We have reached another stage in the offseason. Free agency is basically over, with only minor moves left to be made by teams. The draft is over. OTAs and minicamps are just around the corner.
We have a better picture of how teams will look this coming season.
For that reason, Touchdown Wire’s Nick Wojton put together new offseason power rankings.
Where do the Arizona Cardinals rank?
They come in at No. 15 overall.
A bit of an uncertain future ahead for the Cardinals. QB Kyler Murray is going to remain, but can trading for Hollywood Brown keep this team afloat while DeAndre Hopkins serves his suspension? One thing we seem to overlook with Arizona, even though they ended 2021 poorly, this team did win 11 games.
A quick look at the No. 15 team would suggest that the writer believes the Cardinals are not a playoff team, as there are 14 teams who make the postseason.
However, the Cardinals actually rank No. 6 among NFC teams. In the top 15, there are only six NFC teams — The Rams, Buccaneers, Packers, 49ers, Cowboys and Cardinals.
Of those five NFC teams ranked higher than the Cardinals, only the 49ers is a questionable one. If Jimmy Garoppolo were going to be the starter, I could see it perhaps. However, Trey Lance appears to be the starting quarterback moving forward and he is a big question mark.
The Cardinals beat the 49ers twice last season with a team that looked a lot like the team they are now. The Cardinals finished ahead of the 49ers in the standings last year.
Based on Hopkins’ suspension and some uncertainty about replacing the sack production of Chandler Jones, projecting the Cardinals as a wild card team right now is perfectly reasonable.
That isn’t always something you can say about power rankings.
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