Why Cardinals Are Legit NFC West Contenders

The Arizona Cardinals play in a tough division — a reality that has handicapped Arizona's playoff hopes for many a season.

Not to make excuses, but the Cardinals have been on the wrong end of many a late-season surge by their division rivals, and have struggled to take down the 49ers, Seahawks and Rams consistently in recent years.

It's difficult when there are three head coaches who could become eventual Hall of Famers. It's even harder when the rosters themselves are also littered with future gold jackets.

But the Cardinals have done the dirty work this offseason, while their rivals' offseasons haven't seemed nearly as impactful to their overall talent and performance.

The Cardinals beat down the Rams once, nearly beat them a second time, and swept the 49ers in 2024. They lost two tough-fought games against the Seahawks, in which they had two of their worst team performances of the season.

But the Cardinals didn't just add talent. That talent is expected to become consistency. Granted, there's no accounting for injuries or underperformance, but Arizona is also in a different stage of their franchise.

Adding external talent increases the ceiling of a team's performance. But it's steady development of young players that turns into repeated successful seasons. Across the NFC West, it's hard to find teams more build on the principles of draft-and-develop than the Cardinals.

No matter what kind of downturn the experts expect out of Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, the likely truth will be a division with four solid, if not great teams. Even the Seahawks' puzzling offseason will likely lead to somewhere around 10 wins.

But the Cardinals are at a stage where their young talent is no longer a "wait-and-see" group. That, coupled with the bevy of outside free agents, and a class of talented young draftees will set Arizona up for prime contention.

Where the sticking point may land is on Kyler Murray, Marvin Harrison Jr., offensive coordinator Drew Petzing and the passing game. If Murray is inconsistent, and Harrison doesn't take a leap forward, that paints a rough picture of them as players, and Petzing will have his own share of ownership.

But Arizona is in a truly advantageous position compared to its rivals. Don't take this the wrong way, all three other squads will be tough outs, and the Cardinals could find themselves in a dogfight for a Wild Card berth, but 2025 looks to be the year with the most favorable division outlook in many years.