Arizona Cardinals Offseason Needs: Skill Players and Pass Defenders
Defense
The Arizona Cardinals need to improve their pass defense. In their big playoff loss to the Rams, they gave up an immense 12.4 yards per pass attempt, recorded only one sack and forced zero turnovers. In the modern NFL if you can’t get to the quarterback or at least bother him a little bit, it puts undue pressure on your secondary. And Arizona’s secondary wasn’t great at the tail end of last year either, leading to their swift playoff exit. They need to address the premium pass defensive positions ahead of next season: edge rusher and cornerback.
Edge rusher
The Chandler Jones decision will loom large this offseason for Arizona. The problem for the Cardinals is that Jones may turn down anything they offer him. In March of 2017 Arizona handed Jones a 5-year $82.5 million contract ($16.5 million average annual value) which just expired. He’ll be 32 next year, and his production with the Cardinals (at least 10 sacks 5 out of 6 seasons) has been terrific. This could be Jones’ last chance at a big contract, and he’s likely looking for a raise that Arizona won’t be able to give him. So, the Cardinals will likely have to replace Chandler Jones.
Next year would likely be the year that the Arizona Cardinals could go all-in because it’s the last year of Kyler Murray’s rookie deal. Because of this, they could target veteran edge rushers on one-year contracts. Two ideal candidates would be 33-year-old Jerry Hughes from the Buffalo Bills or Jason Pierre-Paul of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who is also 33. Both players could likely be had for one-year deals worth around $7 million and could be paired with current Cardinals edge rusher Markus Golden.
As far as the draft goes, Arizona should strongly consider using a first-round pick on an edge rusher, especially if someone like Purdue’s George Karlaftis falls to them. If he’s not available at pick 23, the Cardinals could look at Georgia’s Travon Walker or Cincinnati’s Myjai Sanders as both players are big, strong, athletic edge rushers that could stand to make an impact right away.
Cornerback
Arizona is in the NFC West division, meaning that they play the Rams, Seahawks, and 49ers at least twice per year. All of those teams ranked in the top five in the NFL in yards per pass attempt last season. The Cardinals need defensive backs who can cover, and even if they re-sign impending free agent Robert Alford at a low price tag, he’s still 34 years old.
Their other corners, Marco Wilson and Byron Murphy started last season strong and struggled a bit down the stretch. They might eventually become productive players, but a good pass defense shouldn’t be this heavily dependent on them. They need more depth. The Cardinals also might look to play more zone coverage to take some of the heat off their corners.
If Arizona plans to implement more zone coverage, they should take a look at the Raiders’ Casey Heyward. He’s not young but he had a tremendous bounce back season last year and could likely be brought on for a one-year, $6.5 million deal. Another viable free agent option would be Philadelphia’s Steven Nelson, because he too can play zone coverage and would make a solid addition as a number 2 corner for something around two years, $14 million.
Both of Arizona’s starting corners are 6 feet tall and under. Luckily for the Arizona Cardinals, there are multiple larger cornerbacks available in the 2022 NFL Draft. The number two ranked corner on most big boards is Cincinnati’s Ahmad Gardner (6’3” 200), and if he were available at pick 23, he’d be hard to pass up. Alabama’s Jalyn Armour-Davis (6’1” 192) emerged last year to start for the Crimson Tide and flashed some nice cover skills including nabbing three interceptions. UTSA’s Tariq Woolen helped his stock at the Senior Bowl and could be a nice day two or day three value pick as he’s 6’3” 205 and projected to run a 4.48 40-yard dash.