The Arizona Cardinals are moving forward to the offseason and must look ahead at what they expect from the players on their roster for next season.
They need to look at who are the players who could take big steps forward.
In 2021, they needed more from linebacker Isaiah Simmons and, while he still has more improvements to make, he did exactly that.
Who is a prime candidate for next season?
Pro Football Focus believes that will be receiver Rondale Moore next season.
Expanding Moore’s role and route tree is going to be key in any potential breakout from the 2021 second-round pick. The 5-foot-9, 180-pound receiver was a sole underneath weapon for Arizona this past season. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury’s offense is run by those underneath concepts, and Moore was productive on them with a 70.7 PFF grade, 7.9 yards after catch per reception and 13 broken tackles on 59 catches. In order to build on that, Moore’s 1.3-yard average depth of target will need to grow.
Moore made an impact early in the season. After a couple of mistakes in the Cardinals’ Week 8 loss to the Green Bay Packers, he seemed to take a step back, but still had moments.
With both A.J. Green and Christian Kirk scheduled to be free agents, he should slide into a top-three receiver role, meaning he should get significant playing time in 2022.
Watching what Tyreek Hill does for the Kansas City Chiefs offense makes Cardinals fans wonder if Moore could even approach that sort of impact.
The skillset, the mentality and the opportunity are there.
He needs to stay healthy and he could blow up in 2022.
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