Cardinals DC Not Surprised by Former Tiger’s Big Performance
By: Staff Report September 14, 2023

Just one day after being cut by the Philadelphia Eagles, former Clemson safety K’Von Wallace quickly found a new home in the NFL when he was claimed off waivers by the Arizona Cardinals on Aug. 30.

The move to Arizona reunited Wallace with former Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, now the Cardinals’ head coach, and it didn’t take Wallace long to make an impact for his new team in Week 1.

Wallace balled out in Arizona’s matchup against the Washington Commanders this past Sunday, playing 50 snaps while tallying seven tackles and posting two pass breakups just 11 days after he landed with the Cardinals.

Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis — who is familiar with Wallace from their days together in Philly, when Rallis was the Eagles’ linebackers coach — wasn’t surprised by Wallace’s standout performance in Sunday’s game. He knew it was just a matter of time before Wallace made an impact for the Cardinals’ defense.

“We knew, the familiarity with K’Von, that he was eventually going to play a big role for us,” Rallis said to the media, via Arizona Sports Cardinals reporter Tyler Drake. “He did a great job of getting here and getting caught up to speed fast. It was only a week or so. So, he did a great job of working and working on his own, studying that playbook.

“Obviously there’s some familiarity that helped him, but getting himself ready to play. And he knows he needs to keep getting more familiar with some of the stuff that we have, maybe some stuff that had changed from when he was last in this similar defense and keep improving on what he did on Sunday. But he did a good job as far as just being himself, and tackled well and played violent and covered really well.”

Wallace was taken by the Eagles in the fourth round (127th overall) of the 2020 NFL Draft following his four-year Clemson career during which he recorded 178 career tackles (5.5 for loss), 21 pass breakups, five interceptions, two sacks and two forced fumbles over 59 games (36 starts).

–Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images 

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