Have a look at how much cap assets are tied up at each position for the Cardinals and how that ranks in the NFL.
The Arizona Cardinals will begin training camp later this month. The roster is mostly what it will look like when camp begins, but there are moves that could be made.
There could be a contract extension for quarterback Kyler Murray or others. They could add a player or two in free agency.
But as we start off the final month of the offseason, let’s take a look at where the Cardinals rank in the league in terms of positional spending, according to Over the Cap.
On offense, they rank fifth, with more than $121.1 million in cap assets dedicated to that side of the ball this season. On defense, they rank 19th at more than $89.8 million in cap assets.
Let’s take a look at their ranking at each position.
PFF has the 49ers, Seahawks and Rams with top-10 linebacker units, while the Cardinals are near the bottom of the league.
The NFC West has some good sets of linebackers. Things have changed a little bit as Bobby Wagner was released by the Seattle Seahawks and then signed with the Los Angeles Rams.
The Cardinals are counting on Isaiah Simmons and Zaven Collins in 2022 but PFF doesn’t believe in the pair yet.
The Arizona Cardinals defense has a lot riding on their young pair of former first-round pick linebackers, Isaiah Simmons and Zaven Collins. While they have confidence in them, there isn’t that same optimism outside of the building.
A lot is riding on the development of Zaven Collins and Isaiah Simmons, who have simply not played well enough — especially for first-round picks. If the Cardinals had spent those picks elsewhere and held on to Jordan Hicks in free agency, they would be in a much better spot.
Because of the plan to lean on Collins, this ranking is probably fair. Simmons, even though he did have nice statistical production with 105 tackles, four forced fumbles. 1.5 sacks and an interception, he also gave up some plays.
Collins played well early in the season with limited work but injuries and bad practices led to Tanner Vallejo overtaking him.
The Cardinals did sign Nick Vigil, who could step in if things don’t work out well, but Vigil wouldn’t exactly move the needle.
Now, if Simmons develops this season into a Pro Bowl-level defender and Collins proves his worth in Year 2, this ranking will have to increase.
Until then, the best we can consider them is promising but mostly unproven.
Despite having one of the best safety duos in the league, PFF believes the Cardinals have one of the worst secondaries in the league.
The Arizona Cardinals’ secondary struggled late last season following the injuries to defensive lineman J.J. Watt and then cornerback Robert Alford. Alford was the team’s best man-to-man corner on the perimeter and Watt was holding the team’s pass rush together, making it easier on the secondary.
Despite their success early on in the season, Pro Football Focus is not particularly fond of the team’s secondary entering this season. As a matter of fact, they are ranked towards the bottom of the league.
PFF ranked the Cardinals secondary No. 27 out of 32 teams in the NFL in the tier of “serious flaws.” This comes despite the Pro Bowl selection to Budda Baker and the breakout season for Jalen Thompson.
The Cardinals finished 24th in team coverage grade last year, and for some reason, this unit went all but ignored over the course of the offseason. It wasn’t until they drafted cornerback Christian Matthew in the seventh round out of Valdosta State that they addressed this unit.
The ranking seems very low given the potential shown by Byron Murphy coupled with the very good safety duo in Baker and Thompson.
Many Cardinals fans were hoping the team would address the cornerback room in free agency. They did with the signing of Jeff Gladney, who later died tragically in an auto accident in Texas. The team has yet to bring back the aforementioned Robert Alford, which would bring a needed veteran presence to the locker room.
They also recently added former Packers cornerback Josh Jackson.
The Cardinals’ front office appears set on moving forward with the same starting unit from last season. They’re banking on a step forward from Murphy, who is entering a contract year and Marco Wilson, who started last year as a fourth-round rookie.
In a receiver-loaded division, the Cardinals will need their young secondary to prove this ranking wrong.
Pro Football Focus was not particularly kind to the Cardinals’ front seven following the loss of Chandler Jones in free agency.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Arizona Cardinals’ defensive line is filled with question marks at multiple positions. Out of all 32 NFL teams, they did not grade out particularly well. They were ranked as the 27th best defensive line in the league.
Take a look at how the Cardinals’ front seven stacks up against their division rivals in the NFC West.
Pro Football Focus ranked the Cardinals as the 27th best defensive line in the NFL.
The Arizona Cardinals’ defensive front was one of the team’s biggest strengths during the first half of the 2021 season. Chandler Jones, J.J. Watt and Markus Golden were all playing at a high level.
Flash forward to 2022. Chandler Jones is currently in Las Vegas playing for the Raiders. J.J. Watt and Markus Golden remain but the team has yet to find a veteran replacement for losing the team’s All-time leader in sacks.
