Is Cardinals franchise regressing?

[kerouac9]

Did you even watch the last 6 games or so from last year?

This is the best bad Cards team we've ever had, meaning they were in every game once Kyler came back.

At what point were we in the Rams game? The initial kickoff (at least mathematically)?

Really arguable we were in the Bears game, either.

 

[oaken1]

You can't fix everything in a year - what they have gotten fixed is pretty impressive to me.

It was obvious they would fix the offense first. I wrote about it back around march...
The nfl as a whole wants high flying offenses that put points on the board because scoring sells tickets...Mike wants the same, because sold out games generate more revenue from concessions...imagine how many more cotton candy burritos a sold out house buys compared to having 15000 empty seats...
I was actually surprised they drafted Robinson in the first when there were still quality tackles on the board...
But, on the flip... I expect we draft a metric shyte tonne of defense next april...edge and CB likely the first two picks unless a DT really emerges

 

[NashDishesDimes]

I think much of the positivity here is due to Ganon and Kyler, not the franchise which is what is in question here. Would they get better free agents if it wasnt for the recent disfunction? How much better would they be this year if they spent money?

 

[Proximo]

I think much of the positivity here is due to Ganon and Kyler, not the franchise which is what is in question here. Would they get better free agents if it wasnt for the recent disfunction? How much better would they be this year if they spent money?

They did not try to get free agents nor should they after just the first year of a rebuild. Got to see how the draft picks pan out first.

If we win 8 or 9 this year and still refuse to spend free agent money at that point then maybe you will have a legit argument.

 

[DutchmanAZ]

I haven't logged in here in a LONG time. Casual fan who simply turned the game off for several years. Last year, I didn't and actually watched the games. Completely different attitude on the field, and the Cardinals made the other teams pay even if they did lose the game. Completely different mindset and toughness from the previous coaching staff's team. They punished people on both sides of the ball.
I hope for continued growth this year.

 

[slanidrac16]

How can you say that they had TWO years to try to fix the defense when we haven't even played year two yet on the field? Maybe they've made progress and maybe not, but we can't judge year two until we play year two.

Also, you forgot to mention the addition of a first round D-linemen, a second round cornerback, a third round cornerback, a fourth round safety, a fifth round Edge rusher and the free agent signing of Sean Murphy-Bunting.

Plus two free agents on the d-line. But since one of them isn’t Chris Jones or Aaron Donald MO is a failure.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Plus two free agents on the d-line. But since one of them isn’t Chris Jones or Aaron Donald MO is a failure.

Give me a break with this false choice slop that has become a go to for so many… as if there's no middle ground between average journeymen and HOFers.

 

[BulldogCard]

They made the choice to get to this point and then use it as a stepping stone to build and be better later. They haven't been aggressive enough. They just signed a bunch of dudes and got a lot of picks, but the results have not been seen yet. They're building thru the draft but that became dated in a copy cat league. Now you have to be a hybrid; some splash, aggressiveness in FA and trades while building thru the draft. Heck, in preseason everyone's playing but Kyler. Even Mahomes, Allen, rookie qbs and almost any qb not coming back from an injury is playing a series, quarter or half game 1 of preseason. Time to get with the times.

 

[Stout]

Plus two free agents on the d-line. But since one of them isn’t Chris Jones or Aaron Donald MO is a failure.

Weak sauce.

 

[ajcardfan]

The Cardinals are different than the huge majority of NFL franchises since they are THE business of the Bidwills. Most NFL owners make a kabillion dollars in some other way and so don't worry about profit margin and spend big. Mike has certainly spent more than his Dad. But it's not like is making dough elsewhere to cover the big amount of dead money he is still paying the past coaches and GM, players. So, tighten the purse strings on current roster.

Just my view of it.

 

[PACardsFan]

I haven't logged in here in a LONG time. Casual fan who simply turned the game off for several years. Last year, I didn't and actually watched the games. Completely different attitude on the field, and the Cardinals made the other teams pay even if they did lose the game. Completely different mindset and toughness from the previous coaching staff's team. They punished people on both sides of the ball.
I hope for continued growth this year.

Amen! You have to go back to the Coryell years to find a more physical Cardinal team than last year’s team. They had zero talent on defense, or the success we saw on the offensive side, we would also have seen on the defensive side too. But, the ultimate goal of SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS definitely forced us to eat a $hit sandwich last year. Our defense won’t be a top 10 one, but it’ll be significantly better than last year. And with the offense in position to be a top 10 unit, then this team will be one of the surprise teams of 2024. And they will physically beat up teams in the process. The days of this team being a finesse team are over. Teams will not look forward to playing the Cardinals this year.

