It is Super Bowl Sunday and the big game is Sunday afternoon at State Farm Stadium at 6:30 p.m. ET between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Arizona Cardinals are not in the Super Bowl and they didn’t even make it to the postseason, but there are a few angles to this game and the two teams that connect to them.
Some of them have been detailed in the latest edition of the Rise Up, See Red podcast.
But there are a few more, as detailed below.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
Cardinals targeting Eagles DC Jonathan Gannon
The Cardinals still have not hired a new head coach to replace Kliff Kingsbury. Gannon is being targeted. he will interview for the job on Monday and appears to be the reason why the Cardinals have not hired anyone yet, suggesting he could be the one they really want to hire.
State Farm Stadium
The big game is being played at the Cardinals’ home stadium. There is an interesting fact with this game.
The winner of the Super Bowl will have had the most wins at State Farm Stadium in the NFL, including the Cardinals.
The Chiefs and Eagles both beat the Cardinals there this season, giving them one win apiece. The Cardinals only had one home win this past season, so whoever ends up being Super Bowl champions will have two wins there, more than any other team this season.
Chiefs undercut Cardinals to hire Andy Reid
Back in 2013 after Reid was fired by the Eagles and the Cardinals had fired Ken Whisenhunt, Reid was supposed to fly out to Arizona for an interview. The Cardinals had a plane at the airport in Philly to pick him up. The Chiefs interviewed him at the airport and he never came to Arizona.
This story was also discussed on the podcast.
Cardinals wanted to draft Patrick Mahomes, but he wanted Chiefs to draft him
The Chiefs traded up from the 27th pick in the 2017 draft to No. 10 to select Mahomes. The Cardinals were sitting at pick No. 13 hoping to get him.
Mahomes wanted to play for the Chiefs after all the predraft process and sort of got himself drafted.
As discussed on the podcast, Mahomes let the Chiefs know that he knew that after about pick No. 12, he wasn’t going to be available and that, if they wanted to draft him, they would have to come up and get him.
They did, the Cardinals lost out and the rest is history. The Chiefs, with Reid as coach and Mahomes at QB, are in their third Super Bowl in four years.
Eagles' Reddick was the Cardinals' mistake
Linebacker Haason Reddick led the Eagles with 16 sacks in his first season with the team. He signed a three-year free agent deal last offseason.
Reddick was the Cardinals’ mistake.
they drafted him 13th overall in 2017 after Mahomes was grabbed by the Chiefs. He struggled for three seasons as they tried to make him an off-ball linebacker. But even when he played as an edge defender in 2017 and 2019, he showed nothing.
He exploded with 12.5 sacks in 2020 and the Cardinals did not re-sign him.
They could have taken a risk, signed him to a long-term deal and traded Chandler Jones, coming off a season-ending injury.
They didn’t and he has had 27 sacks over the last two seasons.
Cardinals passed on DT Chris Jones
In 2016, Jones was a promising defensive line prospect in with off-field concerns. He was drafted 37th overall by the Chiefs, a second-round selection.
The Cardinals, using the 29th pick in the draft, selected a promising defensive lineman with off-field concerns named Robert Nkemdiche.
Nkemdiche had 4.5 total sacks in his career and played in 38 games.
Jones had 15.5 sacks this season and has 65 in his career as one of the best pass-rushing defensive tackles in the league.
Eagles grabbed O-lineman Cardinals wanted
The Cardinals had two players targeted in the second round of the 2022 draft. They ended up selecting tight end Trey McBride, a player with a ton of promise.
But they wanted center Cam Jurgens. They wanted to draft a center in the first round and they knew that Rodney Hudson was unsure about playing in 2022.
The Eagles selected Jurgens a few picks ahead of the Cardinals.
