LA Rams News: 12 package sets NFC West scrambling to duplicate

Card sharks

The last team to talk about ist the Arizona Cardinals. Rather than jump on the bandwagon of adding tight ends, the Cardinals allowed their best receiving tight end, Charley Clay, to test the NFL Free Agency market. In the meantime, the Arizona Cardinals are content with 6-foot-4 252-pound Maxx Williams and 6-foot-6 220-pound Dan Arnold. While Arnold seems more like a tall wide receiver, he is used as a tight end.

While the Cardinals do use plenty of two-tight end sets, the Cardinals use these formations specifically to put tight ends on the field to block for short yardage.  According to sharpfootballstats.com, the Cardinals use two or more tight ends on 26 percent of their offensive plays. The Cardinals option, much like the debut of the Rams offense, is about flooding the secondary with pass receivers but instead relying upon Kyler Murray’s mobility to keep the play alive long enough to find the open man.

Marching to the beat of their own drummer

The Cardinals are less interested in following NFL trends and more interested in finding the path that works for them. The Cardinals offense was the 21st-ranked unit in the NFL for 2019 in terms of yards gained, and 17th-ranked unit in the NFL in 2019 in terms of points scored.  While the team did trade for WR DeAndre Hopkins, the offense still has some work to do in terms of setting the offense on track with a full season of running back Kenyon Drake and integrating Hopkins into the passing game.

The Cardinals will no doubt work primarily a three-wide receiver set with Hopkins, Larry Fitzgerald, and Christian Kirk with Drake in the backfield and Williams lined up on one side.  If the Cardinals struggle with running the ball, or if they are impacted at the wide receiver position this year with either injuries or COVID-19, the Cardinals could make two-tight-end formations a staple of the offense.