Arizona Cardinals roster is nowhere near the league's worst

The Arizona Cardinals have a former number one pick playing quarterback and a potentially dominant pass-catching unit, among other strengths.

If there is one consensus out there involving the Arizona Cardinals, it’s that the sports media loves to pick on them. But when you take a look at PFF’s rankings, in short, they’re rather questionable. 

At this point, PFF has the Cardinals roster ranked as the worst in the league, but is it really that bad upon further review? While PFF lauds the Cards pass protection, they got virtually everything else listed as a weakness in 2023. 

That said, I think they forgot to check out the pass-catching unit, which has the potential to be one of the league’s best this season. They also have a decent set of linebackers, with Kyzir White, the underrated Krys Barnes, along with a dynamic draft class of rookies. 

So while the roster is by no means near the top of the league, I’d take the Cards roster well before I would a few others. Those teams include the Los Angeles Rams, Houston Texans (though I love what they’re doing over there), Indianapolis Colts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Atlanta Falcons. 

Arizona Cardinals roster is better than they want you to believe

So what’s causing so many NFL outlets to single out the Cardinals? For one, general manager Monti Ossenfort isn’t falling into the same trap Steve Keim fell into, which is to acquire established talent at the expense of a team’s overall window for success by putting the NFL Draft second. I think we can all agree that the method didn’t work very well for Keim, or else he’d still be with the organization. 

Instead, Ossenfort is building this team slowly, which at the expense of a short window of success, potentially opens up long-term, sustained success. In the eyes of the media and many fans, for one reason or another, this isn’t the preferred method, as everyone expects their team to do what they can to win now. 

While that’s understandable, recent history shows us that it would be a foolish mistake on Ossenfort’s part. His predecessor won just a single playoff game in 10 seasons at the helm. So why would he repeat Keim’s mistakes?

Overall, the Arizona Cardinals roster isn’t the best by any means. However, they are highly underrated and far better than most would like to give them credit for. They won’t be making the playoffs this season and no, they won’t even have a winning record. But they’re better than 32nd, that’s for sure. 

Source: Early 2023 NFL roster rankings for all 32 teams: Strengths, weaknesses, rookies to watch and more by Dalton Wasserman and Jim Wyman, PFF.com