The Arizona Cardinals addressed their running game this offseason, investing heavily in Jeremiyah Love with the No. 3 overall pick and stealing Tyler Allgeier in free agency. Their search for a long-term signal-caller continues, and likely won't be resolved until the 2027 NFL Draft.
Still, none of this revamped offense will matter if Arizona's offensive line struggles continue. Warren Sharp has the Cardinals O-line ranked 26th in the league, with a score of 28 out of 100.
They somewhat addressed this issue with their second-round selection of guard Chase Bisontis out of Texas A&M, but it's going to take much more than that to become an above-average line. This rebuilding Cardinals roster has potential to be one of the best groups of skill position players in the league. But it seems like they've constructed this roster backward and should've prioritized the trenches more.
Cardinals still need to upgrade their O-line
Even if Love emerges as one of the best backs in the league and Arizona brings in Arch Manning at quarterback next year, they can only do so much behind a shaky offensive line. The Cardinals missed a step in their roster construction and went for the exciting new shiny toy, whether that was Marvin Harrison Jr. or, more recently, Love.
DraftKings Sportsbook currently has the top Super Bowl favorites (listed in order of best odds) as the Los Angeles Rams, Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, Seattle Seahawks, and Philadelphia Eagles. To highlight the importance of an offensive line on winning, four of those five teams fall inside the top ten of Sharp's offensive line rankings, with the only outlier being Baltimore.
Relying on your players to become Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry isn't a very replicable blueprint, especially when Love hasn't played a single snap in the NFL while Arizona's current quarterback is (maybe?) Jacoby Brissett, who continues his holdout.
Considering how much draft capital the Cardinals have invested into their offense, this is a team that will have to outscore teams in shootouts more often than not as their recipe to win games. That's not an effective strategy in general, but becomes even more problematic when these skill players don't even have a good line to allow them to maximize their talents.
After a three-win season, it was already apparent the Cardinals' roster still has a lot of work to be done. But if they expect to continue leaning into the offensive side of the ball, they're going to be disappointed unless a revamped offensive line is also part of that plan.
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