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The Arizona Cardinals are a team that could breakout this season with a dynamic offense and a defense with star potential. In this specific post, we'll be revealing our Cardinals X Factor for the 2021 NFL season.
Kyler Murray is entering his third season as the Cardinals franchise quarterback. A year that often sees young quarterbacks take that next step. He's throwing to one of the best receiver in the NFL, DeAndre Hopkins, along with A.J. Green and Christian Kirk.
Okay, those names aren't nearly as appealing as Hopkins but they'll be fine. The offensive line surrounding Murray gave up 48 sacks in 2019 but that dropped to 27 last season. That shows an improvement from both Murray and the line. Suddenly the line looks like a group in the top half of the league. It could come down to whether the defense is able to hit the peak of their potential this season and one guy in particular could change everything.
Cardinals X Factor
Cardinals X Factor: J.J. Watt
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Watt is finally out of Houston and gets to play with an up and coming team in Arizona. Where have we seen this exact scenario before? That's right, DeAndre Hopkins just one season ago! Hopkins came to Arizona and had one of his best seasons, scoring only six touchdowns, but racking up just over 1,400 receiving yards on a team that ranked in the bottom 10 in passing play percentage. It's a lot more believable for someone on the Steelers or Chiefs to go for that many yards, but Hopkins pulled it off. Pass rusher J.J. Watt is hoping for a similar monster season after a couple down seasons in Houston. Things are setting up fairly nicely for Watt to have a chance.
The last time Watt played two seasons in a row with at least 10 games played was way back in 2014 and 2015. Since then, he has played in just 60% of all the Houston Texans games and hasn't looked great. The two seasons he played all 16 games were 2018 and 2020. In 2018, Watt had 16.0 sacks but then in 2020 he had only 5.0 so either he was dealing with something or regression hit him like a train. The Cardinals are obviously hoping Watt can hold the regression back for another double digit sack season in what is a big year for the team as a whole.
On the other side of Watt, Chandler Jones will be lining up after missing all but five games this past season. There have been concerns about his future in Arizona, but Jones looks to be back for 2020. This is the exact type of player that could help Watt this season. The two of them rushing the quarterback on opposite ends of the opposing offensive line is as intimidating a pairing as you'll find around the league.
Jones has played six seasons in his career with at least 15 games played and in every single one of them he has racked up double digit sacks. He won't be right next to Watt on the line but having someone like Watt or Jones as your partner defensive end can only help.
The Cardinals defense is loaded with high potential players like Watt and Jones. Other names that will help that duo are Isaiah Simmons and Zaven Collins, but they need a veteran leader to show them how to win. J.J. Watt is the perfect guy for that role at 32 years old. He's not done quite yet.
