By Walter Mitchell Talk about a player who is fired up about his teammates, new coaches and the Arizona community, Paris Johnson Jr., in his interview with Bo Brack and Johnny Venerable on the PHNX Cardinals Podcast, lit the match to a blowtorch of jalapeno-hot takes about the 2026 Arizona Cardinals. Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQLYNPP8POM&t=4704s The first order of business was to promote PJJ's charity "Putts for a Purpose" which took place last weekend, with the purpose being to raise enough money to build houses for military veterans and students who require financial aid. Paris is working in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity and hand in hand with Kurt Warner who has generously offered to furnish the first house upon its completion. When it came to talk about his boys, Paris Johnson Jr. was ecstatic about having the chance to elaborate in fine detail about the considerable talent the Cardinals have been building on offense. He's psyched t...
In July each year, ESPN publishes the results of NFL position rankings derived from the votes they receive from team executives and coaches. Thus far, we have learned the following with regard to which Cardinals are ranked or given honorable mentions: 
Love has a shot at top 10 and if he isn't solidly in that mix, it will be an injury or mis-lack of use by staff-which would be an even bigger shocker. PJJ had better be in that mix if he wants near the $$ he expects-make him earn it. Until the current Qb fiasco is settled with JB as the starter, there ain't a chance in football hell that anyone besides McBride and Love make the rankings. I expect Rabbit and Budda will have a legit shot and, frankly, if none of their LB/DL cohorts aren't close to making their lists, our Safeties are just doing more mop up of a defensive front that continues to be an ineffective mess. Interesting that Walt didn't even suggest that the plethora of our underachieving/undeveloped/unused CBs have a shot-unfortunately, who could disagree.
ReplyDeleteLike
ReplyDeleteIF the Cardinals players can play up to the hype/potential that each of them were drafted we would have a playoff caliber team.
ReplyDeleteOFF - There is a lot to like about our offensive potential
QB - Imagine if JB could average over 17-games what he averaged over 12 games in passing game; JB would be on the list.
RB - If love can get 2000 yds (running 1300, passing 700) in season he has chance to be rookie of year
TE - McBride just need keep his game at same level - he'd been #1 this year if Cardinals had one a few more games (W/L goes into these rankings as well as prior years history); another 1000 yd season with 10+ TDs is outlook.
WR - If MHJ and Wilson can blend together, lookout for fireworks!
OL - JJ, Fro, etc. will all get more recognition if JB repeats his excellence, add a running game and OL will get some respect. Especially if they can finish season above .500 with one of toughest schedules in NFL.
DEF - We need to see a huge step up from our defensive unit and players reaching their potential
IDL - We need Lopez, Nolen and Robinson to hold down fort - talent is there we just need to see it for a season, Stills maybe the big X-factor in rotation.
Edge - Sweat (All Pro potential) and Ojulari return along with growing role for Burch - player of hotseat is Collins (IMO) to show some gravitas in pass protection, last season he took step-back in setting edge and tackling grades were abysmal.
ILB - Simon and Pappoe should bethe starters (IMO); I don;t think either make the all-pro list but if they fill their roles well they Defense would be improved.
CB - The most under-developed group on the team and the highest potential for growth (I'd really like to see them play rotation of STV, Jones, Melton, Williams, Johnson , and Burke all can make case for huge step up/growth/rebound year.
DB's - Baker is known already, Rabbit getting his chance to fill role F/T, I doubt Wiggins sees much starting time, but will be a good role player.
Overall Cardinals roster is not a s "BAD" as the National Media wants to say. Losing KM was an albatross off this teams back. Which is biggest hole on roster per National Media. They (Media) don't follow Cardinals football they just go with Cardinals recent history of bad coaching making them laughing stock of NFL.
The real question for the roster is will coaching improve enough to improve the team outlook and setting players up for success (e.g. dropping your best edge to pass coverage and playing soft-zone coverage). If the coaching still sucks the team will still suck, and thereby the player ratings will still suck. So it really comes down to LeFleur, Coach A and Coach K to make the improvements in coaching (I don't expect much from Coach H).
👍
DeleteIsn’t this also a report card on the GM too? If I am Dave Sears, my resume would be active as he is being tarnished working there. A potential 2 yr run of 5-29 record doesn’t scream great experience in interviews…
ReplyDeleteThe Rabbit would be my guess for the most likely to crack the list next year.
ReplyDeleteI believe this needs to be Cody Simon's breakout year where he locks down that ILB position for the next 7 years, but it's still yet to be seen if he's going to get the opportunity, and if so what he does with it
Several media rankings, specifically, Sharp Football Analysis rank the Cardinals' offensive line 26th. this ranking is after Arizona upgraded the unit this offseason, but improvements on paper aren't the same as production on Sundays. Isaac Seumalo is a proven addition, while players like Elijah Wilkinson still have to prove they're an upgrade over their previous level of play. That's especially important in the NFC West, where they'll face some of the NFL's toughest defensive fronts six times a year. Until this line proves it can win in the trenches against that competition, a bottom-10 ranking feels more like a "prove it" grade than an insult. Meanwhile we are sitting on a ton of $$ to sign a solid upgrade OL discarded from another camp.
ReplyDeleteBTW-The Cardinals' top three corners and top two safeties all finished 57th or worse at their position in Pro Football Focus' grades last season, and no projected defensive starter finished higher than 33rd.
Delete👍
Delete