RADIO
Looking at just their record, the Cardinals had a terrible season. However, they were a pesky, competitive team for several games despite being sorely outgunned talent wise. The final outcome for Arizona's 2023 season wasn't unexpected or even mildly surprising. The expectations were low, especially since starting quarterback Kyler Murray missed half the season rehabbing for a late ACL injury in 2022.
Previous divisional editions breaking down each team's 2023 season, their offseason assets, and their top-three positional needs going into the 2024 NFL season can be found here:
While the Cardinals have a lot of work to do, they have a plethora of draft picks, and they are loaded with cap space. Looking at all 32 teams, few teams have the offseason resources that the Cardinals do. Combine that with already having a franchise quarterback and this rebuild might not take as long as expected. In fact, I'm intrigued about the Cardinals being a deep-sleeper 2024 playoff team if they play their offseason hand correctly. If you want to take advantage of all of our great premium tools, please use promo code "BOOM" to receive a 10% discount.
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Season Review and Offseason Assets
Under first-year head coach Jonathan Gannon, the Cardinals finished 4-13. It was expected to be a rough first season due to the overall state of the roster and the fact that star quarterback Kyler Murray was working his way back from a torn ACL in 2022 and would miss the first half of the season. They were a pesky and competitive team despite what their record says. They had five one-possession losses and a couple of solid wins against the Cowboys and Eagles. They’re still a ways off, but there were some positives to take away from Gannon’s first season.
The Cardinals finished 24th in points scored and 19th in yards gained. Given their quarterback and receiver situation (we’ll get to that later), it’s not surprising in the slightest to see their offense struggle. Their defense finished 31st in points allowed and 25th in yards given up.
Arizona has just over $55 million in cap space. If they want to, they could restructure Murray’s contract to create more cap space. He has a $51.4 million cap hit. The team actually only has four players with a cap hit north of $10 million this year. Tackle D.J. Humphries has a $22.8 million cap hit. They drafted Paris Johnson Jr. last year in the first round with the likely intention of him being their future left tackle. Cutting or trading Humphries could save the team $10 million.
Given his age (will turn 31 this NFL season) and his declining play, he could become a cap casualty since the team might prefer to get Johnson into his long-term position sooner rather than later. Last offseason, there were trade rumors around Budda Baker. If they were to deal him this offseason, they’d save almost $15 million. The team has several free agents, the biggest being Marquise Brown, but they do not have any “must re-sign” players.
Arizona owns the No. 4 (first-rounder), No. 27 (first-rounder), No. 35 (second-rounder), No. 66 (third-rounder), No. 90 (third-rounder), No. 105 (fourth-rounder), No. 137 (fifth-rounder), No. 161 (fifth-rounder), No. 188 (sixth-rounder), No. 222 (seventh-rounder), No. 224 (seventh-rounder), and No. 241 (seventh-rounder) overall picks in this year’s NFL Draft. The Cardinals are loaded with cap space, cap flexibility, draft picks, and high-level draft picks. If they play their cards right (pun intended), they could turn it around in a hurry.
Biggest Needs
1. Pass-Rusher
Some may have been expecting wide receiver here with Marquise Brown heading to free agency, but finding a quality pass-rusher is imperative. Honestly, they must find more than one due to how bad their pass rush was this past season. Arizona’s defense finished dead last in quarterback hits, dead last in quarterback hit rate, 30th in sacks, 31st in pressures, and 31st in pressure rate. Their most productive pass-rusher was 29-year-old former UDFA Dennis Gardeck, who finished with six sacks. He was the only player who finished with more than four. Arizona’s pass rush was on par with the Jets’ quarterback play, just to put things into perspective. There is no bigger need on this football team.
2. Cornerback
Marco Wilson logged 695 snaps for Arizona this past season. He finished the year with the Patriots after being released late in the year. Antonio Hamilton (2016 UDFA) logged the second-most snaps at cornerback with 559 and is a free agent. Starling Thomas (2023 UDFA) had 474 snaps played. Kei'Trel Clark (2023 sixth-rounder) played 464 snaps and Garrett Williams (2023 third-rounder) played 360 snaps due to only appearing in nine games because of an injury. That means the top cornerbacks on the depth chart right now are a 2023 UDFA, a 2023 sixth-round pick, and a 2023 third-round pick. That is scary.
Last season, Arizona allowed the second-highest completion percentage (68.6%), third-most passing touchdowns (32), second-highest touchdown rate (6.3%), sixth-highest yards per attempt average, and the second-highest quarterback rating. They finished with just 11 interceptions and their passing defense contributed -137 expected points, which was the third-worst in the NFL. This secondary needs help in a major way.
3. Wide Receiver
Marquise Brown is a free agent. He was their leading receiver last year with 51 receptions, 574 yards, and four touchdowns. After Kyler Murray returned from injury, due to Brown’s injury, Murray’s leading receiver was 2019 UDFA Greg Dortch. That’s who was the team’s leading receiver during Murray’s eight starts. 100 receivers finished with at least 35 targets last season. Michael Wilson finished 60th with a 1.36 yards per route run average. Brown was 66th (1.25), Dortch was 70th (1.15), and Rondale Moore was 96th (0.73).
Not that height is everything for a receiver, but Dortch, Moore, and Brown combined are just 16 feet and 10 inches tall, which is an average of just over 5-foot-7 per player. All of their receivers combined for 277 targets, 157 receptions, 1,790 yards, and 10 touchdowns. Just for reference and because it’s funny… Tyreek Hill finished with 1,799 yards on 171 targets. I get Hill was amazing, but to have their entire receiver room have nine fewer yards on 106 more targets is terrible.
4. Other Positions of Need: Defensive Line, Offensive Line
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