Basically no one expects the Arizona Cardinals to be very good in 2023. Most see this coming season as a rebuilding year, even if that makes new head coach Jonathan Gannon cringe.
They have the lowest projected win total in the NFL.
NBC Sports’ Peter King put together his post-draft spring rankings and listed teams in tiers.
The Cardinals not only were dead last at No. 32, but they were in their own tier, “Wait till 2025.”
The best thing about being awful this year is GM Monti Ossenfort could have the next 11 months to figure out whether his quarterback of the future is Kyler Murray or if it it’s one of the mega-prospects due out in the 2024 draft—Caleb Williams or Drake Maye.
There is that possibility, but the Cardinals are operating under the assumption that Murray is their guy. They hired a guy who wants to tailor everything around Murray. They drafted the guy he wanted. They have gone out of their way to say all good things about him after a year where negativity leaked constantly.
But to say we need to wait until 2025 is a bit excessive.
Wait until 2024? Sure.
Murray will have come back from his injury. They will have a lot of cap space and lots of draft picks. If they are awful in 2023, they could turn things around in 2024. If they are bad until 2025, then they aren’t doing it right.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
