Offense 

Offensively the conversation really starts and ends with Kyler Murray. From poor mental mistakes and inconsistent accuracy all the way to MVP level play Kyler shows it all. The downside obviously being the lack of consistency and inability to play within structure of the offense really takes its toll on the entire team. Guys like Marvin Harrison Jr and Trey McBride have up and down production despite their ultra talented skill sets, the run game is either inconsistent at times or depended on too heavily from week to week due to Kyler putting them behind the sticks, and the defense gets thrown into tough spots and situations throughout games because Kyler can’t seem to find any rhythm within the game. While he flashes some unreal talent and is absolutely a top half of the league QB he needs to settle in and let the play design and players around him take control more often. I love Kyler and I think he can be a truly special player in this league and frankly has been already but he HAS to find consistency and play within the offense if this Cardinals team wants to reach its full potential.

The OL has some issues for me. While I love Paris Johnson Jr and Jonah Williams is fine at RTthe IOL (Brown, Froholdt, Adams) is very questionable for me. Although Froholdt played really well for them last year at C, I would just like to see another year from him and both Brown and Adams are league average at best at G which is a huge concern for me as I feel Kyler needs a quality IOL to be his best due to his lack of height and inability to pressure the defense with throws across the middle of the field consistently.

While I really do love the top two guys here with Harrison Jr and Wilson the depth at WR could use some improvement. I do like Greg Dortch and Zay Jones and I think their fine as role players here but if one of those top two guys were to go down for any substantial amount of time I would have some serious worries as it would become Trey McBride and a bunch of league average to below average players surrounding Kyler. It’s not the worst situation in the league but 

Defense 

IDL and overall the front seven is much improved with additions of Josh Sweat, Calais Campbell, Dalvin Tomlinson Tomlinson, Walter Nolan III (Ole Miss), Akeem Davis-Gaither, Jordan Burch (Oregon), and Cody Simon (Ohio State). To go from Dennis Gardeck and Zaven Collins as your top pass rushers to this entire group in the front seven cannot be overstated how much of an improvement that. Not only will this team be able to hold up against the run more consistently they’ll finally be able to rush with four and get home. It completely transforms this defense and will allow Jonathan Gannon to utilize a whole other arsenal of his play sheet, especially on third down.

This S room with Jalen Thompson and Budda Baker may not be as high powered as it once was with Budda seemingly taking a step down last season, especially in his tackling, but it’s far from a weakness and because of both of these guys being flexible in their play style they should be malleable on the back end to help out this young and inexperienced CB room. Speaking on the CB room.. while this group is young and promising there are still worries as to how they’ll be able to hold up throughout an entire season. While Will Johnson (Michigan) is very talented player he slipped in the draft because of injury concerns and CB is not a position that holds up throughout a year all too well due to the constant cutting and quick and violent movements every snap. Opposite of Will Johnson it’s really questionable as to who will earn the starting job but whether it’s Elijah Jones, Max Melton, or rookie Denzel Burke (Ohio State) it’ll be interesting to see who wins that battle and how well they play. The good news is while the outside corners may be a bit of a question mark you have one of the best nickels and certainly on of the most underrated players in the entire NFL in Garret Williams. Williams is outstanding and is deserving of far more recognition for what he adds to this defense. You pair him along with this S tandem and some promising young guys at outside CB and I think we could see this secondary have a huge jump in effectiveness.

Overview 

• Overall the roster is drastically improved compared to last year and with Gannon showing his defensive chops the last 2 years with some much less talented defenses I’m very excited to see how this side of ball performs because I think they can be truly special. As for the offense it really comes back to the Kyler conversation what version they get of him. If they get a version of Kyler that is comfortable and confident in this offense and is willing to play on time and in rhythm within the structure more consistently this offense could be very difficult to stop. With that all being said this is by far the most talented team this coaching staff has been given since they’ve been here and it seems this rebuild is headed in a very positive direction even if there still are pretty big question marks for me. But with them being in one of the toughest divisions across the league I’m hesitant to pair any definitive prediction with them but I really do believe they have a shot to put it all together and compete for this division and at least make a run to the playoffs as a wild card in a very tough NFC (last appearance 2021, only 3 since 2010).