NFL Power Rankings 2019: Post-mandatory minicamp edition
By Randy Gurzi
24. Arizona Cardinals (32)
The end result was good, but the path they took to get there was a nightmare. The Arizona Cardinals were the focus of the offseason due to them owning the first overall pick. They were linked throughout the draft process to Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray due to the fact that their head coach, Kliff Kingsbury, once said he would build a franchise around this kid.
Once Kingsbury had the opportunity to back up those words, the question became whether or not he would — especially considering the Cardinals had just used a top-10 pick on Josh Rosen the prior year. For Kingsbury, this wasn’t an issue as Rosen was selected before him. For general manager Steve Keim, this was a problem as he not only picked Rosen, he moved up for him in 2018.
More. Cardinals making the right kind of noise. light
Eventually, they did go for Murray and got very little in return for Rosen. However, they did extremely well in the draft and landed some playmakers such as Andy Isabella and Hakeem Butler who will give Murray the tools he needs to be successful. On top of that, Kingsbury has the kind of offensive mind to get the most out of the undersized but talented signal-caller.
Whether that will be enough for them to compete in the NFC West has yet to be seen. But they do have more talent this year than last and Kingsbury seems to have the keys to the franchise, which means he has no excuse for his offense not to work. This could end up being a fun team to watch.