The Cardinals are asking two rookies — Cameron Thomas and Myjai Sanders — to replace Chandler Jones‘ production on the edge. That’s no easy task. Jones recorded a PFF pass-rushing grade above 84.0 in four of his six seasons with the Cardinals. J.J. Watt is still in the fold as an impact player up front, as his 18.3% pass-rush win rate when healthy last season ranked fifth among all interior defensive linemen with at least 100 pass-rushing snaps, but staying healthy has been the issue for Watt as he enters his 12th NFL season.
They aren’t wrong that the team is asking a ton out of two third-round rookies to replicate the production from Jones. Perhaps they will make a big move at the position before the start of the regular season, but they have given no indication at doing that yet.
With an extremely young cornerback and inside linebacker room, they would greatly benefit from doing so.
In PFF’s offseason power rankings, the Cardinals are No. 14 overall and No. 7 among teams in the NFC, projecting them as a playoff team.
It is the middle of the offseason on a holiday weekend. The NFL has begun OTAs and free agency is basically done, with just a smathering of notable players left unsigned.
Where do we see the teams in the NFL as to how they will do?
Pro Football Focus put together new offseason power rankings. The Buffalo Bills sit atop the league as we approach summer.
Where do the Arizona Cardinals rank? They come in at No. 14.
The Cardinals somehow made a big splash move over the offseason and still may have lost ground to their rivals. Marquise Brown was acquired in a trade for their first round pick, but Brown has to replace DeAndre Hopkins as the team’s No. 1 receiver for the duration of Hopkins’ suspension (six games) before he can add value relative to last year’s offense. The team also lost Christian Kirk and Chandler Jones — two important players at key positions. Arizona’s success relies on it finding a way to not tail off again as the season progresses.
They are seventh in the NFC so it would seem that their outlook is a playoff team for the second straight year.
Ahead of them in the NFC are the No. 2 Buccaneers, No. 3, Rams, No. 6 Packers, No. 9 49ers, No. 12 Cowboys and No. 13 Eagles.
The 49ers continue to be an interesting team in terms of expectations. They are moving on from Jimmy Garoppolo at quarterback. He is 31-14 as a starter for the 49ers.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan, with any other quarterback starting other than Garoppolo, is 8-28.
It is odd to think that an inexperienced Trey Lance is going to maintain that level of success.
Brown does not have to be the Cardinals’ No. 1 receiver while Hopkins is out, but they will need production across the pass catchers — Brown, A.J. Green, Rondale Moore and Zach Ertz — until Hopkins returns.
Many remember the offensive decline last season. Many forget that the defensive decline was bad. Injuries depleted the defensive line and the secondary.
Luckily, they will be without Hopkins when the team is relatively healthy.
The Cardinals should be playoff contenders. They might not be as great as they were when they started the season, but this team was an 11-win squad even with a bad ending. They should be very much in the mix in the NFC.
PFF ranked offensive guards into tiers. Justin Pugh is in one tier but Will Hernandez was not mentioned at all.
The Arizona Cardinals brought back Justin Pugh another year to man the starting left guard job. They signed Will Hernandez, presumably to be the starting right guard.
Hernandez did not make the list at all, despite having been a starter in the league since he was drafted by the New York Giants in 2018. He did not even make the lowest tier of “if an upgrade came along.”
Pugh was listed among the guards who are better pass blockers than run blockers. That is a fair assessment of Pugh.
Pugh, signed to a five-year, $45 million deal in 2018, has been steady and reliable since he took over the left guard job. He played an uneven 2018 season at right guard and dealt with injuries. He has been the most consistent lineman in the lineup since then.
Is he a better pass protector than run blocker? Yes, but there isn’t anything wrong with that. And playing between D.J. Humphries and Rodney Hudson, he is a solid option for the Cardinals in 2022.
In PFF’s edge defender tiers, Golden, an underrated veteran, doesn’t get mentioned among the underrated veterans.
The Arizona Cardinals lost their franchise’s all-time leader in sacks this offseason as Chandler Jones left in free agency to sign with the Las Vegas Raiders. But the Cardinals still have their team’s leading pass rusher from 2021 on the roster in Markus Golden.
Golden had 11 sacks in 2021 to lead the Cardinals and has three double-digit sack seasons in his career.
The category of “underrated veterans” perfectly describes Golden.
There is a Cardinals player mentioned in the article, but it is J.J. Watt who get cast into the tier of “declining forces.” Watt is definitely in decline at this point in his career. However, he isn’t really an edge defender anymore. He played exclusively inside in 2021.
Golden will be the main edge threat the Cardinals rely on in 2022. Jones departed and the rest of the outside linebacker room is either unproven or a question mark.
Golden is clearly underrated. He isn’t even rated highly enough to get mentioned as underrated.
Ultimately, it doesn’t mean much. Golden can not make the list and keep on getting 10-12 sacks per year. The Cardinals won’t complain about that.
