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PodcastFrom Bootleg Football

The Cardinals aren't as far away as you think

STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.

1 hr 8 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Sep 6, 2026
Published
Sun, September 6, 2026
18
Player insights
15
Players mentioned
Topics
James ConnerJeremiyah LoveKendrick BourneBam KnightCarson BeckElijah HigginsGardner MinshewHunter LongJalen WilliamsJordan LoveMarvin Harrison Jr.Michael WilsonReggie VirgilTrey McBride
Player analysis

Player insights

18

Bam Knight

NegativeDepth Chart37:28

Bam Knight is expected to provide depth for the Cardinals' running back room following the departure of other players.

Insight page

Carson Beck

NegativeRole47:49

Carson Beck is viewed as a depth piece and backup quarterback; the source notes it is highly likely he will see live action this year, but any production he provides is considered 'gravy' given his fourth-round draft status.

Insight page

Elijah Higgins

NegativeRole26:45

The source mentions Elijah Higgins as a depth option who will be mixed into 12 personnel sets alongside Trey McBride.

Insight page

Gardner Minshew

NegativeDepth Chart38:18

Gardner Minshew was signed to a $5.8 million contract to serve as the team's backup quarterback.

Insight page

Hunter Long

NegativeRole26:45

The source mentions Hunter Long as a depth option who could potentially see the field in specific personnel groupings.

Insight page

Jalen Williams

PositiveBreakout55:17

Jaden Williams is highlighted as a fascinating UDFA success story who made the active roster; the source notes his impressive coverage stats, including a 56.3 passer rating allowed on 459 snaps.

Insight page

James Conner

NegativeInjury36:57

James Connor has been a force for the Cardinals since joining the team, but he is not expected to start the season healthy.

Insight page
NegativeRole43:51

The source acknowledges James Connor has been very good for the Cardinals but explicitly states he is not a difference-maker at the running back position.

Insight page

Jeremiyah Love

PositiveBreakout41:40

Jeremiah Love is viewed as a high-talent player who will benefit significantly from the team's improved offensive line, specifically the addition of Isaac Seumalo.

Insight page
PositiveValue43:12

The source views the selection of Jeremiah Love as a sensible, bedrock decision to build the team's foundation, noting he was in a standalone tier as the best player in the draft class; he provides a difference-maker at running back that the team previously lacked.

Insight page

Jordan Love

PositiveProjection1:45

The source suggests that if Jordan Love were the quarterback for the Cardinals, the team could potentially reach nine wins, noting that his presence would provide significant offensive support and alleviate pressure on the defense.

Insight page

Kendrick Bourne

PositiveRole25:53

The source views Kendrick Bourne as the primary option for the WR3 role, noting that he is preferred over other depth options for offensive effectiveness.

Insight page
PositiveRole37:46

Kendrick Bourne was signed for $5 million and is presumably penciled in as the team's wide receiver three.

Insight page

Marvin Harrison Jr.

PositiveRole25:49

The source lists Marvin Harrison Jr. as one of the Cardinals' top receiving threats, expected to play outside slots and contribute significantly to the offense.

Insight page

Michael Wilson

PositiveRole25:49

The source lists Michael Wilson as one of the Cardinals' top receiving threats, expected to play outside slots and contribute significantly to the offense.

Insight page

Reggie Virgil

NegativeRole51:18

Reggie Virgil is viewed as an outside depth piece rather than a slot receiver; the source suggests he could rotate in on the outside but is not expected to be a high-level contributor immediately.

Insight page

Trey McBride

PositiveUsage26:37

The source identifies Trey McBride as likely the top target on the Cardinals' offense, noting he will be a central part of their receiving corps.

Insight page

Tyler Allgeier

NegativeUsage38:33

The team signed Tyler Allgeier, but after drafting Jeremiah Love, Allgeier is expected to serve in a touchdown-vulturing role similar to his time in Atlanta.

