NFL.com’s Adam Rank predicts the Cardinals’ only wins will come against the Rams and the Ravens.
The Arizona Cardinals are expected to struggle in 2023. How bad will they be?
Personally, while I don’t think they will be good, I think they will be better than most believe, as I expect Kyler Murray to return before midseason and the defense to be scrappy and competitive.
The Cardinals lose their first seven games of the season, pick up an upset win over the Baltimore Ravens in Week 8, and then lose another three before beating the Rams at home. They close the season with five consecutive losses.
What do you think? Will the Cardinals will more than two games in 2023?
They have never lost these games, beating Sam Bradford and Cam Newton and having Kyler Murray’s debut end in a tie.
Since 2002, 22 quarterbacks drafted in the first round opened their rookie season in Week 1 as a starter, according to Mark Lane, writing for Touchdown Wire.
The Arizona Cardinals have been involved in three of those games, twice as the opponent and once with the rookie quarterback.
While it was heartbreaking, it was definitely the most fun any Cardinals fan has had in the postseason.
The Arizona Cardinals have yet to win a Super Bowl, but thy came close. They have been to the playoffs a few times since moving to Arizona, but one run is most memorable and most fun.
That is most certainly the postseason after the 2008 season for the Cardinals.
They were named the worst playoff team in history, only to get hot and make it to the Super Bowl, losing on a last-minute touchdown by Steelers receiver Santonio Holmes.
The Cardinals won the NFC West with a 9-7 record, and showed they were worthy to be in the playoffs. Arizona defended home turf against the Falcons 30-24 in the wild-card, and then upset the No. 2 Carolina Panthers 33-13 in the divisional round. Arizona beat the Philadelphia Eagles 32-25 in the NFC Championship Game. The magical run was all thanks to 37-year-old Kurt Warner, who proved that he still had something to offer and wasn’t going out to pasture just yet.
It was the most fun any Cardinals fans had and it was the greatest heartbreak as well. It looked like they were going to do the unthinkable and win after Larry Fitzgerald scored his touchdown to give them the lead late in the game.
But between Ben Roethlisberger slipping away from a potential sack, Aaron Francisco slipping in coverage, allowing a big pass play and the final fateful catch by Holmes in the end zone that most Cardinals fans still don’t believe should have been a catch (they don’t believe he got both feet down), their fans were collectively shattered after they were filled with hope.
Every other playoff run ended with them getting smoked (1998 vs. Vikings, 2009 vs. Saints, 2015 vs. Panthers and 2021 vs. Rams) except for one — when they lost to an under-.500 Panthers team in 2014 when they had to have Ryan Lindley start at quarterback. That game was just ugly.
So with the greatest heartbreak Cardinals fans have ever experienced, it was accompanied by the most fun they have ever experienced in the postseason.
A recent report and report card show that the Cardinals still have a reputation for being miserly.
The Arizona Cardinals have a new general manager and head coach after a long, deliberate process. It turns out that their search might have gone a little differently if it weren’t for the reputation of the team and owner Michael Bidwill of being cheap.
Bidwill’s father, Bill Bidwill, had the reputation around the NFL for being miserly. Michael appeared to have shaken that same reputation and the team has done many things differently since he took over, but it would appear that he has the same reputation.
This was made public in a recent NFLPA team report card that grades each facet of the workplace for the players. They ranked second-to-last in the league and got failing grades in five of eight categories.
Compare.bet’s Kyler Odegard, a former reporter for the Cardinals, reported some damning information about the team’s GM and head coach search.
The Cardinals originally offered Chicago Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham the job. Per Odegard, he didn’t accept because the job because the two parties couldn’t agree on his desired compensation.
That led to the Cardinals hiring Ossenfort.
There is more. Ran Carthon, formerly of the San Francisco 49ers and now the GM of the Tennessee Titans, and 49ers assistant general manager Adam Peters both turned down interviews with the Cardinals. New Houston Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans canceled an interview with the Cardinals.
Per Odegard, Bidwill’s reputation was believed to be a reason for not accepting interviews.
The same is why Dan Quinn ended up back with the Dallas Cowboys after interviewing with the Cardinals for their head coaching job and Sean Payton, now the coach of the Broncos, also didn’t get hired.
Bidwill has since said that Payton’s salary was not the reason he was not hired. It was the draft compensation the Saints wanted to be able to hire Payton.
As the team moves forward trying to rebuild and reestablish itself as a good team, these reports continue to cast shadows on a team that has had almost nothing but questionable press for more than a year.
The Arizona Cardinals are in the process of forming their coaching staff under new head coach Jonathan Gannon. They have at least three candidates they want to interview for their offensive coordinator job.
One candidate they have requested permission to speak with is New Orleans Saints running backs coach Joel Thomas, according to NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero.
The Cardinals have also requested permission to interview Browns QB coach Drew Petzing and Commanders WR coach Drew Terrell. Petzing is expected to win the job.
Thomas, 48 years old, has coached in the NFL and in college since 2000.
He has been the Saints’ running backs coach since 2015, coaching players like Alvin Kamara and Mark Ingram.
Before that, he coached in college mostly as a position coach for running backs since 2002.
Hopkins’ brand agent says the suspension comes from a positive test in November and they are investigating what happened.
The Arizona Cardinals suffered a blow to the start of the 2022 regular season when it was announced Monday that wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins received a six-game suspension. The suspension came under the league’s policy for performance-enhancing substances.
Under the current collective bargaining agreement, a positive for an anabolic substance receives a six-game suspension.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, he is not appealing, but Hopkins’ brand agent, released a statement to explain how he came to be suspended.
