The Arizona Cardinals are expected to be an improved team in 2020. They added defensive talent, traded for receiver DeAndre Hopkins and the rest of the offense is largely unchanged. Quarterback Kyler Murray is expected to make strides in his second season.
How good will they be? ESPN used its Football Power Index to project every team’s playoff chances and how many wins they will have in 2020.
For the Cardinals, they are given a 25% chance to make the postseason and are projected to win 7.3 games.
This is right in line with Vegas win/loss projections, where their win total is set at 7.5 wins.
As for the rest of the NFC West, the San Francisco 49ers are projected to have 10.2 wins, the Seattle Seahawks 8.9 and the L.A. Rams 8.3.
Based on these projections, it looks like the division will be very competitive, especially after the 49ers.
This is a perfectly reasonable projection, based on what we know about the Cardinals. It shows progress but isn’t too optimistic.
The Cardinals do look like a team whose floor is roughly seven wins. Their ceiling is probably about 10.
They will be improved, but with a competitive division, as far as projections go, this is a good start.
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Ep. 267
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Ep. 266
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