The Arizona Cardinals just kind of exist, mainly as filler for Fox as it finds secondary games for the late Sunday afternoon slot.
Teams such as the New York Jets have had championship droughts — not as long as the Cardinals’, though — but they play in a huge market and will always be talked about. The Las Vegas Raiders, like the Cardinals, have been bad for a long time. However, the Raiders turned dusty championship trophies into a brand that still resonates.
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The Cardinals have some history, but nobody cares about what they did as the Chicago Cardinals before John F. Kennedy was elected president. They’re a relatively anonymous team, one that has the longest championship drought in the NFL at 78 seasons. And they enter the 2026 season as far from relevance as they’ve ever been.
The Cardinals went 3-14 last season, practically had the last pick among the 10 teams trying to fill a head-coaching vacancy (but retained the general manager who built a three-win team and is on the hot seat), did nothing of note to fix their quarterback dilemma and have a roster that includes some exciting skill-position players but needs multiple offseasons to fill all the other holes. In the NFLPA’s 2025 report card, the Cardinals ranked dead last in their overall grade among all 32 teams. Nobody was surprised.
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Since 1978, only one of the Cardinals’ 13 full-time head coaches has finished the job with a record above .500 (Bruce Arians). But Mike LaFleur, the Los Angeles Rams‘ offensive coordinator the past three seasons, comes in with the same optimism as all the others who preceded him.
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“The record wasn’t what anyone would want it to be, but I’ll never forget Matthew Stafford coming right in my office and goes, ‘Man, these guys can play,'” LaFleur said at his introductory media conference. “I’ve seen it firsthand. I know what’s on this roster. There’s a lot of reasons I was so excited to be in this seat.”
LaFleur was technically not the last head coach hired this cycle, but that’s because the Raiders had to wait until after the Super Bowl to make the Klint Kubiak acquisition official. The Cardinals and Raiders were interested in Kubiak, but when reports said Kubiak had decided on the Raiders, the Cardinals quickly moved to hire LaFleur. The Cardinals’ job proved to be just as tough of a sell as everyone expected.
Perhaps LaFleur turns out to be a great hire. Nobody knew the Houston Texans made a franchise-changing hire when they landed DeMeco Ryans, who has dragged the Texans out of an embarrassing era. But history and the current state of the Cardinals are working against LaFleur.
Trey McBride of the Arizona Cardinals is coming off a 126-catch, 1,239-yard season. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)(Tim Warner via Getty Images)
General manager Monti Ossenfort has put together a roster that has skill-position talent including tight end Trey McBride, receivers Michael Wilson and Marvin Harrison Jr. (who has come nowhere near expectations yet), and rookie running back Jeremiyah Love, a hugely talented prospect but questionable third overall draft pick for a rebuilding team. However, the offensive line has been below average for years, and the defense ranked 32nd in success rate allowed last season. Worse, that defense got very little help in the offseason.
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There was also little help added at quarterback, unless Carson Beck becomes the rare third-round pick to pay off at QB. The Cardinals will begin the season with Jacoby Brissett at QB1 after they won one of his 13 starts last season — as long as Brissett’s contract squabbles don’t become a long-term ordeal, anyway. Kyler Murray didn’t work out, and the Cardinals took a $53.8 million cap hit to cut the cord, even though they had no great backup plan at quarterback. That will have to wait for 2027.
The Cardinals also play in the NFL’s best division. That’s the main reason they’re projected to have the toughest schedule in the league by a wide margin, using sportsbooks’ win totals for each team’s opponents, via Sharp Football Analysis. The Cardinals had the toughest season last season, too, according to DVOA.
It all adds up to what should be a difficult first season for LaFleur. Most seasons for the Cardinals are difficult. Their last championship came in 1947, almost 20 years before the first Super Bowl. After the 1947 NFL Championship Game, they didn’t win another playoff game until the end of the 1998 season. They’ve won just three division titles since the end of the 1975 season. They’ve lost 13 or more games in three of the past four seasons. The Cardinals enter this season with probably the least exciting quarterback situation in the league outside of Cleveland and a defense that could easily finish as the NFL’s worst.
