The Arizona Cardinals have missed the playoffs the past three seasons and in eight of the past nine years overall. Despite that recent lack of success, expectations should be increasing under head coach Jonathan Gannon, and there is good reason to believe they can compete for a playoff spot, and perhaps even for the NFC West title, in 2025.
Projected win total: 8.5 (BetMGM)
Outlook: After winning just eight games total over the 2022 and 2023 seasons, the Cardinals matched that total with eight wins in 2024. It was a big step forward for a rebuilding team, and it’s not hard to view them as capable of taking another step forward in 2025.
There are, of course, some big X-factors involved with that.
The most prominent of those X-factors is starting quarterback Kyler Murray.
After missing significant time during the 2022 and 2023 seasons to injury, Murray was finally healthy in 2024 and gave the Cardinals a full-season’s worth of games. There was hope that he could start playing like the top-tier quarterback the Cardinals are paying him to be, but they only saw spotty glimpses of that player.
He was good. At times, he was very good. But for more than $45M, the Cardinals need to be getting great play from him if they are going to compete. They are not always getting that. Until they do, their ceiling is going to be limited.
Murray does have some intriguing targets in the passing game, but the big question is whether or not he has enough of them.
Marvin Harrison Jr. has superstar potential but is coming off an up-and-down rookie season. He could really use another big-time target on the other side of the field to take some of the pressure away from him.
Tight end Trey McBride is a rising star at his position and has a new long-term contract extension to keep him in Arizona.
Between the two of them, the Cardinals have some serious big-play potential, but depth is a concern.
