Arizona Cardinals 2026 Offseason Outlook

In a win-now era when it’s not unthinkable to go from last place to the Super Bowl (see: 2025 New England Patriots), complete rebuilds are no longer all that commonplace. But that might be just what the Arizona Cardinals are needing. Again.

The Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders are the two teams that finished last season in last place and will go into 2026 with a new head coach and a new franchise quarterback. The Raiders, at least, have the No. 1 overall draft pick and will get Fernando Mendoza. The Cardinals — who are officially moving on from Kyler Murray, the No. 1 overall pick in 2019 — will not have a good QB option with the third overall pick.

Mike LaFleur, who was hired to be Arizona’s new head coach after three seasons as the Los Angeles Rams’ offensive coordinator, now needs to figure out who his starting quarterback will be. Unfortunately for LaFleur, the Cardinals face plenty of other questions after that.

2025 recap

Despite the 3-14 finish, the Cardinals were actually pretty competitive through the first two months of the 2025 season. After a 2-0 start, they lost five in a row by a total of 13 points — including a one-point loss to the San Francisco 49ers, a three-point loss to the Seattle Seahawks and a four-point loss to the Green Bay Packers. After a Week 9 win over the Dallas Cowboys, however, the team went into freefall. They lost their last nine games, and the defense allowed 37 or more points in six of those nine games.

Running back James Conner was lost for the season after three games, and none of his replacements seemed to stay healthy for very long. Tight end Trey McBride continued to be one of the most prolific pass-catchers in football, recording 126 receptions for 1,239 yards and 11 touchdowns. Wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., however, missed five games and parts of two others after having an emergency appendectomy. Harrison finished with 41 catches for 608 yards and four scores. With defenses able to tee off on the one-dimensional Cards offense, quarterbacks Murray and Jacoby Brissett were sacked 59 times, fifth-most in the league.

The defense had a couple of decent parts — Budda Baker is still one of the league’s best safeties and edge rusher Josh Sweat had 12 sacks — but the rest of the unit was subpar. Arizona ranked 27th in total defense and 29th in scoring defense. Aside from Sweat, the pass rush was very quiet. The Cardinals produced just 30 sacks total, third-fewest in the NFL last season.

Key free agents

RT Jonah Williams
S Jalen Thompson
DL Calais Campbell
LT Kelvin Beacham
WR Greg Dortch
WR Zay Jones
RB Michael Carter
RB Zonovan Knight
RB Emari Demercado

Cardinals salary cap space

$42,187,426

2026 draft needs

The Cardinals are in position to get a very good offensive tackle with the third overall pick — in his latest mock draft, Luke Easterling has them drafting Miami OT Francis Mauigoa — but the best-case scenario would be for Arizona to trade down and stockpile as many picks as they can get. After tight end and wide receiver, the Cardinals really need to take the best player available with every pick. Specific needs might be offensive tackle, edge, cornerback and running back.

2026 opponents

Home: L.A. Rams, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Detroit, Las Vegas, N.Y. Jets, Philadelphia, Washington

Away: L.A. Rams, San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas, Kansas City, L.A. Chargers, New Orleans, N.Y. Giants