Insight page
Full transcript

Episode Transcript

778
0:00Look, it's hard to rebuild. And it's especially hard to rebuild entirely from scratch.
0:05Which is great news for the Cardinals, because they don't have to do that.
0:09Receivers? Check. Running back? Check. Tight end? Obviously check.
0:12Offensive line even? Surprisingly, kind of a check. There's a lot to work with here.
0:17The problem is just with, well, everything else. I have no doubt in my mind that the Cardinals will be able to score points this season.
0:25They might even be known as a quote-unquote good offense.
0:28But will they actually win games? That part might take a little while.
0:32But for now, the good news is, this team isn't starting from nothing.
0:37There is a working foundation here. Now, they just have to build the rest of the house on top of it.
0:43Welcome to the Bootleg Football Podcast. I'm Brett Kollmann.
0:46That's EJ Snyder. It is Cardinals day. And to give you context on how this Cardinals team is built, I want you
0:53to envision this new look offensive line. All these weapons, right?
0:57You got Love. You got McBride. You got receivers that we like, even if maybe they haven't turned into what we hoped for yet.
1:05They're not bad. Decent receiving core. You put Jordan Love on this team, right?
1:09So Matt LaFleur trades Jordan Love to Matt LaFleur.
1:12How many wins does this Cardinals team get if you swap out their quarterback for Jordan Love?
1:17And before the comment section explodes, we're not saying that the Packers should or would trade Jordan Love.
1:23No, no, no, no, no, no. Pure theorycrafting. This is theorycrafting.
1:27This is a question that we came up with the other day as we were putting together this Cardinals episode.
1:33And both of us had the same realization, which is this team's not as bad as everybody says it is.
1:40Now it's not perfect and they certainly have things to build on, but they're better than a lot of traditionally bad teams.
1:47And I said to Brett, so just as a thought exercise to really frame what this team is, if you moved, let's just pick a starter.
1:55Jordan Love, because of the LeFleur connection, we know the Packers aren't going to do it.
2:00That's not the point. Let's just take a quarterback of Love's quality and put him on this roster and then say, how many wins does this team get?
2:09My answer is they could tickle double digits. I think they could be a nine win team, even in their division, which is an absolute murderer's role.
2:18There's issues. I don't want to, I don't want to like gas them up too much there.
2:23I mean, I don't think a nine win team's getting too gassy, but okay.
2:28No, but like defense wise, 29 points allowed. Like I think the players individually were more talented than how the unit played as a whole.
2:36So maybe we could criticize coaching there for that, but the results were the results.
2:41They did it. They didn't get a pass rush whatsoever.
2:44Secondary missed a bunch of tackles. Like they played a bunch of cover too, and we're bad at it.
2:50Like not a good defense, but I think you could kind of, you could twist yourself into pretzels, seeing the individual talents
2:57playing better and therefore the defense being better. I'll give you that.
3:01They're going to be another year in the scheme.
3:04Hopefully they'll have some more offensive support, but maybe not.
3:07If Jordan Love was the quarterback, they certainly would have some more offensive support and that would put them with their backs up against the wall less.
3:16And I do think Nolan coming back is going to make a difference on the pass rush side.
3:22Is he going to change everything? No, he's not that kind of player, but he's very talented.
3:27They draft him highly for a reason and they didn't get his services.
3:31So he's a bit of a force multiplier with sweat.
3:34Who's also decent has been the talk of the biggest sort of phantom trade conversations that the Cardinals have been shooting down since moment one.
3:43But for some reason they persisted. He was never really up for offer, but the two of them together, sweat and Nolan
3:50could create a little bit of pass rush. And there's some depth there as well that we'll talk about, but just an interesting thought exercise.
3:58If this team had a quarterback as opposed to what everybody thinks they're going to do, which is tank for a quarterback this spring.
4:05I think they'd be better than a lot of people are giving them credit for.
4:10Again, not world beaters, not top of the division, but.
4:13But they could take some games off people, right?
4:16It would be one of those teams where it's like, OK, even the powerhouses like the Rams and the Seahawks, they wouldn't look past them.
4:24They wouldn't look past them. Hell, they barely look past them now because it's the NFC West.
4:30They always take games off each other. But I do think there's there's legitimately a lot to be excited about here.
4:37So it's not a normal Cardinals episode, right? I know Cardinals fans are used to what national media talking about them.
4:43They just kind of be like, and yeah, the Cardinals suck.
4:47That's not what this show is. We're acknowledging the good parts of this team while also being realistic about the parts that that kind of sucks.
4:55Not going to lie. Yeah, that aren't great. And we'll talk about some of the not great, but we're not going to
5:02wallow in 2025 because 2025 is gone. They have a new head coach.
5:06They've done a lot of things to move away from that team.
5:10But we do have to remind you. So if you're a Cards fan, you can fast forward through this.
5:16You can plug your ears. We'll go quickly. Overall record last year, 3-14, 4th in the division, 1-7 at home, 2-7 on
5:23the road, 0-5 in their last five. So why did those marks come about?
5:28We use something called bootleg power score to try and figure that out.
5:32Passing EPA per play, rushing EPA per play, defensive success against the pass and the rush.
5:37Points scored and points allowed. We take those six categories.
5:41We assign their league ranks, add them up. That gives us a raw score.
5:45We divide by six. We just stack those scores.
5:48All right. We'll go through it, Fast Cards fans, because it's not great.
5:52Passing EPA per play was not bad, 17th. Actually, that's the best mark on this list.
5:57Sorry. So they don't have a single above average number at all.
6:01They do not. Not one. And some of them are bouncing off the bottom.
6:06Like rushing EPA per play, they were tied for 25th.
6:09Passing EPA per play in terms of defense, 27th against the pass, tied for 20th against the run.
6:1523rd in points scored, 29th in points allowed. They had a points differential of negative 133, which was the fourth worst point differential in the league.
6:23Anyways, you add those six scores up, you divide by six, you get a raw score of 23 and a half, which
6:30ain't great when you're trying to be number one.
6:33That puts them not at the bottom, Cards fans.
6:36So cheer, hang the banner. 29th overall. To me, the tail of the tape was just bad trench talent on both sides of the ball.
6:44If you're looking at pressure differential, right? This is something that we have in our infographic.
6:49We have a trench efficiency page, which has, you know, pressure number generated, pressure number allowed, yards before contact per attempt generated and allowed.
6:57They were 31st in the differential between how good they were at getting pressure and how much pressure they allowed.
7:03They were 26th best in terms of allowing pressure.
7:06They were 30th in generated. So no pass rush, no pass pro, offensive line and defensive line issues.
7:12Yes, the Walter Nolan injury didn't help, but it was more than just one guy got hurt.
7:17Like the guys that they had on the field were not good enough.
7:21They still might not be good enough. We're going to find out as far as their ability to run the ball.
7:28They were 28th in rushing yards before contact per attempt.
7:31So we're talking like Texans, Raiders, Browns territory of futility in that area, which I know then people would be like, okay,
7:39well then why are you drafting a running back that early?
7:42Again, they invested in the offensive line this offseason.
7:45We will get to that. They brought in free agents.
7:48They brought in draft picks. One of them already got hurt, but they already had a really good tackle in Paris Johnson.
7:55They had a center they believe in in Froholt.
7:58So you bring in Samalo, you bring in Wilkinson, you bring in Besantis, like on paper, much, much, much improved offensive line.
8:05It's just Besantis towards MCL. So we're already down a guy kind of similar to the Chargers where you're already losing Biotis at the outset.
8:13I still think the offensive line could be functional.
8:16It's almost impossible to be as bad as it was last year.
8:20And I think the Samalo addition in particular might be one of the biggest swing signings, not just in this division, in
8:27this conference, with the upgrade that they're getting on the interior there.
8:31Yeah, stabilization is paramount. They needed it. You have to stop the bleeding.
8:35They tried, again, to do more than that. Multiple players coming in.
8:39And the Besantis thing is just a shame because he was looking good through OTAs, through early practices.
8:45It looked like he landed with an organization that was going to use him correctly and that the fit was going to
8:52be good, that he was going to be maximized in the system.
8:56Everybody was already getting excited about it. Then he tears his knee.
9:00We don't get to see him in any real game action this year.
9:04And it's a bummer because, again, they weren't hanging it all on him.
9:08It wasn't one high draft pick. Come in and save our offensive line.
9:12They already had their center, their tackle. Slot him in between.
9:16Bring in another very experienced veteran guard. A solid tackle.
9:19And you should have a line that's greater than the sum of his parts.
