Arizona Cardinals Labeled Pretenders by Analyst

The Arizona Cardinals have hype surrounding their 2025 season, though not everyone is on board.

After an offseason that featured plenty of upgrades on the defensive side of the ball, Arizona is locked and loaded for what could be a special season.

Yahoo! Sports has other ideas, however.

Yahoo! Not Sold on Arizona Cardinals

In their offseason power rankings, Yahoo! placed the Cardinals at No. 19 - which isn't a rare spot in similar pieces published ahead of 2025.

Writer Frank Schwab says Arizona's upside is limited.

"While there are reasons to believe the Cardinals might improve again, their upside seems fairly limited. Does it really look like a 10-win team on paper? The Cardinals' win total at BetMGM is 8.5, and that feels right.

"It's the type of team that will be in the playoff hunt into December, but ultimately go into Week 18 with an 8-8 record. The defense will be better but not great, the offense will have some exciting moments but not enough to get it into the top 10, and the sum will be a team that is competitive just about every week but not enough to scare the 49ers or Rams in the NFC West race."

Why Arizona Cardinals Aren't Pretenders

While the Rams absolutely deserve to be picked as repeat NFC West champions, we're still holding our breath on the 49ers and what they can bring to the table after suffering notable losses through the offseason.

Schwab isn't totally out of line in his assessment, as it's quite possible for the Cardinals to again be 8-8 entering the final week of the season - though that might be disappointing given their expectations prior to the start of the year.

For a team that only got better through the offseason (with a B grade from Schwab himself) it does feel a bit odd that the Cardinals still wouldn't be able to compete with other teams in the division.

"The Cardinals had an improvement on defense last season and then invested heavily in that side of the ball this offseason," Schwab added.

"Pass rusher Josh Sweat got $76.4 million over four years to leave the Eagles, and big defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson got $29 million over two years. Linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither was also added (he'll replace Kyzir White, who was not re-signed), and ageless defensive lineman Calais Campbell is back.

"In the draft, the Cardinals picked defensive tackle Walter Nolen in the first round and when cornerback Will Campbell slipped to the second round due to concerns over injuries, the Cardinals took the value. Both players have some risk but there's a lot of upside. Both should be rookie starters. The Cardinals' first five picks, and six of their seven overall, were on defense.

"The offense didn't get much attention, but the defense has all the pieces it needs for a dramatic improvement. And it wasn't that bad last season."

Perhaps that's a product of an extremely tough division, though the Cardinals absolutely shouldn't be viewed as pretenders moving into 2025.