LA Rams Wednesday Walkabout NFC West 2.1

Arizona Cardinals – continued

Bret:

The Arizona Cardinals cannot help but show their hand in free agency. If they re-sign veteran WR Larry Fitzgerald, RB Kenyan Drake, LB De’Vondre Campbell, CB Patrick Peterson, and more, they are clearly viewing 2021 as their own version of ‘win now’. Of course, that takes on a different strategy with a quarterback still on his rookie contract.

And that is a strategy that many teams have employed, including the 2018 LA Rams on their Super Bowl Run. After all, the Cardinals have been hearing an incessant amount of hype from NFL analysts about the perfect marriage of head coach Kliff Kingsbury and quarterback Kyler Murray. So who can blame fans or even the organization for believing that they are just one or two key players away?

They may be. If the Cardinals can beef up their offensive line, they certainly can move the ball. But landing those elite blockers takes a lot of money. And right now, the Cardinals are no doubt torn between paying for new talent and retaining familiar talent.

How well have the Cardinals drafted? Not very. So they would be very smart to package some picks, dangle a sizeable nest egg in the NFL Trade market, and see just how many teams bite on trading a valued offensive lineman. If that fails, the Cardinals could try their hand in the NFL Free Agency market.

I think that the Cardinals need one good running back, a solid tight end, and one solid possession type receiver to get that offense fully loaded. If they can pull that off, then it’s trying to make the defense as good as it can be with whatever is leftover.

The Cardinals almost made it to the playoffs in 2020. As long as they prune and graft better talent patiently and methodically, they will continue to improve. But if they grow impatient, then everything could tumble to the ground.