Chiefs vs. Cardinals: Summarizing Arizona’s offseason

The Kansas City Chiefs will open their 2022 season in hopes of winning the franchise’s third super bowl on February 12, 2023, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Before Kansas City can raise the Vince Lombardi Trophy, they must get through the regular season and that starts with Week 1 against the Arizona Cardinals, coincidentally, also at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.

The Chiefs made a plethora of moves this offseason in an effort to improve their team but what did their next foe, the Arizona Cardinals, do to improve themselves this offseason? Let’s take a lot at Arizona’s most significant trades, signings, draft picks, and departures over the past six months.

Kyler Murray Extension Fiasco

One of the most bizarre situations of the 2022 offseason was the Cardinals signing star quarterback Kyler Murray to a five-year, $230.5 million contract extension, with $160 million in guaranteed money. What made this contract peculiar was that it originally included a clause that mandated Murray spend at least four hours studying game film per week.

It’s not uncommon for NFL contracts to contain language obligating that a player refrains from certain activities. For example, the Chiefs included a clause in Patrick Mahomes’ contract that he is not allowed to play basketball (among other activities).

I can’t say that I’ve ever heard of a star quarterback being mandated to study, since most elite signal callers are already film junkies with a great work ethic, but Murray may be the exception. The clause was eventually removed but the damage was already done and it caused embarrassment to Murray as well as a good number of internet memes.

DeAndre Hopkins Suspension

On May 2, 2022, star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was suspended for the first six games of the 2022 season for violating the NFL’s PED policy. This wasn’t a move by the Cardinals but it did impact their decision-making since they brought in a new receiver via trade not even a week before it was announced. It’s possible that Arizona was not made aware of the Hopkins suspension in advance but it happened nonetheless and now they are short one of their best players until the middle of October.

Hollywood Brown Trade

The biggest trade that the Cardinals made this offseason was acquiring wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, along with the 100th overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, from the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for the 23rd overall pick in the same draft. This trade was puzzling at first until DeAndre Hopkins’ suspension was made public, then it made some sense. They also used the pick acquired in the trade to select former Cincinnati Bearcat pass rusher Myjai Sanders.

2022 NFL Draft Picks

The Arizona Cardinals had eight total selections in the 2022 NFL Draft. They used their first selection (55th overall) to bring in former Colorado State tight end Trey McBride. They also picked pass rushers Cameron Thomas and Myjai Sanders in the third round. They also had five picks in the sixth and seventh rounds and used the picks on running back Keontay Ingram, guard Lecitus Smith, cornerback Christian Matthew, linebacker Jesse Luketa, and guard Marquis Hayes. The latter two are not currently on the active roster.

In my analysis, I was slightly underwhelmed by the Cardinals’ draft class. It seems that they went for “high-floor” prospects that can contribute immediately with their first three selections instead of “high-ceiling” players who could be stars in a couple of seasons. The rest of their class was decent but not exciting by any means.

Free Agent Additions

The Cardinals were not super active in free agency in the offseason. They signed ex-Giants guard Will Hernandez and former Vikings linebacker Nick Vigil on one-year contracts. Arizona also brought in two former Chiefs when they signed linebacker Ben Niemann and running back Darrel Williams.

The Cardinals did not have a lot of salary cap space to play with this offseason and their free agent moves proved that. They did not make any franchise-altering moves with the players they signed.

Free Agent Subtractions

Due to the lack of money that the Cardinals had to spend, they had to say goodbye to several key players on offense and defense.

Linebacker Jordan Hicks signed with Minnesota and defensive lineman Jordan Phillips went back to Buffalo. Neither player was elite by any means but they were solid contributors and Arizona needed to replace their snaps.

One move that fell under the radar was running back Chase Edmonds signing with Miami Dolphins after four seasons in Arizona. He had 592 rushing yards in 12 regular season games last year, plus 14 total touchdowns. James Conner is now expected to be the full-time starter for the Cardinals with Eno Benjamin and Darrel Williams backing him up.

Perhaps the biggest loss that Arizona suffered this offseason was star pass rusher Chandler Jones, who left the team and signed with the Las Vegas Raiders. I hold the opinion that Jones is a tad overrated at this point in his career since he was as average as an NFL player can be last season after his five-sack game against Tennessee to open the 2021 campaign. After Week 1 of the 2021 season, Chandler Jones had a PFF grade ($) of 60.2, ranking 82nd among all edge rushers in that time frame, although he was 15th in pass rush grade (81.0) over that time.

Summary

In my opinion, the Arizona Cardinals got worse this off-season. Part of that is because I am a believer in the Joe Paterno quote, “If you’re not getting better you’re getting worse”. Losing Chandler Jones completely and DeAndre Hopkins for six games will undoubtedly impact this team. They need their quarterback Kyler Murray to step up as well as head coach Kliff Kingsbury to quiet his doubters. Regardless, the Chiefs will have their hands full to open the regular season in search of a third Lombardi Trophy.