The Arizona Cardinals have added veterans almost exclusively to free agency, acquiring the former All-Pros by signing AJ Green and JJ Watt and trading for Rodney Hudson in a deal with the Raiders. All three players are over 30, although they must have one remaining each productive year.
On the NFL Network, Insider Ian Rapoport mentioned “Looks like the Arizona Cardinals are going all in.”
“Usually, these are the kind of people who are the final pieces of a championship roster,” Rapoport said. “At least watching from outside, what they are doing.”
But does this team have a championship contender? In two seasons under quarterback Kylar Murray and head coach Cliff Kingsbury, the Cardinals have gone 13-18-1, missing the playoffs in both seasons. It is appropriate to discount the first season, as it was Murray’s first as an NFL quarterback and NFL coach of Kingsbury. But in the second season, despite Arizona making a hot start, they fell down the stretch, losing five of their final seven matches.
Kingsbury’s offense adjusted defenses as they averaged just 20.5 points per game in that period after averaging 29.3 in the first nine games. Injuries did not help Murray, but the passing game fell off a cliff, an 18–7 loss to a John Wolford-led Ram team that eliminated them from playoff contention.
In 2020, Kingsbury’s sports management was heavily scrutinized. Two separate losses – one to Seattle and one to Miami – after the second-year coach settled for long field goals on fourth-and-short, down three points in the final moments. Kingsbury was the creator of a modern crime, but modern analysts spoke of going to it on both occasions.
Is this Cardinals team producing a contender, or is it the result of a front office and coaches who are desperate to keep their jobs? Kingsbury never had huge success as a head coach. At Texas Tech, he had a losing record (35–40) in six seasons. He had Patrick Mahomes as the quarterback for three seasons, but still He started the record in losing games (13–19).
If Kingsbury has another losing season, it could cause trouble. So perhaps these deals are not of luxury, but of desperation.
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