9:23Was it going to be top 10 in either pass pro or rushing efficiency?
9:28Probably not. But top half was quite reasonable. I still think they're going to be decent.
9:33Better than last year. Again, hard to be worse.
9:36But probably somewhere in the middle now. And, again, we don't get to see Besantis until next year.
9:42And that's just a bummer. Now, normally this would be the part of the episode where I kind of break down, like,
9:49what's the core of the scheme here? What worked?
9:52What didn't? Like, what was their identity? I kind of don't think it matters, right?
9:56Because Kyler got shut down for reasons. Let's just call it that.
10:00And then you get the Jacoby Brissett experience. We're throwing the ball like 50 times a game.
10:06It wasn't a real offense. And the style that I think that LeFleur is going to run here, and also with the
10:13coaches underneath him, it's not going to be anything like what we saw.
10:17And so, to me, kind of recapping what the identity of the 2025 Cardinals offense was is just kind of pointless.
10:24So I kind of want to just touch on, okay, what is the lineage of LeFleur's, like, what do we think he's going to lean into?
10:32I would say the love pick and the Besantis pick kind of tips it off a little bit.
10:38But he comes from the Kubiak-Shanahan world overall. And, in fact, his brother, Matt, was a Gary Kubiak assistant in Houston in
10:45the late 2000s when Kyle Shanahan was Gary's offensive coordinator for, like, the 2008-2009 Texans teams that put up a bunch of points.
10:52He had Andre Johnson. You had Matt Schaub, who, by the way, is on the staff.
10:58And so that was where LeFleur was. And then, at the time, Mike, he had just graduated from Elmhurst.
11:04And so he did his first coaching gig as, like, a grad assistant at Elmhurst.
11:08Fast forward five years or so, Kyle winds up as the offensive coordinator in Cleveland.
11:13This was post-Washington. Remember when his dad was, the other Mike, was the head coach in Washington.
11:19They were doing the RG3 thing. RG3 tore up his knee.
11:22That all blew up. Kyle lands in Cleveland. And then Matt LeFleur went to go be the quarterback's coach at Notre Dame.
11:29And so he's like, hey, my brother Mike is also in coaching.
11:33Why don't you bring him over to Cleveland? So Mike goes to Cleveland.
11:37Then both Matt and Mike LeFleur follow Kyle to Atlanta, where they just completely light the league on fire.
11:44Matt Ryan wins MVP. I mean, they go to the Super Bowl.
11:47Don't win the Super Bowl, but they go to the Super Bowl because of everything we remember in that game.
11:54And after that, Kyle goes to San Francisco. He gets that head coaching job.
11:58Matt and Mike LeFleur go off and, you know, be coordinators in their own right.
12:03Mike goes to the Jets. He's got Zach Wilson.
12:06Doesn't necessarily translate, unfortunately. And then Matt, I believe he went to the Titans under Arthur Smith and then went to the Packers.
12:13I'm kind of remembering this off the top of my head.
12:17People can fact check me, but I'm pretty sure that's the exact order that it was.
12:22So then Matt winds up as the head coach in Green Bay.
12:26Mike bounces around a little bit. Doesn't go well in New York.
12:30I don't necessarily think it was his fault because just look at what happened in New York the last five years.
12:37He then goes and works under Sean McVay for a few years.
12:40McVay also was in that Washington, Shanahan, both Shanahan sphere of influence, right?
12:45So, again, it's all one big Kubiak, Shanahan, McVay family.
12:48So then Mike goes, works with the Rams for a little bit.
12:52And then from there, now he's the Arizona Cardinals head coach.
12:55So as far as offensive lineage and influences, I really do think the last time we've seen Mike run his offense, like
13:02it being his offense, not him being under Sean, it was very Gary Kubiak-ish, right?
13:07Under center, wide zone, hard play action fakes, all that stuff that we're used to seeing from other people in the Kubiak sphere, right?
13:15Whether it's like Kevin O'Connell, Kevin Stefanski, all the Kevins really.
13:18So that's kind of what I expect here. But at the same time, I do think there will be some McVay influences
13:25in the sense that McVay for really a long time was an 11 personnel guy.
13:30Remember, they drafted all these receivers. They could block their asses off, whether it was Ben Skoranek, Cooper Cup, Pukunakua.
13:37You know, basically having the receivers play quasi-fullback and they would run these two-back runs out of 11.
13:42He also transitioned away from being a more wide zone coach to being a more gap scheme heavy coach.
13:49And then also last year, they kind of swapped out some of the 11 personnel stuff for more 12 and 13 personnel stuff.
13:56So I think all of these influences kind of mix together.
14:00And I think what it kind of adds up to is under center heavy, play action heavy, 11 personnel heavy, because Tip Ryman's still on the pup list.
14:09So they're not really going to do 12 personnel stuff until he gets back anyway.
14:13And I think it's going to look kind of like a hybrid between two different eras of McVay, which is 11 personnel plus wide zone.
14:21Kind of think like late 2010s Rams, like the Todd Gurley era.
14:25That would, I think, be like the closest approximation based on the talent they have to what I think they're going to do.
14:33One small break, then we're right back to the show.
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15:34Thank you to Quo for sponsoring today's show. And with that, let's get back to it.
15:40Yeah, if you're looking at who's on the roster right now, talking about getting your best, let's just say five, in terms of receiving threats on the board.
15:49And Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson playing outside slots, those are really good.
15:53Kendrick Bourne as a receiver coming in is the number three.
15:57Trey McBride's not going anywhere. He's probably the top target on this team overall.
16:01And then it's really about, hey, do we want Bourne on the field or do we want probably like Elijah Higgins or Hunter Long on the field?
16:10If it's my money, I'll take Kendrick Bourne for the most part if I'm looking for offensive effectiveness.
16:16Yeah, we'll mix in some 12 personnel stuff with Higgins and McBride.
16:19Pick the two receivers we want. Are we going to go three?
16:23Sure, we'll see some three tight end stuff. But it's not the set that puts their best five in terms of threats
16:30on the field if we're talking about receivers. So we'll see the balance.
16:35Again, you can't be exclusive. I know McVay tried to be an 11.
16:39He was primarily 11 and almost nothing else. But again, that skill position group a little bit different than this one.
16:45And the quarterback a little bit different than this one as well.
16:49So it'll be interesting to see what he leans into.
16:53I'm most interested to see the early season run concepts.
16:56I want to see which ones he leans into.
16:59Because again, you talked about McVeigh had more wide zone stuff and then kind of flipped the switch and went, no, we're going to go heavy.
17:07We're going to lean on people. We're going to up the weight of our offensive line.
17:12We're going to go right at them. And became more of a gap man kind of a guy.
17:18So which does LeFleur favor with this group? Again, with the health of his offensive line and the running back room, which has been rebuilt.
17:26We'll talk about that. I'm most interested in the first, say, five or six weeks to see some run tendencies out of
17:33Arizona and go, okay, this is where he hopes he's going to make his money.
17:38One of the big reasons why McVeigh switched to gap scheme stuff in the first place is, you know, once Vic laid
17:45the blueprint in that 2018 Bears-Rams game of like, hey, we're just going to plug every single gap up front with either
17:52like a five-man surface, sometimes even a six-man surface.
17:55That's the best way to stop wide zone because you're forcing early cutbacks into a key mix, right?
18:01And then we're going to play quarters on the back end.
18:04We're going to cut these crossing routes. Then what do you got, right?
18:08And the Patriots basically stole that game plan and won the Super Bowl.
18:13And that really did a number on McVeigh. It took him a couple years to figure out what he wanted to be,
18:20what he wanted to do, because that was all he knew, right?
18:23And then you started to see him get into gap scheme stuff, you know, the 11 personnel two-back run stuff.
18:30And a lot of that is because teams were playing quarters.
18:33And when you're playing quarters to cut the crossing routes, that means your safeties are sitting, you know, off the shelf like
18:4112, 13 yards, which means it's a lot harder for them to get down there and fit a quick hitting run.
18:47Like if you're calling wide zone, wide zone takes a little bit longer to hit because you're, you're reading, you're reading, you're
18:54reading, you're reading, then you're going, right? It's more about patience and just finding the crease when it presents itself.
19:01Whereas if you're running like blast, you're going. Like your average time to line of scrimmage, like the running back stat, time
19:08to line of scrimmage is way, way quicker on a gap scheme run, which means the safeties don't have as much time
19:15to get down there and actually fit it from 12 yards deep, 13 yards deep.
19:20So that's part of the reason is like, okay, you guys are going to run quarters.
19:25I'm just going to run it right at you because you can't fit it in time.
19:30And all we have to do is just get a guard or a center up on the second level with the, with
19:37the best possible angle against your linebacker. And you're kind of screwed, right?
19:41We'll just take the six yards every single time.
19:44And now we're starting to see teams get back into, okay, we got to play cover three against McVay, or he's just
19:51going to do that over and over and over again.
