State in 2024-2025.

Pruett had 11 years in the college ranks from 2012-2023 at North Georgia, but spent the last three years as the director of performance at Exos in Phoenix. Exos trains a lot of professional athletes.

Sanchez was at Seattle University from 2023-2025. He worked with Sammons at Washington in 2021.

Was this a late announcement? Not really. The Cardinals announced their strength staff in 2023 on April 1, so this is right on schedule.

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire's Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.

This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: Arizona Cardinals announce changes to strength and conditioning staff