Well, at one point in the season the Arizona Cardinals were 7-0 then came a Thursday Night game against Green Bay falling to 7-1. A victory over the 49ers in San Francisco made fans think they figured it out, but then an embarrassing loss at home to the Carolina Panthers 10-34 had us shaking our heads again. A victory in Seattle over the Seahawks going into the bye week left the Cardinals at 9-2 into their bye week. Who would not have wanted that going into the season. The team went to the Chicago area and moved their record to 10-2 but then the wheels started to buckle and fall apart…. A loss to the Rams on MNF was a bit shocking but nothing to be scared about as the Rams are a good team (and eventual SuperBowl winner!).

Then boom, the wheels sheared off and flew into the stands as losses to the Detroit Lions and Indianapolis Colts on Christmas Day left the Cardinals spiraling out of control and losing 3 of their final 4 (very much like last year). A victory over Dallas that could have gone either way, helped but a season ending beatdown by Seattle left the Cardinals as the 4^th seed with an 11-6 record and a hugely disappointing 3-5 home record.

Then February hits and the scuttle is QB Kyler Murray scrubbed his social media of all Cardinal mention. Hmmmm what the heck!??! QB Kyler Murray is on the last year of a 4 year deal with 5.5% of the cap% - so the Cardinals need to extend Murray quickly to lock him up quickly. Either he is or is NOT the franchise quarterback for the Cardinals for the next 4-5 years.

Upcoming important NFL dates:

Feb 22 – March 8: Dates within teams can designate players with the franchise or transition tag

March 1-7: Scouting Combine in Indianapolis

March 14-16: Legal tampering period – Clubs may begin contacting and entering contract negotiations with agents of unrestricted free agents

April 28-30: Las Vegas NFL Draft 2022

The Cardinals have 3 of the top 75 free-agents-to-be in the NFL

OLB Chandler Jones, WR Christian Kirk, TE Zach Ertz

Other Cardinal Free Agents:

Te, Maxx Wiliams, RB James Conner, P Andy Lee, RB Chase Edmonds, RB Jonathan Ward (ERFA), WR AJ Green.

QB: So, what is the deal with QB Kyler Murray. Does he want a trade? Does he really just want an extension? Is he mature enough to lead a team? QB Colt McCoy is a free agent this year as well. Time to make a decision, Cardinals.

RB: Hoping the Cards draft 1 or 2 RB this year in a not-so-deep RB draft. Perhaps a gem or two might fall towards the lower part of the draft. The top two RBs are unrestricted free agents. RB James Conner and RB Chase Edmonds are both free agents. Free agency or NFL draft is the way to build these up.

WR: WR Christian Kirk is a free agent, WR DeAndre Hopkins was injured the last portion of the season and it showed. WR A.J. Green is a FA and probably will not be re-signed unless for a LOT less money. WR Andy Isabella is on the team but must only be used for towel duty.

TE: TE Zach Ertz and TE Maxx Williams are both FA. Time to make decisions Keim.

So, the Cardinals have this year to go all in before they have to pay their QB an immense amount of money. It will be interesting to see if they go all in even more than they did last year following the Rams’ victory in their home field (note: The SB next year comes to Phoenix!)

It will be an interesting watch for the Arizona Cardinals and interesting to watch how the GM Steve Keim approaches this off-season. He has to feel like Keim is on the hot seat along with coach KliffKingsburry which is highly unusual for a 11-6 team. Two straight seasons of futile collapse have occurred and a third will NOT be tolerated.

 

End.