Arizona Cardinals
2019 Record: (5-10-1) 4th NFC West
2019 Season Recap:
Offense
Points: 22.6 (17th)
Yards: 341.7 (21st)
Pass Yards: 217.3 (24th)
Rush Yards: 124.4 (10th)
Defense
Points: 27.6 (28th)
Yards: 402.0 (32nd)
Pass Yards: 281.9 (31st)
Rush Yards: 120.1 (24th)
When you take a step back and review what the Cardinals were able
to accomplish in year one of the Kilff Kingsbury installation, it truly isn’t that
terrible.
When Arizona chose to move ahead and form another rebuild after
one season with Steve Wilks and Josh Rosen, it appears that Kingsbury and Kyler
Murray are the right fit. Kingsbury was dubbed an offensive mastermind from his
college coaching days which allowed the Cards to put all faith in his
potential. Selecting Kyler Murray first overall in the 2019 draft, we were
enthralled at the possibilities of what could become.
Needless to say, to the casual fan, the season didn’t go as
planned - but in our eyes there are many positives. The most impressive aspect
was Kingsbury’s ability to adapt his playbook while assisting the weekly
progression of his young passer. Ironing out the inadequacy while finding ways
to be productive is massively important in the first year of any rebuild. With
that said, the Cardinals are still on the bottom floor heading into this
offseason, but the future could look much brighter with another sound
offseason.
2020 Offseason WorkBook:
The Offense
Typically for our appetite, we prefer
building both the offensive and defensive lines first before you secure a
franchise quarterback. Nevertheless, sometimes you can’t help finding a pure
talent like Kyler Murray at your finger tips to accelerate and alter the course
of action.
The largest takeaway from this past
season for this club came with the extreme lack of productivity from their once
star running back David Johnson. At the onset, Johnson appeared slow,
overweight, and uninspiring to find any room in the open field. And while our
evaluation of his performance appeared to carry clout, coach Kingsbury
obviously felt the same. Looking to improve the run attack, the adjustments to
promote Chase Edmonds with more playing time was the outcome. While injuries
also hampered Edmonds, a trade was made to bring Kenyan Drake from Miami to
help solidify the attack.
Looking ahead to this offseason, it’s
clear that the Cardinals require a massive amount off assistance on that
offensive line to help protect Murray. With that, recent reports have suggested
that Arizona will cut bait with Johnson (dead cap and all) to help their
attempts to resign Drake. If the Cards do in fact move forward with Edmonds,
Drake, and Murray to produce in their run game – we don’t hate that one bit.
With more positives to already come off
the news wire, future hall of famer Larry Fitzgerald has already confirmed his
return for yet another season. While we don’t dislike this decision, adding
playmakers to the receiving core is something we could most definitely see this
offseason. With Christian Kirk looking to take the next step in his
progression, replacing Fitzgerald should be a top priority.
The Defense
When we dive into what this defense was
in 2019, we truly struggle to bring many positives to preach. Finding
themselves as league bottom feeders in most all categories, it’s abundantly
clear that adding to this side of the field will be paramount come the
offseason.
As we dissect the defensive roster,
Chandler Jones, Patrick Peterson, Budda Baker are truly the staple pieces to
build around. Jones concluded a mammoth campaign which saw him flirt with the
all time season sack record with 19 takedowns of the quarterback. Outside of
Jones, we truly struggle to see why the system employs a 3-4 approach with a
great lack of talent at the line backer position. Granted, the scheme did allow
for Jones to roam free, supportive pieces weren’t seen.
In terms of upgrading, there is no
shortage of holes to fix on this side of the ball and we truly should witness
more talent added. Corey Peters and Jordan Hicks also bring some sound value,
but literally everything is up to be improved on this defense.
Team Free Agents / Team Salary Cap
For a club that only held five victories
over the past season, holding near the league average in free dollars is
definitely a giant concern.
As of today, Arizona holds just over 51
million in free money with the potential to garner more with appropriate roster
cuts. While David Johnson looks to be on his way out, the Cards would eat a
whopping 13.2 million dollar cap hit (post June 1st) split over the
next two years. And while we suggested that Patrick Peterson is a staple piece
to this club, trading him wouldn’t be the worst thing - as the team could save
a healthy 12.5 million on the books with virtually no dead cap and could add more
draft picks. Robert Alford and Corey Peters also hold value to cut from the
roster while adding nearly 8 more million to the books, but the Cards need to
keep some players that have strong ability.
While we do make the arguments for
Arizona to cleanup the roster while adding more funds to rebuild further, their
current list of free agents are very slim and holds nothing overly pressing.
Kenyan Drake should be the only big money getter from this list as it appears
he’ll remain in the desert for the long term. Keeping tight end Charles Clay
wouldn’t be a horrible move as his elite blocking is a great asset to the
offense. Outside of that, center A.Q Shipley may also be retained to help keep
the offensive line from again being a complete disaster in 2020.
The NFL Draft
In terms of what the Cards hold in the
2020 NFL Draft, they currently house six picks to their name as they used their
sixth rounder to secure the services of Kenyan Drake from Miami last season.
Having the eighth overall selection in the first round, we see many ways to
spend this pick.
While most analysts suggest using the
first round selection to help the enigmatic offensive line, we could see this
moving another way if good fortune finds them. With a number of offensive
lineman being projected in the top 10, and other clubs vying to snag the top
quarterbacks, we feel drafting the heir apparat to Larry Fitzgerald is the
correct choice. Some will also suggest that Jerry Jeudy is the best pass
catcher on the board – we tend to disagree. For everything positive in how this
Cardinals club has to build at this point, the selection of wide receiver
CeeDee Lamb will pay dividends for many years to come.
When we discuss the future prospects of
Lamb, in our eyes he truly has the potential to be in the elite level category.
Already having ties to former college teammate Kyler Murray, this will be a
match made in heaven for theoretically the next 10 years. While we understand
selecting a player of the caliber of Isaiah Simmons could also be on the
docket, we wouldn’t be angry either way in these two choices.
For terms of the NFL draft, you remain a
bottom feeder by reaching for need over pure talent. Lamb is the sure bet in
our mind with Simmons a clear second choice at pick eight. Rounding out the
rest of the roster can be done in free agency and the rest of the draft.
Exciting players will make the Cardinals 100- percent better in 2020.
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