 

[GatorAZ]

You don’t often see a team sitting on a bunch of cash with a 27 year old franchise QB. Last year it was fine because we were kinda tanking and Kyler was hurt anyway. I know the cap space rolls over but this feels more Bidwill-ish than patience by Monti.

 

[Cheesebeef]

You don’t often see a team sitting on a bunch of cash with a 27 year old franchise QB. Last year it was fine because we were kinda tanking and Kyler was hurt anyway. I know the cap space rolls over but this feels more Bidwill-ish than patience by Monti.

This point really doesn’t get talked about enough, but is really important. 27 is the absolute prime of a QBs career, especially one who depends on his wheels as much as Kyler does to be special. To not be striving to win playoff games while your “superstar” is in his prime leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.

 

[Cardsfan77]

I know I’m probably in the minority with this opinion, but I truly believe this team is a premier pass rusher and CB1 away from competing for a SB if Darius Robinson and MHJ hit as well as PJJ holding up at LT. Because of this I’m baffled as to why we’re sitting on so much cap space heading into the season.

 

[Stout]

Amen! You have to go back to the Coryell years to find a more physical Cardinal team than last year’s team. They had zero talent on defense, or the success we saw on the offensive side, we would also have seen on the defensive side too. But, the ultimate goal of SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS definitely forced us to eat a $hit sandwich last year. Our defense won’t be a top 10 one, but it’ll be significantly better than last year. And with the offense in position to be a top 10 unit, then this team will be one of the surprise teams of 2024. And they will physically beat up teams in the process. The days of this team being a finesse team are over. Teams will not look forward to playing the Cardinals this year.

How do you think our defense will be significantly better than last year with even less talent at edge than the team that had 1 sack in the last 6 games? That is not a recipe for success. Also, while I expect the offense to be a lot better and carry the team, I feel top 10 is a stretch. I wish, but I just don't see the playoffs. Where do you see the team, record wise?

 

[Stout]

You don’t often see a team sitting on a bunch of cash with a 27 year old franchise QB. Last year it was fine because we were kinda tanking and Kyler was hurt anyway. I know the cap space rolls over but this feels more Bidwill-ish than patience by Monti.

Gotta keep that powder dry for the camp cuts lol

 

[oaken1]

How do you think our defense will be significantly better than last year with even less talent at edge than the team that had 1 sack in the last 6 games? That is not a recipe for success. Also, while I expect the offense to be a lot better and carry the team, I feel top 10 is a stretch. I wish, but I just don't see the playoffs. Where do you see the team, record wise?

defense definitely presents some challenges.
Offense... okay, I read somewhere... during the last 4 weeks of last season....after kyler had a full month back from injury...during those last 4 weeks our offense was the 4th ranked offense in the league...and that was done while teams were jockeying for playoff spots.
since then...losing the captain hurts... but Marvin just has to be an upgrade over Hollywood right?? and Zay Jones should be easier to hit down field than Rondale? LG cant do much but get better...even though they ended the season playing pretty good....and mikeWilly has a year of seasoning....Honestly if we are only top 10 Im gonna be kinda disappointed...really kinda expecting top 5

 

[PACardsFan]

How do you think our defense will be significantly better than last year with even less talent at edge than the team that had 1 sack in the last 6 games? That is not a recipe for success. Also, while I expect the offense to be a lot better and carry the team, I feel top 10 is a stretch. I wish, but I just don't see the playoffs. Where do you see the team, record wise?

We can agree to disagree all day. For one thing, the defense will be much better when it comes to stopping the run. The few DL that we brought in vis FA may not be outstanding from an individual standpoint, but JG’s system of rotation will make these additions matter a ton! Who we had manning those positions last year made it impossible to not only stop the run, but to also made it impossible for the edge guys to get home too. Your edge guys are at a distinct disadvantage when your interior creates NOTHING up the middle. And as the injuries mounted on the interior, the opportunities for sacks completely went away. As pathetic as our run D became over time, this defense was literally never in 3rd and longs, which is the ideal situation for your edge guys to get more sacks. Hell, there were games late in the season when teams never ran a 3rd down play. We have very good safeties, we have a bevy of young, aggressive CB’s, and our LB play is vastly underrated. Even without Ojulari, this D will hurt people. As far as the offense is concerned, we ended up like 7th in the league in rushing, and that was with teams knowing that we had ZERO coming from the WR position. Petzing is an outstanding coordinator. He had teams guessing and being wrong with how to stop our run. Adding depth to the OL, adding MHJ, Zay Jones, a super confident Dortch, a hopefully healthier Wilson, Chris Moore, a run blocking beast in Reiman, a top 3 TE in McBride, a beast Benson to back up Conner, and a very deep RB room, and Murray poised to have an MVP like season, there’s no way that this offense won’t be elite. Of course, it’ll all hinge on Murray staying healthy for the most part. It’s OK if he misses a game or two, but he can’t have a major injury. Like any team in the NFL, the QB being healthy is paramount. I see this team winning 9-11 games, even with a brutal early schedule.