But there are only so many teams in the Pacific and Mountain time zones. So the Cardinals will always have that home in the late afternoon window on Sundays.
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Offseason grade
The Jeremiyah Love pick will be talked about for a while. It’s hard to say the Cardinals will regret having Love, who is very unlikely to be a bust. Running back prospects as highly touted as Love typically don’t miss. But it was an odd pick for a team that had plenty of running backs and pressing needs at high-value positions.
Drafting Carson Beck 65th overall might be worth the gamble for a rebuilding team without a quarterback, but the hit rate on mid-round quarterbacks is terrible. If the Cardinals draft their next quarterback with a high pick in 2027, then they just wasted the first pick of the third round on a low-percentage dart throw.
Free agency was OK. Getting guard Isaac Seumalo on a three-year, $31.5 million deal was a good deal and at a position of need. Running back Tyler Allgeier was a value add but was mostly negated by drafting Love. Defensive lineman Roy Lopez was one of the few additions who can help a bad defense that lost safety Jalen Thompson and defensive lineman Dalvin Tomlinson in free agency.
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Grade: D-
Quarterback report
The Cardinals tried and tried with Kyler Murray, and in seven seasons with him, all they got was a one-and-done playoff appearance. The Cardinals were linked to Malik Willis in free agency, but Miami landed him, which might not be the worst outcome for Arizona with a deep 2027 draft looming. Jacoby Brissett was decent as a passer last season, with 3,366 yards, 23 touchdowns and eight interceptions. But he will turn 34 years old this December, and everyone knows he’ll be usurped next year by a 2027 draftee or late this season by Carson Beck.
Beck helped Georgia and Miami win a lot of games, but his NFL stock never took off, as there were questions about his arm talent, decision-making and, ultimately, his ceiling as an NFL quarterback. It seems very likely that the Cardinals will have a very high pick in 2027 and draft an exciting quarterback prospect then, which makes this an unappealing transition season.
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Odds breakdown
From Yahoo’s Ben Fawkes: “Kyler Murray is out, and Carson Beck is in — but we’re still not exactly sure who will start for the Cardinals at QB if Jacoby Brissett’s contract grumblings get louder. It might not matter for Arizona, though, as it’s the only team in the NFL projected to be an underdog in all 17 of its games — including a staggering eight as a double-digit ‘dog. The Cardinals are more than a touchdown underdogs in each of their first 10 games, so a quick start seems unlikely. Rookie RB Jeremiyah Love should be exciting to watch, but it’s going to otherwise be a long season in the desert. Look at the under 4.5 wins for Arizona.”
Yahoo’s fantasy take
From Yahoo’s Scott Pianowski: “This should be the season where we get closer to a verdict on Marvin Harrison Jr. He’s been a relative disappointment with respect to his NFL draft slot, and it’s telling that Michael Wilson dramatically outplayed Harrison last year. Everything is new in Arizona this fall — new head coach, new quarterbacks, new offensive designer. Harrison’s early ADP is about two rounds earlier than Wilson’s, and I won’t blame anyone who prefers to wait for a Wilson pick — or avoids this WR room altogether.”
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Stat to remember
One point Mike LaFleur brought up during his introductory media conference was how many close games the Cardinals lost in the fourth quarter last season. Early in the season, they became the first team in NFL history to lose three straight games despite leading by at least seven points in the fourth quarter.
They were 2-8 in one-score games and 0-5 in games decided by a field goal or less. The two wins in one-score games came in the first two games of the season; they lost eight in a row afterward. One of those losses was an unbelievable, 22-21 loss to the Titans, which was memorable for Arizona running back Emari Demercado dropping the ball before he crossed the goal line and a series of other weird plays that turned a 21-6 fourth-quarter lead into a bizarre collapse against one of the NFL’s worst teams.
