Arizona Cardinals Depth Chart 2019 Cardinals Depth Chart

Preseason Analysis: A New Era in Arizona

Offseason Moves

There were certainly a lot of needs the Cardinals had to address after week 17. Let’s take a look at a few. For starters, the drafting of Kyler Murray could be argued to be a lateral move, as Josh Rosen wasn’t necessarily showing that he needed to be replaced. Sure he was 33rd in QBR in the league, but he was 1) a rookie and 2) didn’t have an offensive line to hold things down. That being said, Murray/Rosen will either prove me wrong or not, we won’t know until this season and many more after it come. For all the struggles AZ had with the O-line last year, they didn’t make many moves in the way of improving it.

They released guard Jeremiah Poutasi a week or so before the draft. They agreed to terms with a few undrafted rookie offensive linemen and signed Joshua Miles after drafting him in the 7th round, but other than that there wasn’t much noise in the OL category, which leads me to believe this year could be a repeat of last year. Having a capable quarterback, terrible offensive line, and a mediocre defense that results in winning less than 5 games. They did spruce up their defense a little bit, adding names like S Deionte Thompson, DE Michael Dogbe, CB Bryon Murphy, and DE Zach Allen.

Looking Ahead

What are we to expect from the Cardinals in 2019? I think the novelty of Kyler Murray and new head coach Kliff Kingsbury will quickly wear off and the Cardinals will be right back where they were last season, last in the NFC West. Here they are again, with a brand new head coach and a first round QB, expecting things to go differently. Hitting the “reset” button can be good, but at what point are you just setting yourself back by not jumping in head-first and making a serious effort to get guys around your QB that will keep him protected and allow for him to excel.

I understand the Cardinals think Kingsbury is going to be their guy and they wanted to appease him by going and getting Murray, but going all in on a first year coach isn’t necessarily the move either. The Cards definitely thought Steve Wilks would be their guy, and well, look what happened there. We’ll likely see David Johnson get mediocre results again this year with his O-line struggling to create gaps. I expect to see veteran Larry Fitzgerald and Murray connect quite a few times for TD passes, and it’ll definitely be interesting to see what 2nd rounder Andy Isabella will bring to the table at the WR position.

On the defensive side, we will likely see Chandler Jones (41 sacks since 2016) and newly added edge-rusher Terrell Suggs combine to make an elite pass-rushing duo. The defense as a whole will be somewhere in the middle of the pack in the NFL, not the best and not the worst. That would be a good place to be for any team likely to churn out lots of offensive production, but that just isn’t the case for the Cardinals this year.