Cardinals' Best, Worst-Case Scenarios Revealed

The Arizona Cardinals are entering a pivotal 2025 season.

With a long list of new, upgraded faces and another year of experience for some of their younger contributors, there's less room for underperformance, as expectations have already begun to arise.

Ultimately, the 2025 season will come down to execution, more so than overall talent or even coaching. Arizona will need to play as well as their talent is capable of playing, which is much higher level than years past.

But there always lies factors that could derail a third-year jump for Jonathan Gannon's team.

CBS Sports' Cody Benjamin took a look at each NFL team, and noted the best- and worst-case scenarios for each franchise in the 2025 season.

What's Cardinals Best, Worst-Case Scenarios?

Here's what Benjamin said about the Cardinals:

"Best-case scenario: Kyler Murray makes real strides as a passer, staying upright late in the season, and Jonathan Gannon's restocked defensive front helps power Arizona to its first playoff appearance in four years.

"Worst-case scenario: Murray struggles to elevate the aerial attack without reliable secondary weapons, and Arizona can't keep up with the rest of the NFC West, finishing under .500 for the seventh time in the last 10 years," Benjamin wrote.

Biggest Key for Cardinals in 2025

Fans of Arizona can likely picture either of these scenarios panning out. Whether or not Murray is able to truly hit his stride will have large implications on the future of this team

Murray doesn't necessarily need to start immediately playing at an MVP level, but the Cardinals simply need a more cosnsitent version of their franchise QB. It's not that he lacks ability, but he's stublmed down the stretch in even some of Arizona's more successful recent seasons.

In year three of the Jonathan Gannon regime, Murray needs to find some type of rhythm with Marvin Harrison Jr. and help the Cardinals' offense elevate itself to at least becoming a complementary dimension alongisde a revamped defense.

It's not all on the offense, however. Arizona absolutely needs to see improvement on that side of the ball, but could still contend if their defense is the main strength of the roster. What a change from recent seasons.

But there does always lurk the threat of the NFC West. Any team looking to contend in one of the most consistently tough divisions in the sport needs to have a well-rounded approach with plenty of depth and consistency. That will be the biggest key for the Cardinals in 2025.