NFL 2022: The biggest weakness of each NFC West team
By Lucas Schuh
Biggest Cardinals weakness for 2022 NFL season: Defensive Secondary
Looking at the Cardinals roster, there are some things to like. Of course, the offensive has some quality pieces with Kyler Murray, Rondale Moore, an aging AJ Green, and a newly acquired Hollywood Brown.
Even the defense has some okay pieces along the defensive line, but unfortunately, the defensive secondary is lacking in a big way.
Of course, the Cardinals had one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL for a while in the form of Patrick Peterson.
Eventually, age got the best of Peterson as he wasn’t the superstar lockdown cornerback he used to be. With Peterson out of the picture in Arizona, they had to make some moves.
Arizona drafted Byron Murphy in the 2nd round of the 2019 draft, and while there were some high hopes for him, so far his play hasn’t been there. Murphy isn’t a bad cornerback, but he hasn’t developed quite how the Cardinals had hoped.
Looking outside of Murphy, there isn’t much to love either. The two starting cornerbacks outside of Byron Murphy will likely be Marco Wilson and Antonio Hamilton. No offense to Wilson or Hamilton, but they shouldn’t be getting starting snaps at outside cornerback in the NFL, especially when this division has the likes of D.K Metcalf, Allen Robinson, Tyler Lockett, and Cooper Kupp.
Looking at the safties, there are at least some positives there. The Cardinals have one of the better safeties and explosive safeties in the NFL in Budda Baker.
His safety partner isn’t quite as good as him. Next to Baker is Jalen Thompson, who isn’t a bad safety, but there is certainly room for improvement.
While the starting secondary players are less than ideal, the players backing them up aren’t that great either. Breon Borders is likely the best backup on this roster, and if either Wilson or Hamilton goes down with an injury, he will surely struggle if he sees major playing time.
Next off-season, the Cardinals will have to pour a large number of resources into this secondary to at least get it moving in the right direction again.