19:54So we might see that fluctuation with the Cardinals, like from month to month here, while they just figure out what their offensive line can do.
20:03If they're a better wide zone blocking team, they're going to do wide zone.
20:07If they're a better gap scheme blocking team, that's what they're going to do.
20:12And whatever structure defenses try to play against them, I think LeFleur is just going to try to figure out like, okay,
20:19how can we take advantage of that? But it's all going to start with, what's our offensive line good at blocking and go from there.
20:27As far as the defensive side of the ball, I don't want to say this is rehashing.
20:32It's kind of rehashing. The Jonathan Gannon section from the Packers episode, he's now their DC.
20:38And this is relevant because, you know, they retained Rallis, who's DC again this year.
20:42And I don't know what to put on Gannon and what to put on Rallis.
20:47I'll be quite honest. I have no idea who's at fault for this.
20:51But the style of the Cardinals defense was something that was cool as a concept, terrible in practice, right?
20:58This was a team that played a lot of first down cover two.
21:02They actually played more cover two on first down than any other down, which sounds crazy.
21:07And the reason they did that, or rather the style that they did that in, um, was what I found novel.
21:14Again, didn't execute it well, but the idea was cool, right?
21:17When we talk about teams that are really heavy on post-snap rotation, typically it's teams that start out too high and then rotate into one high, right?
21:26You start out looking like quarters, you rotate into cover three.
21:29Gannon and Rallis did the opposite. They would start out in a one high presentation on first down to kind of discourage you from running the ball.
21:38And then they would back out into cover two once they like tricked you into throwing it, I guess is the best way to put it.
21:46And so if you're looking at, um, the run rate against Arizona on first down, they were 19th in terms of run
21:53rate against them, which doesn't make sense for a team that plays a lot of first down cover two, but it's because
22:0165 of those first down situations had cover two and 75% of them showed a packed box pre-snap.
22:06And then they would bolt out of it and get to cover two post-snap, which was like way more than the next
22:13closest team, like more than double the next closest team.
22:17So that was like their thing. And again, it's a novel idea.
22:20It's cool. I think it works in concept, except the problem was Mack Wilson, Akeem Davis Gaither and Cody Simon could not get it done out there.
22:29They were horrible in coverage. Couldn't cover anything. And then when you also package that with the Cardinals corners last year, being
22:36bottom three and missed tackle rate at almost 20%, you can't run that much cover two.
22:41If your corners can't tackle, that's kind of like the main appeal of it is you have corners that can tackle and
22:48prevent, you know, explosive gains outside after the catch.
22:51Like I think like Charles Woodson, right? Like he was, and champ Bailey, two of the best cover two corners ever.
22:58Cause they could fucking hit. So I, I thought it was an interesting idea, but they were just so, so bad at it.
23:05And when you package that together with really bad pass rush, it's just a defense that didn't work.
23:11And, and what I'm curious about is how much of that do they retain this year?
23:16Like, was it a Gannon thing? Was it a Rallis thing?
23:20Are they, are they going to try it again?
23:23Cause they think they have a better talent this year.
23:26I don't know what this defense is going to look like.
23:30And I think that's, what's fascinating to me about this team.
23:33Yeah. They could try it again, again, with slightly different personnel, but look, no defense in the NFL is going to work really well.
23:41If you don't tackle like that's kind of the thing.
23:44And there are ways and certainly positions to put defenders into that should maximize their skillsets.
23:49We talk about it all the time, better man corner, better press corner, better off corner, better zone corner, like better coming
23:56from depth as a safety, better up around the line, whatever it is, you're trying to maximize those skillsets, but it's still
24:03dependent on the individual players to get their jobs done.
24:07Because on any given play, you're not designing more than one or two players to get to the ball.
24:13Right. That's the, that's the deal. If the first one misses, then you've got to rally and tackle.
24:18Sure. You're going to give up some yards, but if the first one misses all the time, you're not going to be
24:26able to stack any kind of defensive efficiency. You're not going to get off the field drives.
24:31You're going to continue all the time. And it's demoralizing because best laid plans.
24:36Hey, this looks cool. It's a good idea. We're actually getting them to pass when we're going into a passing defense.
24:42It's a cool idea. And it did work. Like teams reacted to what they were showing.
24:47They were dictating in a way, even though they were not a defense.
24:52You typically would think of as dictating to an offense.
24:55Hi alternate timeline, Brett here before we get to all the 2026 stuff.
24:59If you've liked a lot of the data that we brought up so far, we have companion infographics for every single team,
25:06including the one we're talking about today with over 15,000 total data points that we have collected throughout this summer.
25:12Each team gets its own companion infographic, which is roughly about 20 pages long.
25:17It has all the data on this team. You can think of whether it's alignment data, personnel data, cap allocation, coverage data
25:24broken out by down and distance blitz data. I mean, basically anything you can think of, we've got it.
25:30So if you want access to that, you can find that down at the link in the description below or at the QR code on the screen.
25:39Reminder, we also have bonus episodes that go live every single Friday over on Patreon, recapping every single division.
25:45We're going to pick division winners, MVPs, rookies of the year, all that stuff.
25:49So if you want bonus episodes, plus more data that you could probably handle, that is over on the Patreon.
25:56Thank you once again to all of our patrons that have made, honestly, this series possible to make in the first place.
26:03We could not have paid the people who help us make it without your guys' financial support.
26:08So thank you to our patrons. Thank you to all of our executive producers on Patreon.
26:14Their names are on screen right now. They have been OG supporters of us and made so much in our lives possible
26:21while we try to chase this dream. So thank you.
26:24Thank you. Thank you. And with that, let's get back to the show.
26:28All right. From here on out, we're going to talk about what this team did to try to rebuild itself this offseason.
26:35Again, I reject the notion that they're tanking. I don't, I don't think they're tanking.
26:40Now, doesn't mean they won't end up with a top three pick.
26:44I don't think they're trying to get a top three pick.
26:47I think they were trying to do responsible things this offseason and set themselves up as a favorable destination for a young
26:54quarterback if they happen to pick that high. But we'll talk about some of the moves they made.
27:00I, I, I think they were setting themselves up to be below average, not like horrifically ass.
27:06There's one team in particular down in Miami that like they know they're going to be horrifically ass.
27:11I don't think the Cardinals are that bad. Um, but I also think they're being realistic of like, it, it wouldn't be
27:19the worst thing if we ended up with Arch Manning.
27:22I think that's the key point is that the players regardless are not going to try and tank because their film goes out to the entire league.
27:30It is their resume and that is their livelihood.
27:33If they put garbage on tape, they're going to have trouble getting jobs in the future.
27:38They're going to have trouble staying in the league.
27:41So the players are never going to sign off on tanking.
27:45They don't want to tank. It's too much effort.
27:48It's too much risk. They want to win games.
27:51Now, the front office, like you said, was positioning themselves to build the base so that they could add the quarterback and be good.
27:58Some things happened along the way. Yeah. If they, if they end up with that kind of pick, I, I think it's
28:05going to be against their will, which they still end up with the pick, but I don't think it's going to be
28:13like, yes, this, this happened exactly according to plan.
28:15Yeah. I think the plan was like, let's be a really good rushing team.
28:20And if we get like six wins and a top 10 pick, that's kind of what we expect.
28:26If they end up with like two wins and Arch Manning, that to me would be a worse result than what they were building for.
28:34And at that point, Monty might not be safe.
28:37Yeah. They might not be super quick on the trigger for things that will make a difference this year.
28:43I still think they have a quality eye towards the future, but if they're a little slow with their pencil this year
28:50on waiver claims or some other things that might make a difference again for this season, who can blame us?
28:56So it's, the fact machine broke. Oh no, they didn't, they didn't start out with that in mind, but they might be
29:03moving towards it at this point because their best laid plans are already injured.
29:08So Monty Austin for the GM was a big fan of what he did when he came into office and basically collected a whole bunch of picks.
29:17And it's what they needed to do on this team.
29:20I take some issue with how he spent some of them.
29:23I am up and down. I would call myself not a Monty detractor, but also very much improve it mode.
29:30And I'm with you. If they really struggle this year, and I mean, really struggle, Monty could see some heat here because
