How Arizona Cardinals TE Trey McBride Can Be Even Better in 2025

Trey McBride lived up to his billing as a breakout candidate last season and is now considered one of the best tight ends in the league. The Arizona Cardinals have not had tight end play to the level McBride has given them in decades, and he proved invaluable to the offense last year.

To reward his efforts, McBride got a fat extension and became one of the leagues highest paid players at the tight end position in NFL history. He’s worth every penny, too.

As we prepare for 2025, there’s not much we need to see from McBride in terms of proving himself, but there is always room to grow and get better in certain areas, which is where we will be focusing on here.

While these aren’t necessarily weaknesses concerning McBride’s play, any further development with these would only make him even better as he inches towards elite status (If he isn’t already there).

Run block work

We know McBride is an elite player in the passing game, which means his run-blocking will need to catch up. That’s not to say this is a massive area of concern, but the more well-rounded he is the better he will be for Arizona.

Considering the Cardinals want to be a run-first/heavy offense until further notice, the more refined as a run blocker as McBride can become the better.

Redzone targets

There are a few weaknesses to McBride‘s game with perhaps your only complaint being his lack of scoring. Some of that is opportunity based, but perhaps he could find a way to generate those opportunities by himself.

Throughout training, camp and the preseason, it would be nice to see McBride find extra opportunities in redzone packages. Regardless if it is play designs set specifically for him or more targets, we would welcome either. Touchdown scoring is really the only thing missing on McBride‘s resume to be the best tight end in the league.

More diverse route tree

McBride has established himself as a terrific check down option in the passing game. His catches turn into chunk yard plays to keep drives alive and convert down and distances. But we still would like to see more diversity and how he is used.

Although McBride may not have some game changing speed at the position, he’s plenty athletic to attack more space on the field than just underneath/short of the sticks. I would love to see more intermediate play available for him to help open up the offense more.