Arizona Cardinals improved their defense throughout the 2020 NFL Draft

While their offense gets most of the attention, the Arizona Cardinals made several interesting defensive additions in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Over the last year or so, the Arizona Cardinals have suddenly become one of the most interesting teams in the entire NFL. It began with the hiring of Kliff Kingsbury, who had just accepted a job as the offensive coordinator at USC. Kingsbury was just fired as a college football head coach, agreed to be a coordinator at the college level and the Cardinals decided to make him the guy to lead their program. An interesting decision to say the least.

It all started to come together when they took Kyler Murray with the first overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Murray is an incredibly talented quarterback who is an absolutely perfect fit for Kingsbury’s wide-open offensive attack. A combination of Murray and Kingsbury has the potential to wreak havoc on the league for many years to come.

After a successful, but inconsistent first season together, the Arizona Cardinals made another significant investment in their offense, trading for one of the best wide receivers in the NFL, DeAndre Hopkins. We will never know the Cardinals were able to talk the Houston Texans into giving up Hopkins and also taking on David Johnson’s terrible contract, but it took an already interesting team to the next level.

We are all excited to see what Murray can do this season, spreading the ball around in an exciting modern offense with Hopkins, Larry Fitzgerald, Christian Kirk and company making plays around him. There is undoubtedly a lot to look forward to there. However, they made defense their priority in the 2020 NFL Draft and that should have a major impact on their ability to win in 2020.

The Arizona Cardinals were one of the worst defenses in the entire NFL last season, allowing a league-high 402 total yards per game, and 27.6 points per game, the fifth-most in the NFL, according to ESPN. Opposing offenses were able to throw the ball all over the yard against Arizona and pound the rock down their throats. They could not stop anything on the defensive side of the ball but should be in a better situation to succeed this season.

Vance Joseph is back as the team’s defensive coordinator and he will have more talent to work with this season. It all begins with Isaiah Simmons, who the Arizona Cardinals took with the eighth overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Simmons is an absolute freak athlete on the defensive side of the ball who shines in all aspects of the game. He is listed as a linebacker, but this guy can play basically anywhere on the field. In college, Clemson lined Simmons up everywhere and he has consistent success as an off-ball linebacker, a roaming safety, a slot cornerback and even an edge rusher. This guy can legitimately do it all and will be able to help fill many holes on the defensive side of the ball for Arizona.

More than just Simmons

As exciting as the addition of Simmons is, they made other defensive additions that will help take this unit to the next level. In free agency, three guys stand out as potential impact additions for the Arizona Cardinals. Defensive lineman Jordan Phillips will undoubtedly help the Cardinals hold up against the run, while athletic linebackers Devon Kennard and De’Vondre Campbell will help them in a variety of ways.

This team continued to invest heavily in their front seven later in the 2020 NFL Draft, taking a pair of defensive linemen in the fourth round. Leki Fotu is a big and powerful interior defensive lineman who can two-gap at an extremely high level. Fotu has a quick first step which gives him a bit of untapped potential, but at worst, he should be a rock-solid run defender in the middle of the Cardinals’ defense.

Rashard Lawrence has extremely long arms and incredibly powerful hands. He does not show much athletic upside, but he is going to be a fierce run defender who can keep offensive linemen off of the Cardinals’ linebackers. In the sixth round of the 2020 NFL Draft, the Arizona Cardinals added linebacker Evan Weaver. Weaver lacks elite athleticism, but he is a tough and aggressive player who sheds blockers well and is a reliable tackler near the line of scrimmage.

The Cardinals made significant investments in their defensive front seven this offseason, finding multiple defensive linemen who can hold their own up front and many linebackers who can roam around and make plays. The addition of Simmons alone takes this unit to the next level, but this overall team-building process stands out and should help them improve even more.

Murray and the offense will still get the headlines, but this defensive will be much better in 2020.