29:37again, if you're going to bring in a new quarterback, you just brought in a new head coach, you're going to want
29:44to synchronize that a little bit with the GM and sort of build the window together with the coach, the quarterback and the GM.
29:52So it's his guy. So that'll ratchet the pressure up as well.
29:55So it's a weird sort of hinge season for Monty.
29:59We'll see how it happens. Michael Fleur, we've talked about a lot.
30:03Offensive coordinator, Nathaniel Hackett. He of course was in green Bay, 19 to 21 when Aaron Rogers ruled the world, won a couple of MVPs.
30:11That's really his claim to fame. His success since then has been fairly limited.
30:15So we'll see how his offense looks. Nick Rallis, we talked about retained interested to see how it shakes out through the early part of the season.
30:24And then maybe you can answer your question about what was Rallis and what was Gannon, because again, Gannon's gone.
30:30So now we can pretty much say it's Rallis.
30:33And then Michael Gobriel is the special teams coordinator.
30:36He's been the special teams coordinator for the Giants for the past two seasons.
30:40He's now with the Cardinals. When we get to the position coaches, offensive line coach, Justin Frye, second year in the role.
30:48He was at Ohio state for a bunch of years before that.
30:51So he's a retention as well. Quarterbacks coach, the aforementioned Matt Schaub with all the connections you talked about.
30:57Wide receivers coach is Tony Sorrentino. New this year, past four seasons in Minnesota as the assistant wide receivers coach with that group.
31:05Addison Jefferson, those guys, Jalen Naylor before he got traded.
31:08So that's on Tony Sorrentino's resume. He now gets this very talented Cardinals wide receiver room to work with.
31:14And we'll see how he folds them into Hackett's offense.
31:17On the defensive side of the ball, senior defensive assistants, Terrell Austin was pit for the last seven seasons.
31:24That's Pittsburgh Steelers, not pit as in the university, other pit, other pit, the pro pit.
31:29There we go. The last four as the defensive coordinator, defensive line coach, Pete Kwiatkowski, new in the role, spent the last
31:36five years at the university of Texas as their defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach.
31:41This is crazy. 38 years of collegiate coaching experience, 23 of them as a DC with five different programs, Texas, Washington, Boise state, Montana state.
31:49So he's called our brawl, wild guy. And then snow college.
31:52Where do you know? Keontae Scott's initial. Keontae Scott's initial stop.
31:56Yep. That's how you know that. Very good. Coleman.
31:59you get a gold star. I don't know if he's related to Nick.
32:03I didn't look it up. I'm going to, hold on.
32:06I'm going to Google that real quick. Through the magic of editing.
32:10We'll find out if that's a relationship. Nope. Nevermind.
32:13His dad is a Frank Kwiatkowski, which is the most apt name for a construction worker I've ever heard.
32:19It's perfect. No notes. If you ask me to name a construction worker, it would be Frank Kwiatkowski.
32:25Yeah. Can you fit it on the lunchbox though?
32:28Maybe it's an uncle. I don't know. I don't know.
32:31And the defensive back coach for this team, Christian Garcia, second season with Arizona, first as the DB coach though, because he was the linebacker coach last year.
32:40So again, a bunch of retentions, Fry, Garcia, obviously Rallis, um, with some new blood as well mixed in.
32:46It's going to be fascinating to see how the coaching staff gels, both on the offensive and defensive side.
32:52Is this Cardinals team, a team that is going to play complimentary football.
32:56And that's hard to do when you've got new faces on both sides and that's faces as players and faces as coaches.
33:03There's a lot of meshing that has to occur.
33:06A lot of learning, a lot of integrating, a lot of getting on the same page, both for offensive defense.
33:13So we're going to see some, I'll, I'll call them quite natural struggles for the Cardinals early in the season, as you would expect with this much turnover.
33:22And as we get into free agency, when I'm qualifying this much turnover, this is the second largest amount of slots we've
33:29had in the free agency recap in this series.
33:32The top was 62 spots in the three sections.
33:34There are 59 for the Cardinals. So tons of turnover on the roster side, bunch of turnover on the coaching side, including
33:41the head coach, lots to sort of get aligned here.
33:45And we're going to see some misalignment early in the season.
33:48And then how quickly they get that cleaned up and how completely.
33:52And then, you know, mid season, I'd say probably as we get in towards Thanksgiving or right after Thanksgiving, probably have a
33:59better idea of what the Cardinals are cooking for this year, because a lot of those sort of early kinks hopefully will have been worked out.
34:08Yeah. Yeah. Like you said, 59 transactions here in the free agency recap.
34:12It's a lot of movement. Most of them, not really guys I think they'll miss, right?
34:17Jonah Williams, Kelvin Beachum, Kelvin Beachum played for a long time for Arizona.
34:21So he's 37. That's a hell of a career.
34:24Good on you, Kelvin. Most guys do not even play half that, but making it to 37 as offensive lineman, that's, that's a hell of a thing.
34:33Um, Greg Dortch. I love Greg Dortch. Honestly, I wish he was still in Arizona.
34:37I think he's so underrated. I don't know why the production has never matched just what my eyes tell me, which is that Greg Dortch can play.
34:46I don't know what's what's happened there, but I like Greg Dortch a lot.
34:51Uh, Zay Jones gone. Will Hernandez gone. Michael Carter, the running back one gone.
34:55PJ Mustapher gone. Uh, Amari Di Mercado gone twice.
34:58Technically. Uh, he's now with doubt. Dallas ended up in Kansas city, got cut, immediately picked up by Dallas.
35:04Uh, Dalvin Tomlinson is now a charger. Akeem Davis Gaither is a cult.
35:08Good luck. Indy, uh, Jalen Thompson got paid also by the Cowboys.
35:12Uh, Corey Kiner now Patriot. Yeah. Or is he still a Patriot?
35:16I gotta, yeah, no, he just got picked up by the Patriots.
35:20He was probably borderline and they threw him a pick instead of letting him get out onto the open market.
35:26So the Patriots traded for him. Um, Corey Kiner running back out of Cincinnati who we saw at the Shrine Bowl.
35:33Um, and, uh, you know, ends up in new England.
35:36I, I like Corey Kiner, you know, again, RB three.
35:39Yeah, for sure. Maybe even RB four and special teamer, but good player, uh, really good at miss tackles.
35:46Forest, um, never really had a role with the Cardinals.
35:49We'll see what happens with the Patriots. Yeah. Remember we're recording this couple of days after cut day.
35:55So like, and guys are still flying all over the place on the transaction wire.
35:59So some of this might be slightly outdated, even though we're, we're releasing this in like 72 hours.
36:05It still might be updated by the time we get there.
36:09Um, Calais Campbell is now in Baltimore. Evan Brown is now a Texan, uh, which brings us to the retentions, which is significantly smaller than the departures.
36:17It is an even smaller. If we're talking about notable ones, James Connor, who is not going to start the season healthy,
36:24but has been just a force for the Cardinals.
36:27A lot of people, I think forget about James Connor, uh, because of necessarily where he started his career, but he ended
36:34up in the desert and it's where a lot of football, all players go to die.
36:40He did not. He cranked it up as a Cardinal and continues to do so.
36:4431 years old as a running back, but they do pay him.
36:48They obviously paid Jacoby Brissett. Uh, there was reasons for that.
36:52We'll just leave it at that. Froholt as a center is somebody that they really like.
36:57He's 30 years old. They pay him $10 million worth every penny.
37:01He is an underrated center. I like him a lot.
37:04And I would have been upset if they let him walk, especially in the current market, because there are a bunch of
37:11teams looking for, I'll say quality starting centers. And I think he's well above that, but they basically would have made themselves
37:18a hole that would have been very hard to fill.
37:21And then Zoneman Bam Knight, the running back is going to fill in the depth in their running back room.
37:28He's only 25. They pay him basically 1.2 million, uh, has had some quality downs for them.
37:33And again, with guys like the Mercado out of the bar, now he's going to have to pick up some of that load.
37:41As far as where they spent their outside money, uh, Kendrick Bourne at 5 million to be presumably wide receiver three.
37:47I can dig that. Andrew Billings brought in for two and a half.
37:52I will say the Andrew Billings of 2026 is not the same as the Andrew Billings of five years ago.
37:58So I'm not saying he's a bad player right now, but I would not like, we got a question on the Patreon
38:05about, is he going to come in and fix this run defense?
38:09Probably not. Nope. Uh, I would say, I would say no, uh, just going off recent film.
38:14Um, Gardner Minshew is the backup for about 5.8 million.
38:18Elisha Wilkinson, I believe is going to start for them at this point.
38:22Um, I'm pretty sure he's penciled in as a starter right now.
38:26Um, Tyler Algier, they signed him and then drafted love.
38:29So I think he's just gonna do the same thing as he did in Atlanta, which is vulturing.
38:35Jeremiah loves touchdowns and, and ruining our fantasy weeks.
38:38Uh, Andrew Wingard, uh, brought him over from the Jaguars to add to the safety room.
38:43Hunter Long, obviously has a little floor familiarity. Uh, and he will be tight end.
38:48Once Ryman gets back, he'll be tied in three.
38:50He might be tied in two until Ryman gets back though.
38:54And then Roy Lopez, uh, brought him over from the lions to add to the interior defensive line group.
