The Arizona Cardinals struggled on defense in every phase in 2023. After starting off incredibly physically, they struggled to stop the run, rush the passer, tackle and cover.
At cornerback, they played several rookies with Garrett Williams, Kei’Trel Clark, Starling Thomas and Divaad Wilson all starting games at some point.
So it should be no surprise that when Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar released his list of the 13 best outside cornerbacks in the league, it was devoid of Cardinals players.
Their main outside cornerbacks last season were Marco Wilson, released late in the season, Thomas (an undrafted rookie) and journeyman Antonio Hamilton.
And when it comes to Wilson and Thomas, they were among the league’s most-targeted cornerbacks and allowed a higher completion percentage than most.
Thomas allowed over 80% of the passes thrown his way to be completed. Wilson allowed nearly 77% of throws to the player he covered to be completed.
Thomas remains on the roster and they signed Sean Murphy-Bunting. They also drafted Max Melton in the second round and Elijah Jones in the third.
Can any of them make the top outside cornerback list in next year’s offseason rankings? It seems unlikely, but a step in the right direction would simply be to avoid having their corners be among the worst in the league.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.