 

[Cardsmasochist]

We get one or two really good seasons from the Cardinals each decade. Then mediocre to awful teams after that.

In the ‘90s we had Jake Plummer beating the Cowboys in the playoffs.

In the aughts we had Kurt Warner taking us to the Superbowl.

Last decade we had a loaded team with our best head coach, Bruce Arians, getting us into the playoffs a few times.

The Cardinals will probably have a brush with greatness this decade, too. I really like our current coaching staff and GM. But Michael Bidwill is a lousy owner and I don’t think he knows how to create a top tier franchise

 

[Garthshort]

Get the St. Louis city fathers on the phone and ask them to makes us an offer.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

I’m just really stunned that we’re sitting and sat on so much cap room with such massive holes at the most important part of the Defense, after being awful on D last year.

I wasn’t crazy about not spending money last off-season, but I could see the logic, not knowing when Kyler would be back and trying to see what’s what on the team, evaluating, etc.

But this is a team that isn’t THAT far away if the D is respectable and considering how clean the cap is moving forward, it just doesn’t seem like we’re doing everything we can to start building a winner/winning culture when you’re fine with baby steps. Maybe their last drafts come out like gang busters this year and elevate us to playoff contention, but man… the D could have used some more major additions and we have/had the flexibility and space to make them.

This is my issue here. 7 of 16 teams makes the playoffs. Kyler looking sharp and MHJ looking like the real deal. No reason we should be rolling out the front seven we are.

 

[ajcardfan]

This is my issue here. 7 of 16 teams makes the playoffs. Kyler looking sharp and MHJ looking like the real deal. No reason we should be rolling out the front seven we are.

Exactly. And when will we get a home schedule as favorable as this years again?

 

[oaken1]

Another important pick are players like Tip At TE, Benson at RB, Melton at CB. Really both drafts...any surprises in a good way will be huge. Could you imagine having Tip as an Amazing TE with McBride and all the skill guys. The OL becomes that much more important since the skill guys are looking pretty solid. On defense, any surprises in a good way like Xavier, Melton, etc. would help this team so much. You want to see this work, because the Cards organization has really been trying in a lot of areas despite the lack of big splashes. They have a plan and it's not what other teams necessarily do, but I've seen it work in Football and Baseball. The Diamondbacks stuck to their guns and stopped trading away their baby backs with a new GM. Maybe MO can do that. They seem to be sitting on that cap money, but like the draft can take years to evaluate, so can a team's ideology and strategy. Detroit was so bad but they kept believing. They also put together a good Oline.

Yeah..it's hard not to get impatient. But this year is really the first year of the build. Last year was all about tearing it down, installing the system, and tweaking the culture. This huge 12 pick draft class was the first steps towards rebuild... Paris last year, but we needed an OT anyway... we really need at least 6 of the 12 to hit...3 of 7 is usually considered an average to decent draft...so 6 of 12 is pretty good without being unrealistic expectations...

 

[kerouac9]

But this year is really the first year of the build

Um what?

 

[dylanbw]

There’s salary cap and there’s operational cost.
I believe Bidwill was paying 3 coaching staffs and 2gm’s. Does the Kingsbury hire in Washington absolve his salary with the Cardinals.
Doesn’t matter. Bidwill ( and Keim) both screwed up the coaches hire and then compounded the problem with Keim and Kingsbury getting a huge raise and extension.
Bidwill is totally responsible for his mismanagement. If you don’t think for one minute he is trying to cut cost for these blunders, you’re crazy. He will save whatever he can on the salary cap by spending the bare minimum.
Keep this in mind when you start blasting MO.

These are all really good points, and explain being so below the cap. Ultimately, Monti and JG look like great hires, and each have filled out their staffs very respectably. Michael B still digging out from self-inflicted wounds with too much loyalty to Keim and too much $ to Kliff is not a great look, almost as bad as the cotton candy burrito.

But to be honest, as a fan since the late 70s, optimism is high on the heels of how smart Monti & JG appear to be and the ship is headed in the right direction. The NFC West is pretty damn loaded once again though...