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Arizona Cardinals
Nobody talks about the Cardinals right now. However, this team went 8-8 with their starting quarterback, their star running back, left tackle and second-best pass rusher out for the majority of the season. It will be interesting to see what happens with the quarterback situation in the desert, as both Sam Bradford and now tenth overall pick Josh Rosen have very high potential, but both carry some injury risk.
No matter which of the two opens the season, I could easily see both of them getting a lot of playing time and they will have some guys to work with. The offensive line is better than it was last year, with D.J. Humphries back healthy and Justin Pugh coming over in free agency. At wide receiver, Arizona gave up John and Jaron Brown, but I still believe they improved with the additions of Brice Butler and the dynamic Christian Kirk through the draft.
Newly hired offensive coordinator Mike McCoy comes from a West Coast system originally, but he has influences from the Air Coryell vertical passing game and worked under Josh McDaniels. He has shown over the years that he adjusts his offense to the talents at his disposal and I expect him to incorporate a variety of schemes.
Butler and J.J. Nelson will be downfield weapons on the perimeter, with Kirk and Larry Legend working underneath routes. With the statements of head coach Steve Wilks about his star running back, expect a lot of touches for David Johnson in both the running and passing game. Defensively, the Cardinals have moved on from the aggressive James Bettcher, as Wilks brought over former linebackers coach Al Holcomb from Carolina with him.
That signals a conversion to a 4-3 front, with reigning sack-leader Chandler Jones and Markus Golden being more hand-in-the-dirt rushers anyway. Haason Reddick is coming into year two, after a forgettable rookie campaign in which he was kind of looking for his role. I thought bringing Tramon Williams in last year to go along with Patrick Peterson was a very important move, as teams shy away from P2 from the most part and test that second guy a lot.
The release of Tyrann Mathieu was a surprise, but the team clearly wants to put last year’s second-round selection Budda Baker out on the field, as he was a special teams demon in 2017 and showed the kind of don’t-give-a-damn approach we saw from a young Honeybadger. With all the moves the Rams made this offseason coming off an NFC West title, they certainly look like the cream of the division, but the Cardinals could be one of the surprise teams vying for a wildcard spot.
