No team fared worse than the Arizona Cardinals last season. The Cardinals finished 3-13 in 2018, and that led to Steve Wilks being one and done as the team’s head coach. Kliff Kingsbury is now the man in charge of Arizona, and there is a new first-round quarterback too. Josh Rosen was taken No. 10 overall in the 2018 NFL Draft, but he was traded to Miami to make room for this year’s No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray. How Kingsbury and Murray fare over the next half-decade will determine whether or not Arizona can rise out of the doldrums.
2019 NFL Season Win Totals
Arizona Cardinals
Over 5 Wins -112
Under 5 Wins -108
Only one team has an over/under lower than Arizona’s over/under. It’s hard to expect much of a rookie coach and a rookie quarterback, especially considering that this was the worst team in the league in 2018. Kyler Murray will have the benefit of throwing to one of the best receivers in NFL history in Larry Fitzgerald, but there are a lot of holes on this team.
Arizona Cardinals 2019 Schedule
|
Week
|
Date
|
Opponent
|
|
1
|
September 8, 2019
|
Detroit Lions
|
|
2
|
September 15, 2019
|
@ Baltimore Ravens
|
|
3
|
September 22, 2019
|
Carolina Panthers
|
|
4
|
September 29, 2019
|
Seattle Seahawks
|
|
5
|
October 6, 2019
|
@ Cincinnati Bengals
|
|
6
|
October 13, 2019
|
Atlanta Falcons
|
|
7
|
October 20, 2019
|
@ New York Giants
|
|
8
|
October 27, 2019
|
@ New Orleans Saints
|
|
9
|
October 31, 2019
|
San Francisco 49ers
|
|
10
|
November 10, 2019
|
@ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
|
|
11
|
November 17, 2019
|
@ San Francisco 49ers
|
|
12
|
BYE
|
|
|
13
|
December 1, 2019
|
Los Angeles Rams
|
|
14
|
December 8, 2019
|
Pittsburgh Steelers
|
|
15
|
December 15, 2019
|
Cleveland Browns
|
|
16
|
December 22, 2019
|
@ Seattle Seahawks
|
|
17
|
December 29, 2019
|
@ Los Angeles Rams
|
Arizona will have the benefit of playing the easiest schedule in the division, as they play last place teams from the NFC East and NFC North. However, they were done no favors by having to play all four teams from the NFC South and AFC North in cross-divisional play. Even worse, their more winnable games are earlier in the season when the rookie coach and rookie quarterback will still be getting acclimated to the league.
Arizona Cardinals 2019 NFL Draft Picks
|
Round
|
Pick
|
Player
|
Position
|
College
|
|
1
|
1
|
Kyler Murray
|
QB
|
Oklahoma
|
|
2
|
33
|
Byron Murphy
|
CB
|
Washington
|
|
2
|
62
|
Andy Isabella
|
WR
|
Massachusetts
|
|
3
|
65
|
Zach Allen
|
DE
|
Boston College
|
|
4
|
103
|
Hakeem Butler
|
WR
|
Iowa State
|
|
5
|
139
|
Deionte Thompson
|
S
|
Alabama
|
|
6
|
174
|
Keesean Johnson
|
WR
|
Fresno State
|
|
6
|
179
|
Lamont Gaillard
|
C
|
Georgia
|
|
7
|
248
|
Joshua Miles
|
T
|
Morgan State
|
|
7
|
249
|
Michael Dogbe
|
DE
|
Temple
|
|
7
|
254
|
Caleb Wilson
|
TE
|
UCLA
|
Murray will determine whether or not this draft is considered a success or a failure. It’s not the most fair measurement, but that’s what happens when you take a quarterback No. 1 overall. Kingsbury believed that Murray was the best quarterback in the country when Texas Tech took on Oklahoma last year, and there were whispers that he would take Murray with the first pick shortly after he was named head coach of the Cardinals. Now, those two are looking to bring Big 12 firepower to the NFL.
Andy Isabella is an intriguing draft pick, and he could catch a lot of balls in this offense after catching over 100 passes at Massachusetts last season. The Cardinals also drafted receivers Hakeem Butler and Keesean Johnson in hopes that one of these newcomers will develop into a solid option alongside Fitzgerald.
Arizona Cardinals 2019 Prediction
This team is very much a work in progress. The absolute best case scenario would be for the team to win six or seven games this year, but that’s only if everything goes right.
If David Johnson were to rediscover his 2016 form that would be huge. The running back was an All-Pro with more than 2,100 yards from scrimmage and 20 touchdowns that season, but he broke his wrist in the opening game of 2017 and didn’t play the rest of the year. Johnson was not able to get going last season, but a lot of that had to do with a bad offensive line and opposing defenses were stacking the box because Arizona couldn’t throw the ball.
Arizona’s defense suffered a big blow when it was announced that Patrick Peterson would miss the first six games of the season because of a failed drug test. Peterson is the best defensive player on the team, and his absence will affect the secondary in a big way. Aside from him, the unit has no real playmakers, and they rolled the dice on a lot of veterans in free agency.
The under is the play here. Five is a very small number and I’d love 5.5 if I could get it, but 4 wins is much more likely than 6 for the Cardinals.
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