Cardinals' Glaring Weakness Revealed

The Arizona Cardinals have begun to aggressively fill each and every hole that was an obvious sticking point on their 2024 roster. Primarily, GM Monti Ossenfort focused on adding as much talent to the defense — particularly the defensive line.

Certainly, it's not as if Arizona no longer has a single weakness on their roster. There will always be areas in which NFL teams can improve — the Cardinals are no exception.

USA Today's Christian D'Andrea compiled one glaring weakness from all 32 NFL teams going into the summer of 2025. His entry on the Cardinals was anything but thorough, however.

D'Andrea wrote:

"Consider this an overarching question about the team's pass rush AND ability to create stops from the second level. Adding Josh Sweat will punch up the league's 26th-ranked pressure rate, but his support will come from high potential/low production teammates like Baron Browning and Zaven Collins.

"The inside linebacker duo of Mack Wilson and Akeem Davis-Gaither won't help a defense that was a bottom-six unit against the run. Each brings concerns in coverage as well."

If the Cardinals hadn't spent all offseason adding more than just Josh Sweat, perhaps this would be a valid concern. If Mack Wilson Sr. was a truly poor player, maybe it would be as well. But the simple fact is that this short entry in D'Andrea's article is simply not one that can be trusted as based in research.

Arizona isn't throwing Sweat to the wolves by himself. He'll have two veteran, run-stopping DL along the interior next to him in Dalvin Tomlinson and Calais Campbell. Behind those names is a pair of first-rounders with high potential in Walter Nolen III and Darius Robinson.

Arizona is also still waiting to see what they can get from BJ Ojulari, and the added support may turn Browning into a starting-caliber player. There's also third-round pick Jordan Burch waiting for his own opportunity along the edge.

As far as the linebacking corp itself is concerned, it's valid for someone who didn't watch a single snap of Cardinals football to assume the unknown and unrecognized Mack Wilson Sr. is a below-average player.

He's not. Perhaps his PFF grades offer some concern, but anyone who watched the Cardinals' defense in 2024 knows that Wilson was a high-motor player with good instincts.

Akeem Davis-Gaither may not blow anyone away, but Arizona did also bring in Cody Simon from Ohio State in the fourth round of the draft — a player who surpassed 100 tackles and recorded seven sacks in his senior at a big-time national championship college program. He may be starting not far into the season.

It's fair to wonder how the linebacking corp will function without Kyzir White, and it's fair to not put too much stock into rookie players, but D'Andrea's reasoning for his concern shows that the Cardinals still aren't a team national writers care to do their research on before creating takes.