The Arizona Cardinals improved in many ways in 2019. After a disastrous 2018 when they went 3-13 and were historically bad offensively and plain bad defensively, they improved to be a solid offense and won five games. The defense has a lot of work to do, but there is optimism for their play down the stretch.
So how should the Cardinals be graded?
Touchdown Wire’s Barry Werner graded every NFL team’s season and the Cardinals were a solid but unspectacular C.
The Cardinals wound up 5-10-1 after having the first pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Kyler Murray appears to have star potential. Chandler Jones is a sack guru. Kenyan Drake was a smart pickup. Before anyone gets too excited, this is a team coached by Kliff Kingsbury, who hasn’t had a plus-.500 season in a while. Grade: C
The offense improved. The running game was surprisingly good. Kyler Murray met all expectations. Kingsbury looks like a smart coach.
However, the defense was bad. They had several games they should have won that they lost late in the game.
After an undeniable failure of a year in 2018, this is probably as good a grade as one could expect for the Cardinals. It wasn’t good, but neither was it bad.
They were a little better than their record and the grade reflects that.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.
Ep. 254
Ep. 253:
