Arizona Cardinals | NFC West | Team Previews 2024

The Arizona Cardinals: A Team in Rebuild Mode uh Arizona Cardinals what a way to start it off with the Arizona Cardinals I mean this is a team that's on the rise they are on their way to the Super Bowl I mean no they're not oh my God who here's the thing uh bottom line with Arizona is they are in rebuild mode like they are a franchise that has been kind of regularly making poor decisions and you see them like they moved on from Cliff kingsbery as a head coach uh with the whole Kyler Murray situation that was going on there was a little bit of Riff there they decide to fire the head coach which it makes sense like when you think about it when you have your quarterback the the franchise already on your roster you're GNA move on from the coaches so uh I think it was a bad decision but let's see how it plays out right so they they hire a new coaching staff new regime Kyler Murray yet again gets injured last season and they're left with uh looks like this The Importance of Kyler Murray's Health and Performance season's over with reset hit the reset button now we're into this year they sign or they draft one of the most explosive wide receivers some people say the best wide receiver coming out in the draft and Marvin Harrison Jr gotta love that because you had nobody as a as a real true number one you know you know Malcolm Brown Mo moves on AKA Hollywood Brown he moves on to a different team so you got a hole there Michael Wilson who they drafted a couple years ago in 23 he was seen as this guy who was often injured in college but hopefully at some point in the NFL maybe with better training the way the way they work out the way they die that type of thing maybe he could stay healthy in college he was injured all the time so far in his early career looks like he's done some amazing things yes he's been banged up but he's been making some big plays too so now they pair him up with Marvin Harrison Jr they have another underrated Concerns with the Offensive Line receiver and Greg dorch who I think is just like a jitterbug of a wide receiver a guy who's very quick uh kind of shyy he's very hard to tackle in the open field they're looking to utilize him along with other guys like maybe like a Chris Moore Zach Pascal hoping they can kind of turn out some reps there in the receiving uh core there yeah and and that's the thing it's things too because uh this team you saw the the pairing that they had when when they got gliff Kingsbury he and gets his guy Kyler Murray uh looks pretty good they were on to something made a playoff game didn't do so well there and they said hey we go the way Kyler goes and when he gets injured like that what happened with the team absolute disaster they've been struggling on defense for a very long time and again last year was no you know different uh very poor on first downs the pass they could not stop the pass rushing All Phases pretty much failing here on the defensive side but this offense again uh like Joe said grabbing the wide receivers very young so they could be potentially moving up here but it all relies on what happens with Kyle Murray and you had removed the cliff Kingsbury who kind of was the key to Kyle Kyler Murray uh you did see when he did come back a little bit uh last year you know they were doing something but The Defense: Lack of Talent and Depth again the face of this team looks a lot different than what it was so these guys like you said Joe absolute rebuild and we're just GNA with in in a stacked uh division what this is again nobody nobody sleep on this Division and who's here because you know the 49ers you know they're going to be there as well but a lot of people slept on the uh the Rams too uh you know the the year they meet even their their their their Super Bowl run but then even last year uh thinking they'd take a step back but still pushed hard and and played hard and the Seahawks still not you know don't sleep on them as well but with this division being the way it is uh the Cardinals just again are being at the them trying to rebuild and see what they can do and and make some decisions going forward yeah and and we've seen Kyle Murray play whenever we have seen him play actually uh but sometimes you know he misses a lot of time and and that that's decimating to to your team you lose your starting quarterback too often like this guy and you can't build anything you can't keep moving forward we've seen Pieces come and go with Arizona every time you replace a new coaching staff now it's a whole whole new ball game it new offense new defense means different different Personnel some of the guys that are already on the roster they might not like they might move on from and you see this roster constantly turning over year after year let's hope for Cardinals fans sakes that this is it like this is the coaching staff so Murray number one this guy has to do whatever it takes to stay healthy that that that because the offense goes through him and if he's not available this team is not going anywhere so the the sad thing is that it just seems to be this reoccurring theme for Kyler he plays he plays well sometimes he plays amazing and then halfway through the year he's done and gone so hopefully it turns around this season with that all being said you look you look at what they've been been able to do like with their with their offensive line because that's always kind of been a problem for them is you you look at you know Paris Johnson Jr they drafted him in 23 definitely is playing well like he's locking down that left tackle spot on the other side what's interesting is that they end up signing Jonah Williams forly a first round pick and a very high first round pick for the Bengals y he became a free agent due to their roster changes and now he's going to play right tackle some a position that he normally doesn't play he normally is a left tackle so I'm curious to see how that's going to shake out into the regular season is he going to be able to play up to par once like he did did at on the left side it's very difficult there and then you look at the interior now this to me Jim and I know you you have a familiar face here and will H you know Hernandez Hernandez yes uh but this to me right here it's a very unproven interior offensive line and an interior offensive line that is not tested this is a team that hasn't improved in this area looks like it's going to struggle in the regular season now everybody can look at preseason because I know that's what everybody does now and they just kind of react to like how they played listen Guys these teams are not game planning for each other very basic play it's just you know one guy versus another guy and sometimes they get the better of each other but for this offensive line I have major concerns in the interior that's that's a problem for me Kyler Murray we've seen him run around it looks like he's going to continue to do so yeah I agree same thing he's had to use use his legs to uh make those plays and that's parti the reason why he gets injured though too Struggling to Compete in a Tough Division because he's running for his life this offensive line has not been good for a very long time right they made the addition with Will Hernandez two years ago he was not very good as a New York Giant like you said this this offensive line looks a little familiar in the front in the middle and there it is Will Hernandez the Giants drafted him high hoping to get something