Arizona Cardinals: We need to have a conversation about Marco Wilson

Arizona Cardinals cornerback Marco Wilson snagged his first career interception and defensive touchdown. But his needle has been pointing north. 

To put it bluntly, Marco Wilson was abysmal in his first season with the Arizona Cardinals. How poorly did the second-year corner’s rookie campaign fare? He allowed a 70.3% completion percentage, 7.9 yards per target, six passing touchdowns, and a whopping 120.8 quarterback rating.

Overall, Wilson looked like yet another wasted draft pick from the Steve Keim era. This season didn’t start out much better, but Wilson has looked phenomenal as of late. So far, his numbers are this: 57.1% completion percentage allowed, 6.5 yards per target, zero passing touchdowns allowed, and an opponent’s quarterback rating of 67.0.

Oh, and there’s the fact he secured his first career interception and pick six on a 38-yard return toward the end of the first half. So yeah, it’s about time to sit down and have a productive conversation about why Marco Wilson can be the CB2 both now and in the future.

Arizona Cardinals have a sound CB2 in Marco Wilson

While Byron Murphy Jr. remains the undisputed CB1, the Arizona Cardinals may have found their CB2 with Wilson. This is, of course, assuming Wilson continues to play at a high level, but early returns this season indicate he is a different cornerback than he was last season.

The 136th overall pick from the University of Florida, Wilson could be considered a steal if he ends up panning out in the desert. And while I highly doubt Wilson will ever reach Pro Bowl Games status, he can easily evolve into one of the more serviceable corners the Cardinals have seen since the declining days of Patrick Peterson.

He is also one of a few reasons the Cardinals defense has operated at such a high level this year. A defense that gave up 23 points or fewer between Weeks 2 and 6.

(Statistics provided by Pro-Football-Reference)