Cardinals, Broncos Won't Play Starters in Preseason

The Cardinals traveled to Denver early to get a joint practice in with the Broncos before their matchup on Saturday, something Arizona head coach Jonathan Gannon was looking forward to before ultimately determining if his starters played against the Broncos.

"We're going to wait till Thursday. The players know that. I'll wait till Thursday and see how that kicks out and we'll make a decision," Gannon told reporters earlier this week.

It appears as if Gannon squeezed enough juice out of today's practice to make a decision.

Joint practices have been a thing under Gannon since his arrival in 2023, previously doing so with the Indianapolis Colts and Minnesota Vikings in preseason.

2025 is the first preseason where the Cardinals committed to playing their starters under Gannon after the prior two years mostly featured backups. Arizona's starters played roughly the first quarter of their Week 1 victory against the Kansas City Chiefs last Saturday.

"You're going against different schemes, different people," Gannon said on the benefits of joint practices. "It's a new stress to your central nervous system."

His players seem to be fans of it, too, as they're able to get live reps against different opponents in a controlled setting as opposed to a full speed game.

Today's joint practice was hit and miss for the Cardinals according to ESPN's Josh Weinfuss:

"I mainly watched the offense and it struggled at times against a Broncos defense that'll be very, very good this season," he wrote on X before adding in a later note: "Murray had a number of passes that were either too high or he overthrew the receiver."

Trey McBride reportedly looked strong against Denver's defense while the highly anticipated matchup of Patrick Surtain vs Marvin Harrison Jr. was entertaining in its limited spotlight.

Whether or not the Cardinals will see their starters play in Week 3 against the Las Vegas Raiders remains to be seen.