The Arizona Cardinals Story (2024)

Arizona Cardinals

In Week 14 of the 2022 NFL season, Quarterback Kyler Murray suffered a non-contact ACL tear. Non-contact injuries are sometimes the scariest when thinking about the future of a player’s career, and this caused him to miss the remainder of the 2022 season and the first half of the 2023 season. The NFL world went almost a year without seeing Kyler Murray on the football field, and in the time leading up to his injury, he’d been under a lot of scrutiny due to speculation of being a poor leader, not delivering in some big games and moments, and some wondering if he cared more about playing video games than he did his football career. This is a narrative that I’ve always found nauseating, but it’s a talking point that still gets brought up to this day.

Kyler’s reputation as an NFL quarterback took a big hit due to these topics, and with that being stacked on top of a massive career-altering injury, it caused many NFL fans to write Kyler off as a talented but flawed Quarterback that was never destined to accomplish anything special.

Upon his return in Week 10 of the 2023 season however, Kyler played the back half of a meaningless year for the Arizona Cardinals with much more of a spark than many expected. He posted 13 total touchdowns in just 8 games played on the season, including an incredible 35-31 shootout win against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 17. This was a must-win game for Philadelphia, who were desperately trying to hold on to the 1-seed in the NFC. Murray threw for 232 yards and 3 touchdowns, on 81% completion in this win, proving that he still has some great football left in the tank.

The Cardinals would only go 4-12 on the season, but three of those four wins came after the return of Kyler Murray.

The Cardinals one win without Kyler Murray came in Week 3, where they beat the scorching hot and very hyped up Dallas Cowboys 28-16.

Keep in mind this was a Cardinals team that prior to the year was projected to have the #1 pick in the upcoming NFL draft, due to having an incredibly lack-luster roster and no starting quarterback for most of the year.

Many speculated that the Cardinals would be moving off of Kyler Murray this offseason and looking for a new Quarterback of the future in Arizona. But with Murray playing relatively well off of a serious injury, and still being just 26 years old, the Cardinals have decided to stick it out with Murray a little longer.

Looking towards the future, the Cardinals are continuing to bolster their offense with players like Offensive Tackle Paris Johnson Jr, who was drafted with the #6 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, and had a healthy rookie year, playing in all 17 games. Offensive Linemen can be difficult for the casual fan to gauge, due to a lack of easily-digestible stats to compare amongst players. But Johnson is certainly one of the most valuable young linemen in the league. He committed a notably low number of penalties for a rookie, and seemed to improve game by game as the season went on. What more could you ask for from a rookie lineman on a terrible team?

On the other side of the ball, the best player on Arizona’s defense for years has been safety Budda Baker, who’s now entering the final year of his contract with the Cardinals going into 2024. As a great player getting up there in age at 28 years old, many are wondering whether or not Baker will want to remain on a Cardinals team that’s been struggling and is still building toward the future. The success and promise that this season shows or doesn’t show, will likely be the determinant in retaining the Star Safety next offseason.

Lastly, and perhaps most excitedly, despite losing wide receiver Hollywood Brown in free agency to the Chiefs, with the #4 overall pick in this year’s draft, the Arizona Cardinals just selected WR Marvin Harrison Jr, one of the most, if not THE most talented Wide Receiver prospects we’ve seen come into the league in years. Standing at 6’4, with blazing speed, the 21 year old put up 15 touchdowns and over 1,200 yards for the Ohio State Buckeyes in 2023. Harrison Jr is expected to make an incredible show-stopping pairing with Kyler Murray for years to come.

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