Summer series: Arizona Cardinals

By: Josh Frey-Sam

The arrow is pointing up on the Arizona Cardinals.

How far up remains to be seen.

Welcome to the Back Bacon Brief summer series, where I talk to a local media member from all 32 NFL teams to get an all-encompassing preview about each club heading into the 2025-26 season.

Today is about the Arizona Cardinals, and I spoke with the host of the PHNX Cardinals podcast, Bo Brack (@BoBrack on X), to get the lowdown on everything happening in the desert.

Brack, whom I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with before, was insightful once again and left me feeling a bit better about this Cardinals squad than I had before.

You can listen to the full interview here.

The Cards, who finished 8-9 in 2024, enter a critical season under third-year head coach Jonathan Gannon.

This club was still in rebuild mode in 2023, but their off-season moves would say they are ready to take a step forward.

Gannon got the most out of the defence a season ago, with a “bend-don’t-break” mantra. Meanwhile, the offence, though above-average in many metrics, underperformed relative to its personnel.

“I think that this team is just on the verge of finding success, as far as the NFL landscape,” said Brack. “Maybe punching their ticket to the playoffs, and arriving, in a sense, for hopefully a sustainable run of NFL relevancy.”

The Cards had a busy off-season. They were active in free agency and drafted seven players, focusing almost exclusively on the defence throughout the entire process.

Their biggest swings on the open market were former Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive end Josh Sweat and former Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson.

Brack said GM Monti Ossenfort took a page out of the Philadelphia Eagles’ playbook by stocking up on defensive linemen in hopes the team can win by rushing four and dropping seven into coverage.

At the center of any success is likely to be Walter Nolen, the first-round draft pick out of Ole Miss who fell into the Cardinals’ laps at 17th overall. Nolen has shades of Eagles’ defensive lineman Jalen Carter, in that he was one of the best prospects in this draft from a pure talent perspective, but dropped due to off-field and character concerns.

Nolen’s athleticism was evident as the team went through OTAs and mini-camp, and Brack noted the sled tends to pop a little louder when the rookie hits it.

“You’re seeing a revamped defence that I think Walter Nolen is playing a big part of,” he said. “But look, this is a defence that they invested six of their seven draft picks on and most of their cap dollars in, so Walter Nolen is kind of the poster child for this revamped defence, and I think he’s not only part of the future but he’s part of the present going forward.”

The part that caught me off guard was that Ossenfort felt comfortable running it back with the same 11 guys on offence that underperformed last season. On one hand, the Cards have invested heavily in the offence in recent years, while the defence has suffered.

On the other hand, they seem to be putting a lot of faith in Kyler Murray, Marvin Harrison Jr. Trey McBride and James Connor carrying the load.

“If you followed the tea leaves from the decision makers to the players, a part of that team, you kind of got the sense that they weren’t going to make any wholesale changes on the offensive side. They very well understood that the personnel underachieved,” said Brack.

“There’s a confidence that with the continuity, with the improved chemistry, especially between Kyler and Marvin Harrison Jr…. that it’s going to be enough to push that offence to another gear. I get it, but it’s going to be a prove-it year in 2025.”

A couple of interesting camp battles Brack noted for this team included along the defensive line, off-ball linebacker and cornerback, where second-round pick Will Johnson appears to have the inside track to replace Sean-Murphy Bunting.

For my bettors, Brack took the over on the club’s projected win total (8.5), and I agree. The Cards’ project to have the fifth-easiest schedule this season, which is a huge relief from last year’s gauntlet.

One fantasy-related question I asked Brack was on second-year rusher Trey Benson, and whether he could find a larger role in this offence or if it remains James Connor’s backfield:

“It’s the latter. It’s the latter, and it’s not because Benson didn’t do enough from Year 1 going into Year 2… but, yeah, this is James Connor’s backfield. You could look at him from a fantasy perspective as far as having a handcuff… if Connor gets injured, it is Benson’s backfield,” he said.

“It’s a good long-term play. I think it’s somebody that they have a whole lot of confidence in, it’s just he’s got one guy in front of him and he’s the bellcow.”

Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day.

Josh