The Cardinals were outscored 146-88 in the fourth quarter and overtime of games last season. Their record in close games should improve a bit this season, but LaFleur’s challenge will be to solve why the late collapses were so prevalent.
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“We’ve got to figure out what those little edges are to get us over,” he said. “They’re not far off.”
Burning question: How high will the Cardinals fly on offense?
One thing the Cardinals have done right is collect a lot of offensive stars. Trey McBride, who had a monster 126-1,239-11 season last year, is arguably the best tight end in the NFL. Michael Wilson broke out when Marvin Harrison Jr. was injured last season, putting up 1,006 yards. The Cardinals already had a pretty good running back room with Tyler Allgeier, James Conner and Trey Benson, then they invested heavily in Jeremiyah Love. Funnily enough, the biggest question might be Harrison, who was viewed as a can’t-miss prospect two years ago.
Harrison has just 1,493 yards in two seasons. Wilson was much more productive in the featured role when Harrison was out, which isn’t a good look for Harrison. Harrison has just two 100-yard games in his career, while Wilson had three last season, plus another 99-yard game.
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If Harrison can become the receiver the Cardinals thought they were getting in the 2024 draft and Love is as good as advertised, Arizona might have the best set of skill-position players in the NFL. That’s a pretty good setup for the Cardinals’ eventual quarterback of the future.
Best-case scenario
If the Cardinals don’t finish last in a very tough NFC West, it would be a huge upset. And it would probably take a miserable, injury-filled season from the Rams, Seahawks or 49ers. At least the Jets and Dolphins can keep each other company at the bottom of the AFC East. There’s no rest for the Cardinals, who have the projected toughest schedule in the NFL. Perhaps Mike LaFleur proves to be an offensive wizard with a fun array of pass catchers, Jeremiyah Love plays well enough to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and the Cardinals turn around a bad record in close games. Arizona also can’t get any unluckier with injuries; the Cardinals had the most adjusted games lost due to injury in the NFL by a mile last season, via FTN Fantasy.
Arizona could be a fun, must-watch circus team with a bunch of shootouts. We know its defense will give up a lot of points. 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. If Love is the real deal, if LaFleur navigates a rough season and proves himself to be a strong play-caller and leader, if Marvin Harrison Jr. starts to play up to his potential, and if other young players come along, this season in Arizona could be a last-place finish that provides hope on offense. Especially if the Cardinals lose enough games to draft a top quarterback in 2027.
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Nightmare scenario
The only real nightmare is if the Cardinals stumble their way into just enough wins to knock them out of the 2027 draft’s quarterback derby. If you could guarantee the Cardinals the first pick right now, plenty of their fans (and, likely, many in the organization) would sign up for it. There needs to be an answer at quarterback before the rebuild can really take shape. That said, nobody wants to flirt with a winless season, and that’s not completely off the table for a bad team with the NFL’s toughest schedule.
Arizona lost 14 of its final 15 games last season, after all. An 0-17 season is not an outrageous thought, though it’s very unlikely to happen. And a completely miserable season could lead the franchise to wonder if Mike LaFleur was the wrong hire.
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It’s going to be a bad season in Arizona. The only question is how bad it will get.
The crystal ball says …
The Cardinals should be able to pass the ball, and they’ll have more than their share of entertaining games this season. Mike LaFleur comes from the Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan offensive guru tree, the Cardinals have a fantastic set of skill-position players, and Jacoby Brissett can at least run an offense. That will give Arizona a chance to steal a few games. But their defense, offensive line, quarterback play and tough schedule will likely lead to a top-five draft pick and perhaps the first overall pick.
In a deep 2027 draft, a top-five pick should be enough to get a quarterback who can potentially lift the Cardinals out of NFL purgatory. As for many teams near the bottom of these rankings, the 2027 NFL Draft will be a big story throughout the 2026 season. At least it’s something to look forward to.
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