39:00That's the one that honestly is going to make a bigger impact than, than Billings.
39:05Correct. Uh, and then Isaac say a Mallow, one of the biggest impact signings of any team in the NFC, simply because
39:12of the gap between what they had and what they have now.
39:16Like it's not to the same degree as when the bears got Joe Tooney, but like same neighborhood, different house.
39:22I'll, I'll say that much. Like it's going to make such a huge, huge difference for Jeremiah love to have him up
39:29front compared to what they had at the guard spot last year.
39:33Offensive line play. You're only as good as your weakest link.
39:37And they had a bunch of weak links last year.
39:40Sam Mallow comes in again to stabilize that position.
39:43He is a very high floor solid player. He's a known known at this point.
39:48You're not looking to bring him in for anything besides what he is, which is a very solid NFL guard.
39:54And that's what you need. Leslie that they desperately needed that.
39:58And it's one more hole filled or hole. They're not making however you want to look at it.
40:03That, you know, is patched hopefully in a way that will hold for the whole season and they won't have to worry about it.
40:11So they address that during the off season teams are always trying to do that, but I'm with you.
40:17I think the cards succeeded in doing that to a degree that is going to make a big difference for who they
40:24are on the offensive line in 2026. Which brings us to the draft.
40:29And I want to tee up the draft with our patron viewer note.
40:33This comes from Omar. And I thought it was a perfect way to kind of segue into the draft.
40:39Omar says, there's an interesting discussion with both the Raiders and the Cardinals drafting running back super early best wishes to Jente,
40:46but that notwithstanding, it feels like they'd rather have Membu over any running back at this point, which honestly I agree with.
40:53Membu is amazing. The highest guarantee ever for running back.
40:56And the third overall pick seems like a stiff price for the team favored to win the March for Arch.
41:03I'm aware the running game has gotten a lot more important with offenses sizing up to combat smaller defenses, but are we
41:10closer to where we started for the running back discourse?
41:13The fact that they started this draft with Jeremiah Love and Chase Basathas, to me, was them saying, yes, we acknowledge that
41:20drafting a running back without having a solution on the offensive line is a bad idea.
41:25So why don't we draft both of them at the same time?
41:29Right. They already had their tackle situation taken care of.
41:32They, they took care of center. They brought in Sam Allo.
41:36They really just had one, maybe two major holes left as far as, okay, what's our solution at right tackle?
41:42What's our solution at guard? And so you bring in Basanthas at minimum, that's like four of the five offensive line spots that you feel good about.
41:51And maybe even five, right? And when you have the offensive line taken care of in that way, that to me is
41:58a much different proposition than, Hey, Ashton, why don't you go fight for your life?
42:03Every single carry like Jeremiah Love would not have had to fight for his life as much as Ashton did last year.
42:10And I think when you have that kind of talent, he's arguably the best player in the draft class.
42:16And you can also build the floor at the same time as raising the ceiling.
42:21That's not a terrible decision to me. Like it, I don't think every single top 10 running back pick is the same.
42:28I think they all should be examined individually for what the situation is.
42:32What's the talent around the back? What's the timeline of the team that's drafting them, right?
42:37Are they a team that's trying to be competitive right now?
42:41Are they a team that has a quarterback doesn't have a quarterback, you know, new regime, existing regime.
42:46I just think you have to look at it as on a case by case basis.
42:52And like the, the case for Jeremiah Love plus an improved offensive line is a good one.
42:57Like there was no quarter, like Mendoza was gone.
43:00There was no quarterback. They were going to take.
43:03It was going to make a difference for them.
43:06You could argue there's a couple of defensive players.
43:09They could have taken that would made a difference for them, but they clearly had Love graded that much higher than Arvel Reese, Ruben Bay and Caleb Downs.
43:18Like whoever they, they clearly had Love rated that much higher.
43:21And I get it. I don't think it's the same as the gente pick the gente pick.
43:27That to me was irresponsible. This was sensible. It makes sense.
43:30And I, I feel like two things are true.
43:33It makes sense because they built around him and it was building the floor of the team.
43:39Like that's the, I think the first and major point, this is bedrock.
43:43You're building foundation. You're saying we are going to have a strong offensive line.
43:47Relatively. We are going to have a difference maker running back.
43:51They didn't have that. James Connor has been very, very good for them, but he is not a difference maker at running back.
43:58And I feel like the second part of this is it's a bedrock decision.
44:03And it was approached correctly. The second part is Jeremiah loves a player.
44:07Like this is an exceptional player. He was in a standalone tier in running back class.
44:12He was in a standalone tier for the most part in the offensive side of this draft.
44:17And that is, you know, there is, if you're saying is Jeremiah love a better running backers, Fernando Mendoza, better quarterback.
44:24Oh, love easy. Yeah. I don't, I don't think there's many players in this draft that could hold a candle to him.
44:31Many people said he was the best player in the draft period, offense or defense.
44:36So when you're talking about value up high, a lot of people will just look at the tag, say running back, say automatically it's not worth it.
44:45That's the end of the discussion for them. Again, for the Cardinals, you already have a couple of very good receivers.
44:52We call them one B's. Neither one may be a one A, but enough receiving talent.
44:57You've got a one A tight end. You're building the offensive line, hopefully for whoever you're going to put in a quarterback.
45:04And the one spot that's really missing in terms of having top shelf talent at it is running back.
45:10And you are presented with potentially the best player in the draft class at a spot you could use behind a new offensive line.
45:18And again, getting ready to just, you know, Daniel Jeremiah talks about dropping the quarterback in, right?
45:23You are building this frame and all you're going to have to do is drop the quarterback.
45:29And you're going to have receivers, tight end, running back, offensive line.
45:32You are ready to rock at that point. And all the pressure, still going to be a ton of pressure on a
45:39high pick quarterback, but all the rest of the pressure is taken off that potential face of the franchise and quarterback.
45:46And you also have to think, okay, every other team in their division, you know, it got quarterbacks a different way.
45:53They got Sam Darnold through free agency. The Rams got Stafford through a trade.
45:57And the, the Niners found Brock Purdy is Mr.
46:00relevant. Yep. So they see this as like, there's a bunch of different ways to get the guy.
46:06Let's just take good players, right? Let's hit a bunch of doubles in the gap, get guys on base and just see
46:13if we can get them home some way or another.
46:16And yeah, it's nice to hit a home run.
46:19It's very hard to hit a home run. So let's just get guys on base.
46:24Let's take Jeremiah. Love. It's easy. And, and to me, this just reinforces the notion that I do not think they're tanking.
46:31I really don't think they're tanking because they know they can get a quarterback in multiple ways.
46:37Now, if you're picking in the top three, is it more likely that you're going to get a franchise guy?
46:43Statistically? Yeah. But it's not the only way to do it.
46:47And we've seen so many teams that are picking outside the top three.
46:51Like maybe they're picking in the top 15 and they find something they can win.
46:56Like the Broncos got Bo Nix at 12, I think.
46:59Right. Right. And he was taken after Penix and after McCarthy.
47:02Both those guys not looking too hot. Now the, the, the top three in that draft class were, uh, Caleb Jaden and
47:09may like, yeah, it's higher likelihood that those guys are going to be great, which they are, but it doesn't mean that
47:17you, you still can't pick 12 and get a Bo Nix and build a crazy good roster and be AFC favorites.
47:23It's like, there's multiple ways to build a wagon here.
47:27And I, I think that's what the Cardinals realized.
47:29And, and they're just going to take the best players they can and they'll get the quarterback, how they get the quarterback and we'll see if it works.
47:38But once more, if they're really, really, really bad and they win like two games or three games, it might not be Monty.
47:46That's picking the guy. Absolutely. Abysmal segue to their third round pick Carson back.
47:50Case in point. Right. There's ways to get a quarterback.
47:54Yeah. And I don't think this is the one.
47:56And again, any quarterback you pick after 50 is a statement by the team.
48:01You are not beholden to that player. We saw the Browns do it last year.
48:06We've seen tons and tons and tons of teams do it.
48:09If you take a quarterback outside the top 50, you don't owe them anything.
48:14If it works out, that's amazing. And it's a huge value and it will help put your franchise further ahead.
48:20If it doesn't, you can pick another quarterback next year and nobody will say anything.
48:25About it. Carson back is, if he doesn't work out in any capacity as a backup or whatever they're envisioning, or if
