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Arizona Cardinals defensive lineman Calais Campbell (93) is introduced before their game against the Carolina Panthers at State Farm Stadium on Sept 14, 2025. Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Quarter-Season Grades: Cardinals Defense Saves The Day

Originally posted on Arizona Cardinals on SI
By Kyler Burd | Last updated Sep 30, 2025 1:30 PM ET

For the past two seasons, Arizona Cardinals' defensive coordinator Nick Rallis has seemingly done more with less producing a defense that played above expectations in both years irregardless of the lack of talent on that side of the ball.

Now, the entire 2025 offseason was dedicated to improving that element of the team and the front office headed by general manager Monti Ossenfort sunk a tremendous amount of free agency money and draft capital into giving Rallis the types of players he needed to have a truly competitive defense in the National Football League.

So far, four weeks into the season that investment looks to have paid off as the defense is the one phase that is truly humming for this Cardinals squad.

Unfortunately, not all team wide stats back this up as they have consistently been put in tough positions by a woefully underperforming offense, but anyone watching Cardinals games knows that the Rallis-led unit is the gem of this organization at the moment.

In the last quarter-season grade report, the offense received an overall GPA of 2.54. Not pretty at all and an indictment of the lack of attention paid to that side of the ball in the offseason and lack of development across the board from play-caller to players.

What GPA will the Cardinals defense receive? Let's go through by position group and find out.

Defense

Defensive Line: A

Possibly the position group that saw the most impactful change from last season to 2025, a rebuilt defensive line that includes Cardinals legend Calais Campbell and new nose tackle Dalvin Tomlinson has been performing at a high rate so far.

Campbell remains ageless at 39 years young and leads the leagues in sacks from an interior defender with three to go along with the fourth-best pass rush win rate in the NFL winning 18% of his pass rush snaps.

Marquee free agent signing Josh Sweat has also logged three sacks and forced two key fumbles. He ranks even higher among EDs in pass rush win rate landing at 3rd in the NFL with a 30% win rate. Fellow ED Baron Browning also places in the top fifteen at No. 11.

Against the run, the defensive line looks much improved on the ground with the seventh highest run stop win rate in the league.

The unit is still missing first round selection Walter Nolen and might be losing last year's first round defender Darius Robinson for a bit, but even withstanding those injuries this unit looks much stronger than the past several iterations of this position group.

Linebacker: B-

There have not been many giant, glaring errors so far from this position but the play of Mack Wilson, Sr., Akeem Davis-Gaither, and Cody Simon has also not been stand out.

Wilson, Sr. headlines the unit and he does have the 15th most solo tackles among linebackers and the 7th highest pass rush grade for that position as well. On the flip side he is 46th among linebackers in passer rating allowed giving opposing quarterbacks an average rating of 104.9.

Davis-Gaither has made a few key run stops but has also struggled in pass coverage, a problem that has followed him throughout his career.

The linebackers still seem like the weakest overall position group on the defense, but for the most part they are still showing up and doing their job which earns them another solid grade of B-.

Secondary: A

This grade is based off both performance and the potential of what a fully healthy Cardinals secondary is capable of based on the limited snaps we saw the whole group playing together.

Rookie corner Will Johnson looked as advertised straight out of the gates with a historic debut performance in New Orleans. He unfortunately suffered a groin injury in Week 2 but looks like he is on track to get back in the starting lineup fairly soon. His emergence as a true No. 1 outside cornerback would go far into solidifying this defensive unit for the future.

Second year Max Melton continues to have hot and cold flashes, but overall it looks like he is developing into a quality starter. Fellow second year safety "Rabbit" Taylor-Demerson is emerging this year after earning his way onto the field through strong play as a rookie and strong camp.

The Budda Baker-Jalen Thompson duo continues to play well, even in what is considered a down year for the All-Pro Baker.

TEAM GPA: 3.56

Unlike the offense, the Cardinals defense has been playing well enough to make the Dean's list. They are a much improved unit from just a year ago and continue to play well enough to keep the team in games to the very end.