Today the NFL announced their decision to suspend DeAndre Hopkins as a result of a November drug test that came back with trace elements of a banned substance. DeAndre and everyone who works with him is completely shocked by this finding because he is extremely diligent about what he puts in his body. His October and December tests were negative and we are investigating how the November test came back positive. DeAndre is committed to demonstrating that he did not knowingly take a banned substance. He has never once tested positive throughout his 10-year career.
We’re currently testing every product he used to figure out how this could have happened and will release any new information as soon as we have it.
Why could Hopkins do all this and not appeal the suspension?
This move appears to be about perception and image, which is what his brand manager deals with.
Accepting the suspension means he will miss games early in the season rather than later if it ended up getting upheld. It also means he accepts that, even if he did not knowingly take the substance, he is ultimately responsible for it.
But what this does is get the notion out publicly that he did not knowingly use a banned substance, which matters for legacy and perception.
Following the recent acquisitions of Trey McBride and Hollywood Brown, the Cardinals offense features a ridiculous group of playmakers.
Following a quiet free agency, many Arizona Cardinals fans were growing frustrated with the team’s lack of signings and additions. While they were able to re-sign most of their core free agents, they let two key players from last season go without replacing them, those being Chandler Jones and Christian Kirk.
In the past week, however, those sentiments have quickly changed for many. The Cardinals made a shocking trade Thursday night when they sent the 23rd overall pick for Ravens star receiver Hollywood Brown.
Perhaps an equally surprising move was their second round selection of Trey McBride, the consensus top tight end prospect from this year’s class. In a tight end room that already features Zach Ertz and Maxx Williams, it was initially shocking to see the Cardinals technically spend their first draft pick on a tight end.
Following the surprise and discontent from some fans, however, the McBride’s potential was very obviously too good to pass up. Many are comparing his game to that of 49ers’ star George Kittle.
The addition of two standout receiving threats gives the Cardinals a better group of offensive skill position players than they had in 2021, which is saying a ton considering they were the No. 1 statistical offense in the league prior to injuries to both Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins.
The wide receiver room now features Hopkins, Hollywood Brown, Rondale Moore and A.J. Green. Having Green, who had over 800 yards receiving last year (with some missed time) as WR4 illustrates the surplus of firepower general manager Steve Keim is providing the offense. Antoine Wesley, who flashed towards the end of last season, is also a notable name there.
The running back group took a hit with the loss of Chase Edmonds to Miami, but the lead man is still Pro Bowler James Conner. Third-year pro Eno Benjamin figures today to be the No. 2 back, though the team has recently looked at free agent RB Darrell Williams.
The tight end room is arguably as impressive as the receiving room, with 3x Pro-Bowler Zach Ertz leading the charge. Maxx Williams, who was playing great football prior to injury is an excellent complement in both the passing attack and run game. Both of those two should be great help to the newest member of the room in Trey McBride.
The group of skill position players is, as of right now, absurdly talented. Defenses will still focus primarily on containing Hopkins, but the plethora of other playmakers makes that so difficult to do. And if they do shift coverage away from Hop, leaving him one-on-one, that’s where the ball is going.
If the group can maintain relative health through next season, the Cardinals offense has the potential to be even better than they were prior to injuries last season.
He gives a 💯 emoji to the notion there is no chance the Cardinals are trading him and calls Arizona home.
The national and local narrative surrounding the Arizona Cardinals and quarterback Kyler Murray has been about his future with the team, as he wants a new contract. While the team has been clear with public comments about their commitment to him and his comments about not being worried about his future, that hasn’t stopped rumors and speculation about the potential of him being unhappy and wanting to be traded.
General manager Steve Keim said Thursday at his predraft press conference that there is a “zero chance” Murray will be traded.
Murray echoed that on social media and even responded to what a former teammate said.
With a simple 💯emoji, he confirms that the zero chance he will be traded is the 100% truth.
That wasn’t all he did on social media.
Former teammate Patrick Peterson said recently on his podcast that he thinks that if the Cardinals don’t do enough to put a competitive roster around Murray, he will ultimately leave.
Murray had something to say about that on Twitter.
Arians regrets that his staff did not get to continue in Arizona after he retired following the 2017 season.
In what has been a stunning NFL offseason, there is yet another surprising story. Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians, who coached the Arizona Cardinals from 2013-2017, is stepping away from his job as head coach and moving into the front office as a football coordinator.
The way things work out, the coaching staff will remain intact and defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, who also was on Arians’ staff in Arizona from 2013-2014, will succeed Arians as head coach.
It mattered to him that he leave his coaches in a good situation.
It is what he had hoped to do when he retired from coaching after the 2017 season with the Cardinals.
According to the Los Angeles Times’ Sam Farmer, Arians regrets how things played out after his retirement. He wanted James Bettcher, then the defensive coordinator, to be promoted so that the staff could continue and so there would be continuity.
Instead, the Cardinals hired Steve Wilks as head coach, most of the assistants were let go and then they went 3-13 and the staff was fired again.
In Tampa, he gets to see his legacy continue through Bowles.
“[I don’t need to] win another 15 games for me to be happy,” Arians said, according to Farmer. “I’d rather see Todd in position to be successful and not have to take some [bad] job. I’m probably retiring next year anyway, in February. So I control the narrative right now. I don’t control it in February because [if] Brady gets hurt and we go 10-7, it’s an open interview for the job.”
He decided to return after the Bucs were eliminated from the postseason and decided quickly so he did not leave his assistants hanging. But with Tom Brady returning after his own brief retirement, Bowles now inherits a team that is automatically a contender.