48:32he has to play, which is very likely, quite frankly, in terms of number of starters, each team has to play every year.
48:40We will probably see Carson back in live action this year.
48:43And if he doesn't play very well, if he middles along or, you know, piles up turnovers and they go and pick
48:50another quarterback next year, nobody's going to go, but you picked Carson back last year at 65.
48:56What are you doing? Like, that's not the way the draft works.
48:59Yeah. It's like when the Panthers drafted Jimmy Clawson to the next year, they had the first overall pick and cam was on the board.
49:07It's like, what are we going to do? Not pick cam Newton.
49:11Yeah. Perfect case in point. So Carson back is there.
49:15If he flashes great. Even if it's as a backup, those are very valuable players.
49:19Again, we saw a bunch of players in the last preseason game that just happened who are in the backup role play better than they have.
49:28And it's really cool to see your number two quarterback go out and operate the offense and score points because you're going
49:35to have to rely on that guy at some point.
49:38Very few starters play every snap in the NFL at quarterback.
49:42So that guy's going to see the field a little bit.
49:45And if you concede, Hey, we just can't win when he's out there.
49:49You're at a competitive disadvantage. So anything Carson Beck gives them is gravy at this point in the fourth round day three, pick one Oh four.
49:58One of my favorite picks of the draft for the Cardinals, Caleb Proctor, defensive tackle penetrator from Southeast Louisiana.
50:04Unfortunately, again is injured. I believed he was going to give them some juice in a very specific role in the pass rush.
50:11And I wanted to see him and Nolan and sweat like turned loose on third and long.
50:17It, we're not going to get to see it this year.
50:20That's a bummer. You know, it's just, it's been a brutal preseason for injuries in the NFL to veterans, to rookies.
50:27It just seems like there are more of them, but it has been disappointing.
50:31You and I every day sort of wake up to the DM from the other one going, well, this guy's out for
50:38the year, which is like, damn it. Like that was going to be so much fun.
50:44And again, it could be a veteran, could be a rookie.
50:47It's the case for Caleb Proctor as a player, undersized, but high motor player slashing three tech defensive tackle who can penetrate.
50:54And that is a valuable skillset. It's a limited skillset, but it is a valuable skillset.
50:59And Caleb is an absolute dog plays with super high motor, good energy, and he can get past guards in a flash.
51:06And I think he's going to be able to do it.
51:10The pros too. I hope he comes back healthy and well.
51:14And, you know, we get to see him as part of that rush next year.
51:18Fifth round at one 43, they get Reggie Virgil, the wide receiver out of Texas tech.
51:23I thought this was a good value. Your wide receiver room needs a bunch of different types.
51:29And I don't really think they have anybody like Reggie Virgil on the roster in terms of his skillset and his frame.
51:36Quite frankly, does that mean he's going to be a high level contributor?
51:40No, he might be one of those guys that bounces off the practice squad, depending on his special teams versatility.
51:47But if he has to come in and play some downs and you want to throw some red zone fades to him, go for it.
51:55He's a very capable guy that way. I would say he's more of an outside depth piece for them than an inside depth piece for them.
52:03I don't think I would be giving a bunch of snaps in the slot, but if you want to rotate Marvin out, he could play outside there.
52:12If you want to rotate Wilson out, he could play outside there, whether it's X or Z.
52:17I'm just not sure I would want him to do typical slot receiver stuff in this offense, which is go get killed over the middle.
52:25So I think he is really more of like an outside go in the one-on-one type type of guy.
52:31And I don't have any problem with that at 143.
52:35I would agree with you. This is not a lot of players that have outside skill sets and we're like, yeah, but
52:42we actually want to see him in the slot because we think that versatility will unlock something.
52:47Not so sure that's true with Reggie, but again, that's not a, that's not a downside at 143.
52:53143 overall. Their last two picks in the sixth and seventh round, 183 and 217 respectively.
52:58Carson Schirr, the linebacker out of Iowa and Jaden Williams, the offensive tackle out of Mississippi.
53:03I didn't watch either of those guys. How about you?
53:06Uh, no, I didn't actually. They got me. So there we go.
53:10We don't have to say anything about that. Their favorites of Monty's, um, again, depth pieces for the organization.
53:16Uh, I watched quite a few inside linebackers in this class and Schirr wasn't even on my list.
53:22There were guys on my list. I didn't get to Schirr wasn't even on my list, but that happens.
53:28I watched, I watched the. Well, his offensive line.
53:31I just didn't watch him individually. I watched his teammates.
53:34Yeah, for sure. We just got traded. Watch him.
53:37Did he? Yeah. To where? Uh, where was he?
53:40Google this. All right. Through the magic of editing.
53:43Uh, oh, he's with the chiefs. Yeah. How many tackles the chiefs carry?
53:47Oh, they let go of us. A pole. Yeah, that's interesting.
53:51Yeah. They let go of us, pull it, which neither of us expected, but, uh, Diego pounds, uh, fascinating physical specimen mountain
53:58of a guy who can really move. Um, also side note has like size 18 feet, man.
54:03That guy's got a huge human. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, as far as UDFA is the only one that made the team,
54:10uh, as far as I can tell, uh, recording this after cut down day, uh, was what at Williams jr.
54:17Speaking of Mississippi, notable note, notable note, notable note, uh, notable note with him.
54:21He was one of the players that sued to get the extra year of eligibility.
54:26He was going to go back to school. Uh, and I, I think play at LSU, which is where he was likely
54:33going to go to, but he ended up making the team.
54:37So he's like, I guess I'm not going back to college if I have an NFL job.
54:42So it did make the active roster, but he was one of the 15 players that, uh, at least attempted to keep the college door open.
54:51If he didn't make a roster. Yeah. Fascinating journey for why that, uh, started at Delta state was a zero star recruit.
54:58Delta state is a division two school. If you haven't heard of it, don't worry about it.
55:03Ended up transferring up to Louisiana Monroe. And then to Ole miss, which is where he was in the sec last year
55:10in terms of size and speed, like six, one, 200, very fluid athlete popped on tape for me.
55:16Uh, I made a mark on him, had a UDFA grade on him, but like a priority UDFA.
55:22If my team needed a safety, I would have gone after him because his passer rating allowed was 56.3.
55:28He was in coverage for 459 snaps last year.
55:31He's a free safety, dominant safety played a lot of coverage snaps was only targeted 47 times out of that 450, allowed again, a very low passer rating.
55:40So statistically tape wise, frame wise, obviously a hard worker in football to move up from being zero stars to Delta state to Louisiana Monroe to Ole miss.
55:49Um, really glad he made the team. Uh, I was on a Cardinals podcast right after the draft.
55:55I said, Hey, keep an eye on me. He's an interesting story.
55:58And like he can play if they need depth, he might end up.
56:03And I said, I think something like be on the practice squad, but, uh, pretty cool that he makes the final roster.
56:10All right. Brings us to our final segment ceiling and floor.
56:13I would like to reiterate. It's very possible. This team is just below average and not worst in the NFL.
56:20I think if you compare what the Cardinals are working with and what the dolphins are working with, it's not even a discussion to me.
56:28Like who is, who is the worst? Like, I'm pretty sure the dolphins have more money committed to dead cap than their actual players.
56:35The Cardinals are not nearly that bereft of talent now compared to Miami.
56:40So I could see this team winning seven games.
56:42If everything, like literally everything goes correct because of all the things we talked about, right?
56:48Like maybe they, they still have that kind of novel approach to defense with all the post nap rotation, everything like that.
56:55And it just works better this year because their linebackers are better in coverage, right?
56:59Maybe their, their corners tackle better. You know, maybe Jacoby Brissette is like functional.
57:04Maybe the offensive line better is better. Maybe, maybe Marvin Harrison turns it off.
57:09There's so many reasons why this team could just flat out be better, even though they do have a lot of the same players.
57:16But that being said, my floor is three because of the following schedule that they have to play.
57:22Bum, bum, bum. Just listen to this shit. It's awful.
57:25I mean, it's, it's, it's not awful. It's actually the opposite of awful.
57:29It's terrible for the Cardinals, but it's a ridiculous schedule.
57:33So they start off at the chargers, host the Seahawks at the 49ers.
57:37I guess you get a break with the giants on the road.
57:41Then you host the lions. You're playing the Rams, the Broncos, the Cowboys, the Seahawks, the Rams, the chiefs.
57:47And then you get the commanders. Finally, November 29th.
57:50That, that like, that might be the worst team they play.
57:53And the commanders are like relatively the same. It's like equal footing to the Cardinals to make.
57:59Then you got the Eagles. And we get the jets.
58:02Mike LaFleur revenge game right there. And then you go on the road to the saints who are feisty this year.
58:09Listen to the saints episode. You're going to hear all about it.
58:12Then they host the Raiders. Again, Raiders kind of the same tier as them.
58:17I don't think that they're worse. And if they played today, I think it'd be even money.
