A pessimist's guide to the 2024 Arizona Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals are coming off a 4-13 season under first-year head coach Jonathan Gannon, and while there are certainly some reasons for optimism coming into the season, there are also some reasons for pessimism. 

We already looked at the former. Now it is time to take a look at the latter.

They play in a brutal division

Even if the Cardinals improved the talent level on their roster this offseason, they are still facing a brutal uphill battle. They not only have to improve from a four-win season, but they also have to do so in a brutal division that features three teams that finished the 2023 season with winning records (San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle), including two playoff teams.

One of those teams (San Francisco) is among the best in the NFL and is coming off another trip to the Super Bowl. 

Right off the bat, that is six games in which the Cardinals are probably going to be underdogs, and they are already starting off in a situation where they are the bottom of the four teams.

There's a severe lack of impact players on defense

The Cardinals did make some intriguing additions on defense this offseason in both free agency and the draft, especially along their defensive line, in an effort to improve a unit that finished 31st in total points against, 25th in total yards against and 32nd against the run. 

It was by pretty much every objective measure a terrible defense. 

The unfortunate reality is that even though they did make some nice signings, they still have a lack of game-changing, impact talents on defense. 

Some of their recent high picks (Zaven Collins, Cam Thomas, Isaiah Simmons) have not panned out (or never did pan out), and it is difficult to see them matching up with Brock Purdy, Matthew Stafford and the wide receiver talent Seattle has in their divisional games. 

The defense should be improved, but it probably will not be improved enough.

Kyler Murray is still an unknown

In a weird way, Murray is both a source of optimism and pessimism this season. He remains a total wild card and sort of an unknown, which is not what you want to see from a quarterback this far into his pro career. 

On one hand, having him healthy for a full season will be an upgrade over what the Cardinals started the 2023 season with. He also has a potential superstar in wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. with whom to work. That should produce optimism.

But Murray has not really played at a franchise quarterback level in two years and still has a lot to prove. 

His performance will help make-or-break what the Cardinals are capable of this season, and nobody should feel confident one way or the other in how that performance will look.