The Arizona Cardinals 2022 season was a disaster. The team finished 4-13, and quarterback Kyler Murray tore his ACL. Now the team heads into the 2023 NFL offseason with a lot of problems to fix. Here are four bold Cardinals offseason predictions as to how they do that.
The terrible 2022 Cardinals season cost head coach Kliff Kingsbury and general manager Steve Keim their jobs. Now former Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon and former Titans director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort take their place.
Gannon and Ossenfort now have to upgrade the talent on the roster during the NFL offseason for a team that finished 21st in scoring offense and 31st in scoring defense. And they’ll have to do this without knowing when $230 million QB Kyler Murray will be ready to go.
While the team waits on Murray, there are several big moves the franchise can make. And these four bold Cardinals offseason predictions are a good start.
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4. Robbie Anderson is a salary cap casualty
Wide receiver Robbie Anderson came to the Cardinals via an in-season trade with the Carolina Panthers for the relatively cheap price of a 2024 sixth-round pick and a 2025 seventh-round pick.
Then Anderson played 10 games for Arizona, catching just seven passes for 76 yards.
In 2023, the WR is on the books for $12 million but with no dead cap hit. This means the Cardinals will likely release Anderson and save the full $12 million. At that price for his production last season, the wideout just isn’t worth it.
3. A DeAndre Hopkins trade
Elsewhere on the Cardinals WR front, superstar DeAndre Hopkins had a productive but unhappy season after returning from his six-game PED suspension. Now it looks like the team and player are heading for a divorce.
The 2023 offseason and subsequent season will be a time of transition for the Cardinals, and having a soon-to-be 31-year-old wideout with a $30.7 million cap hit on the roster just doesn’t make sense.
Getting a first-round pick for an aging vet with that kind of contract will be difficult. But the bold Cardinals offseason prediction here is that the team trades him for a second- and third-round pick or maybe even two seconds.
This DeAndre Hopkins trade will help the Cardinals get more young talent in the door who can help in the long term when Kyler Murray gets back from his injury.
2. Cardinals take Alabama EDGE Will Anderson Jr. with the No. 3 pick
Jonathan Gannon got his new head coaching job on the strength of his defense putting up 70 sacks in 2022, the third-most in NFL history. That means Gannon surely knows the value of a monster pass rush.
Sitting at No. 2 in the 2023 NFL Draft with two QBs likely to go before they pick, the Cardinals should be able to take the best non-QB available. For the team — which lost J.J. Watt this offseason — that means Alabama edge-rusher Will Anderson Jr.
Anderson had 34.5 career sacks for the Crimson Tide and has all the tools to put up big sack numbers at the next level. He can also play standing up or with his hand on the ground for Gannon’s defense.
Look for Anderson to immediately fill the role Haason Reddick played for the Eagles in 2022.
1. The Cardinals sign a veteran QB to start the season
The elephant in the room for the Cardinals this NFL offseason is that the franchise may not have a quarterback who can start Week 1 of the 2023 season.
Not only is Kyler Murray out rehabbing a serious knee injury that could keep him off the field until midseason, but backup Colt McCoy is also dealing with an unspecified injury (possibly a wrist) that will limit him this offseason, according to the team.
This means that the last bold Cardinals offseason prediction is that the team will have to sign a competent veteran quarterback this offseason to either back up McCoy or start until Murray is fully recovered.
Monti Ossenfort has a fine line to walk in this area. He doesn’t necessarily want to bring in a QB who will compete with Kyler Murray, but he does need to get someone who can hopefully keep the team afloat early in the season.
This means that the QB names that should be on the Cardinals list this NFL offseason include players like Taylor Heinicke, Jarrett Stidham, Cooper Rush, or Jacoby Brissett.
These signal-callers have and can win games in the NFL, but they won’t play so well that there will be a major QB controversy when Kyler Murray is ready to return.
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