58:22And then you finish hosting the 49ers who by then the substation might've killed half their team.
58:28But again, leading up to December, you know, how many games there are they even going to be within like three points
58:35in, in terms of the pregame spread? Not a lot.
58:38So it's an absolutely brutal schedule. I think it could be a team that is better than their record.
58:44It's just, they happen to play against a bunch of teams that are much better than them and also have advantages at
58:51the most important position, which is quarterback. So it could very easily be a three win team.
58:57It could be a seven win team somewhere in between there.
59:00Either way. I don't predict playoffs. I don't predict a winning record.
59:04And it's very possible that while not tanking, they could just end up with a high pick against their will and get
59:11their quarterback and then be really good in 2027.
59:14And maybe Cardinals fans, like maybe that's the dream is, is be entertaining, but also not win as a Texans fan.
59:21Believe me, I've been there. It worked out for us.
59:24We got Stroud and Will Anderson, but it's that, that might be best case scenario.
59:29Yeah. If you're on the borderline and you know, the game's close, it's like, Hey, if you miss a field goal right now, be okay.
59:37Overall in the grand cosmic scheme of things, but my ceiling is the same at seven.
59:42Why it could all work. The roster's decent. It's not great, but it's solid in a lot of key areas.
59:49Again, we're almost at the end of summer series.
59:52We've gone through almost every team's roster in detail.
59:54And as I look at this one, it's not bad.
59:58I've been through several that are not this good.
60:01In fact, I think we could probably name right off the top four or five teams.
60:06We think would be worse than the Cardinals just on roster alone.
60:10Unfortunately, they only play like one of them in that schedule.
60:13So, uh, they won't be head to head with a bunch of them.
60:17Uh, if they had plus quarterback play again, the question we started this episode off with, if you dropped a plus quarterback
60:24in right now, even though they're not done building, I think this could be a 500 ball club, even with that schedule as it is.
60:32I don't think they will be, I'm not predicting 500.
60:36Definitely. That means no division title, no winning record.
60:38Um, but they're not as terrible as people think.
60:41Like you said, it could come down to, they play really hard.
60:45They're in a bunch of games. They end up not winning them.
60:49And that ends up being okay. My floor is four though.
60:53I think they're going to back into a few wins because they just have good players.
60:58And any given Sunday week, one weirdness, you name it.
61:01Like there's a bunch of ways to win a game on any Sunday in the NFL.
61:06And I think the cards are going to do it a few times this year.
61:11I know a lot of people are predicting two or three wins.
61:15I think they're actually going to be better than that.
61:18So in terms of how it could all fall apart, if you're only predicting seven wins is the ceiling fall apart.
61:25It's a bit of a stretch, but, um, again, I'm not sure that the front office is going to do everything they
61:32can just as quickly as they can to win games this year.
61:36If it has long-term implications, I think they'll act in the best interest of the team.
61:41If it's like, Oh, we missed a waiver claim.
61:44We didn't get that guy. Oh, it's a bummer.
61:47Well, you know, we'll just have to play the guy that we have backed up on the practice squad.
61:53Get them next time, tiger. Yeah. I want to ask you this.
61:57So reiterating chargers, Seahawks, Niners, lions, Rams, Broncos, Cowboys, chiefs, Eagles, which one of those teams do they beat?
62:03They're going to beat one of them. Statistically, they're going to beat one of them.
62:08Which one did they beat? I'm always going to bet on chaos in week one because we, we, we see it every single year.
62:15And we tell all of you every single year, week one is week one.
62:20It's weirdness. Do not set your expectations for your team, no matter how good they played or know how poorly they played in week one.
62:28Week one is largely a mirage. And people go, aha, we were right all summer.
62:33We said they were going to be amazing. And they win the first week and they don't win for five more weeks.
62:40And you're like, it was week one. It, the preseason and, and, you know, joint practices and only three preseason games is
62:47very different than it used to be. Like camp used to be longer.
62:51You used to have way more padded practices. By the time they got to the fourth preseason game, they were just surly.
62:58They just wanted to hit somebody. They were ready, ready.
63:01Now practice times, limited time with coaches is limited.
63:04Padded practices are limited. Like there's still some kinks to work out when you get to week one.
63:10And some teams just don't look ready. They come out flat, even if they're supposed to be great, even if they won the off season.
63:18So I would vote for charges in week one.
63:21Do I think the charges are a much better football team?
63:24I absolutely do. Do I think they could pitch one to the Cardinals?
63:29We were just doing this on an episode. Like last week we were going through and you're like, and they lost to the Steelers.
63:36Well, Steelers don't count. Steelers are just going to do that to teams out of nowhere every year.
63:42And I think the Cardinals are going to have a little bit of that this year.
63:47Maybe Terrell Austin brought it with him. We'll see.
63:50But I think they're going to back into a few wins.
63:54I think they're probably going to get at least four.
63:57I think the ceiling though is seven because you're just going to top out over everything averaging out over a 17 game
64:04season, not having top tier quarterback play, not having, you know, a ton of defensive killers.
64:09Like you could be one of those no name defenses at the end of the season that plays better than some of its parts.
64:17Even so with all the parts you have, is that going to be a top 10 defense with this roster?
64:23Probably not. If this defense was overall 14th or 15th, I would say Nick Rallis had a tremendous season.
64:29I think Monty's got work to do. For building the defensive side of the ball still after multiple years of taking swings,
64:36I still think he has work to do, but the offense is, is moving in the right direction.
64:42If they just get a quarterback in 2027 and luck into an impact player on defense, maybe it'll be their day to
64:49pick if they're taking a quarterback round one, I wouldn't rule out this team being a wild card contender as early as 12 months from now.
64:58Like I see the vision. I see the path.
65:01I just watched the Texans do it. Yeah. A few years ago, they were awful.
65:05They were worse than the Cardinals are now. And then you, you get a new coach in D'Amico Ryan's, you know, Nick
65:12Casario cooks in the draft a few times. You get Stroud, you get Will Anderson and you go to the playoffs and
65:19win a playoff game for three straight years. And you're knocking on the door being one of the best teams in the conference.
65:27Like I've, I've seen this path work, but it, it does require an element of luck, right?
65:32You gotta be the right pick and the right quarterback has to be there.
65:37And you gotta have the right coach. And we'll see, but I don't want to discourage Cardinals fans.
65:43Like I, I see the vision. I see the vision.
65:46And I think this team would look a lot better with those stars in place, right?
65:51If you got a star, maybe at two of the three levels, right?
65:55If you got a star corner, shut down corner, right?
65:58And again, that would be the last piece I'd advocate them getting.
66:02If you got a star linebacker, which you can do in the second round or the third round, right?
66:08You can get a rangy athletic, good coverage linebacker and late in the second round and have him come in and be an impact player.
66:16If you got your impact edge or, you know, then a lot of this depth that I really like in the safety
66:23room, guys like, you know, dad, we tailor Demerson and Keaton Crawford who started his career at Texas as a safety, Jordan
66:31Birch, Baron Browning guys that aren't starters on this team would look a lot better if they were backing up absolute killers.
66:38They just lack that sort of on all three levels.
66:41And if they had them on two or three levels, again, you don't need them at all three levels.
66:47This defense, I think would look a lot more robust with just a couple of additions that are possible.
66:53It's on Monty to get it done. The path is there in front of them.
66:58It is, it is possible to turn this into a good team in as soon as 12 months from now.
67:04The rest of the week, we got a bunch of really good teams to talk about.
67:09We saved the best division for last, arguably the best division for last.
67:14I know NFC North fans would, would contest that, but we got the Niners and we got the Rams.
67:20Then we got the Seahawks. And by the time the Seahawks episode comes out, kickoff is going to be happening.
67:26Like we're, we're basically pushing this thing to the wire.
67:29We're trying to get it done in time. But we are essentially at the regular season.
67:35We're finishing with three of the best teams in the NFL.
67:38And we really appreciate everybody who has watched every episode up to this point.
67:43It really does mean a lot to us. This series is always really, really difficult, but very rewarding to put together.
67:49And we love the reception that we get from you guys.
67:53It makes us feel like it was all worth it.
67:56So thank you once again for watching and listening.
67:59Thank you to our patrons. Thank you to Woodinville.
68:02Thank you to homage. Thank you to our sponsors.
68:05And we will see you guys tomorrow.

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