especially with the way he was shorter maybe get underneath people make a push he was a liability especially against uh all right in the run but against the pass and that's where again you're looking at Kyler Murray getting hurried too many times hit and uh you look at this team third down conversions worst in the league and this is where everybody makes their bre and bird butter if you cannot convert on third down you're not getting anywhere and this is an issue like you said Jonah Williams it's nice I like to bring Jonah Williams in here on this one but it's not enough at this point again they still need to move forward and draft you know an offensive line continue to to do this this is what the Giants have been trying to do let's fix this off of line this and is but this team doesn't have you know an Andrew Thomas on the one side though so they definitely don't uh but what they do have is a good running back group uh you know with with with uh James Conor returning again a guy that's been banged up missed some time he's healthy yet again but I'm actually really excited in my number one uh running back out of this draft and Trey Benson I think that this dude is a man's man in terms of running backs this guy is amazing can do everything extremely well uh the guy does everything blocks he freaking can make you miss out in the open field he can run through you you know he does everything catches out of the back field and has blazing speed so very tough Runner to bring down and it's gonna fit great with this one-w punch with James Conor who's already in that body mold who's already proven in the NFL that he can start and and dish out punishment now you have two backs that can do the same thing one of one with Trey is I I feel like he's be more electric so there's going to be a little bit more spark in that back field but again going back to that offensive line if they don't play up to par it doesn't matter how great your running backs are it doesn't matter how great your receiving threats are doesn't matter how your quarterback is if there's no protection if there's no blocking to to open up rushing Lanes it's going to be a dud yeah and like you said James Connor again still that Workhorse no matter what even though this offensive line is putrid still been able to do a lot at this and been that kind of that um that go-to guy and grinding it out he does get injured throughout his whole career he's been has been banged up here and there and like you said Trey Benson a great addition here to help spell some of that time so he doesn't have to be relied on and be that guy you can you know bounce back a fourth between these two backs and this team that's what they have to gear about yes they grabbed you know the wide receivers which is good so because again he hasn't really had that true weapon he did have DeAndre Hopkins for that short time but still not getting enough time to get to as well and with his skill set they need to kind of run the football be around sort of they're like a a minor league uh you know Baltimore Ravens you know but not very good you know they need to kind of run that offense like you know what Lamar would do in here and there like I said like I think even uh we when we were just talking to Tyler I think he he used a good good quote like the Walmart version or something like that like this is like the Walmart you know the Baltimore Ravens but without even that great defense they're in the clearance yeah they're in the clearance section be aware of very low falling prices all right so maybe they're the t-u version we we got now Joe you're right we'll go with the t- version I like that better dein very quickly it gotough that's where it's got to kind of go you know run the ball and then get it uh to to Marvin Harrison Jr uh but he's gonna love him that's the story of this whole team they are a rebuild again um you know so moving forward you know they're not going to be very good but I'm interested to see uh what happen with this uh franchise with the new regime and coaching staff taking over and doing all this talk about how interesting this team's going to be and what's surprising to me is you have um NFL media spinning this a whole different way than what we're spinning it as they're saying like watch out this could be a Darkhorse team I'm just they do that about a lot of teams they did it with the Broncos for three years straight but my thing is you're picking a team that clearly even Personnel wise is just not ready to make that leap we look at the defensive side bro here's the problem the Cardinals on offense we have some question marks right but there's still some that's the there's some Talent around there right you got Kye Murray you got Marvin Harrison Jr there's some you got your running backs there's some you know there's something to look forward to a little bit but on defense this is a team that once was on the rise like they they were they just needed some more pieces and it looked like they were going to get you know into the the realm of of of being that top 15 top 20 type of defense that can that can make some stops now you look at this roster and it looks completely different I mean the only remaining Soldier here is Buddha Baker like a guy who originally wanted to be traded wanted out of Arizona wanted to go to somewhere else where he could win he's the last remaining he's The Last of the Mohicans like for the Cardinals and then the other thing too the only other thing that I'll say about a better defensive player here is they they shine Shawn Murphy bunting who who still can play at a high level at corner good for them you got a safety you got a corner you can work with that but now you got guys like coming in this year Max Melton who you're hoping can be your starting corner but still is unproven I mean town the side you don't know what the guy can do he's a rookie and then Garrett Williams who they drafted in 23 you're hoping can take another big step forward and that's your secondary you look at everything else you're looking at free agent signing free agent signing free agent signing and none of them high level you look at this defensive line it's horrendous you got balow Nichols now as as your as your DN on on the 34 scheme you got Justin Jones you got you got some big bodies there but none of which have shown up or shown out to anybody and then you have your and then you have your linebackers one of which is a guy that you drafted in zav Collins and you gave him an extension because you're not spending money anywhere else and it shows on the roster to me this is going to be one of the worst Cardinal defenses this year that they've had in recent memory this is going to be terrible offensively they may be able to to score a few points but if the defense can't help out out at all you're you're looking at a team that is going not only going to be most likely last in the division but a team that might lose some Faith W Faith with their fan base this year with all the hype that little bit of hype that's around them so I don't know man I I just think this defense is not up to par the offense looks a little bit more promising even though they have holes but the defense to me is like a black hole hey everybody this is Big John from grumblings media and I just want to say thank you for watching our content if you want to support our efforts here at grumblings media just smash the Subscribe button right here totally free 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