Arizona Cardinals 2025 NFL Season Preview and Picks: Is Year 3 the Charm for Jonathan Gannon and Kyler Murray?

Scott Kacsmar18/07/2025 - 01:40 pm

GLENDALE, ARIZONA - JANUARY 5: Quarterback Kyler Murray #1 of the Arizona Cardinals stands on the sidelines during the national anthem prior to an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers at State Farm Stadium on January 5, 2025 in Glendale, Arizona. — (Photo by Brooke Sutton/Getty Images)

The Arizona Cardinals are already entering Year 7 of the Kyler Murray era, or as he counts it, seven main Call of Duty sequels have been released since the 2019 NFL Draft. But the number that might be sticking in the minds of fans is zero playoff wins as the Cardinals haven’t won a playoff game since the night Larry Fitzgerald ended the Packers in overtime of the 2015 NFC divisional round.

It gets easy to forget about the Cardinals in the crowded NFC West, and the division looks like it’ll be good again this year with the 49ers getting back on track, the Rams have a lot of talent, and the Seahawks won 10 games last year with a rookie coach.

But the Cardinals are starting to have some expectations again. We know 2023 was a bit of a lost year for rookie coach Jonathan Gannon, as Murray had to recover from his torn ACL. The team doubled its win total last year in an 8-9 finish, but they were only 2-5 after the bye week, and bad finishes have been a recurring theme throughout the Murray era.

But Gannon has improved the defense from terrible to mediocre; they added more pieces on that side of the ball this year, and the offense has some very unique talents. It’s time we start expecting more from this team, but again, it won’t be easy in the NFC West this year, even if the schedule is favorable outside of the division.

Let’s look at the reasons for some optimism about Arizona this year and the best Cardinals bets for 2025.

TAMPA, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 10: Kyler Murray #1 of the Arizona Cardinals looks on during a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium on November 10, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. — (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Previously on CARDINALS: Finding Trey McBride’s Kryptonite

The 2024 Cardinals were a hard team to pin down with some of the wildest swings on a week-to-week basis. Can we call them bipolar in this post-Shane Gillis hosting the ESPY’s world, or is that offensive? But they really were all over the map and unpredictable:

One week the Cardinals are coming up just short in Buffalo in a 34-28 loss; the next week, they’re blowing out the Rams in a 41-10 win.
One week the Cardinals are getting blown out 42-14 at home against a rookie quarterback in Jayden Daniels, the next week they’re making a dramatic 10-point comeback in the fourth quarter to beat the 49ers on the road.
One week the Cardinals embarrass Aaron Rodgers and the Jets in a 31-6 win, the next week they lose a 16-6 game in Seattle.

All those games happened last year, and we didn’t even mention a bad 36-30 overtime loss in a shootout in Carolina that was followed by a difficult 13-9 loss to the Rams at home.

It’s the huge shifts in scoring on both sides of the ball that made Arizona difficult to understand. The offense obviously has talent and moved the ball very efficiently at times last year, but there were also five games where they didn’t score more than 14 points, and they naturally were 0-5 in those games as you just can’t expect to win doing that in the NFL.

Tight end Trey McBride had a great season, but he somehow didn’t catch a touchdown until very late in the year. It’s no wonder the offense was middle of the road (17th) in the red zone, and the defense was poor (28th) on third downs, which led to the offense having one of the lowest drive totals for the season.

We need to see a lot more consistency on both sides of the ball from Arizona in 2025. That means offensive players showing up for full games and not just the first quarter – looking at you, Marvin Harrison Jr. The pass rush is also going to have to get much better as this defense was basically “pass rush by committee” with no one registering more than 13 pressures or 5.0 sacks.

That won’t get it done either if you want to win in the NFL.

The Reasons for Optimism in Arizona This Season

This could be a make-or-break third season on the job for coach Jonathan Gannon. We could have said something similar about Kliff Kingsbury going into Year 3 in the 2021 season. He went from five wins to 8-8 in Year 2, which was the season they brought in wideout DeAndre Hopkins for Kyle Murray.

By Year 3 of Kingsbury and Murray, the team had that great 7-0 start before things unraveled and they lost in the wild card round. One could make the argument that 7-game winning streak is still the only time that Murray really sold us on his ability to be a franchise quarterback.

But he’s in Year 3 with Gannon and this coaching staff in 2025, and maybe he has a similar bump in play and production. Some déjà vu. There are some reasons for optimism here in Arizona.

Start with the Schedule

As usual, check out the schedule. It should be a favorable one for Arizona, especially early in the season:

The Cardinals open in New Orleans with a team that could have a rookie coach (Kellen Moore) and quarterback (Tyler Shough).
They host the Panthers in Week 2, and they’ll probably be favored in that game.
They host Seattle in Week 4 on a Thursday night, and maybe that team takes a step back with Sam Darnold replacing Geno Smith.
They host the Titans in Week 5, which likely means another rookie quarterback (Cam Ward) and a team not expected to do well this year.
Week 6 is in Indianapolis, and the Colts have a poor quarterback situation, too.

It’s a very nice opportunity to get off to a good start before the Week 8 bye. The Cardinals don’t have to play the Eagles, Commanders, or the Lions. They don’t play any of the elite AFC teams, and they play the weakest AFC division (South). They also play arguably the weakest NFC division, which is also the South.

Every NFC West team is getting this schedule advantage, but the Cardinals are playing a third-place schedule, so they’ll play teams like the Bengals, Cowboys, and Packers instead of the Rams (first-place schedule) having to play the Ravens, Eagles, and Lions. Advantage Arizona.

Sophomore Surge for Marvin Harrison Jr.?

The offense was able to stay fairly healthy last year, as even running back James Conner played 16 games. He’s a good back as long as he’s healthy. The Cardinals also made Trey McBride the highest-paid tight end in NFL history at $19 million per season, so he’s squared away, and hopefully, they find better plays for him in the red zone to score more touchdowns. He’s the closest thing we have to Rob Gronkowski at tight end right now.

But maybe the main reason for excitement is the development of Marvin Harrison Jr. He had 885 yards and 8 touchdowns in his rookie season, but it always felt like he could have did more if he produced beyond the first quarter in some of those games. He’d go from being wide open to not making a catch over the final quarters.

But he’s someone who could start living up to his Hall of Fame dad’s lofty standards in Year 2 and go well over 1,000 yards with more touchdowns this year. He was the first wideout drafted in 2024 but only fifth in receiving yards in his rookie class. Don’t be surprised if he makes the big leap this year and we see exactly why he was the No. 4 pick.

An offensive trio like Conner, Harrison, and McBride could certainly count as a “Big 3” for Murray to work with. Maybe the best collection of skill players we’ve seen in Arizona since Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin were in their prime together. The Cardinals also signed Zay Jones for depth, and he’s an improved player after a bad start to his career. Don’t sleep on Michael Wilson improving more in his third year too.

More Close Games for the Cardinals in 2025

Finally, we said the Cardinals had a lot of dramatic swings in their games last year. But a lot of their games weren’t close as they only played in seven games with a comeback opportunity (one-score deficit for either team) in the fourth quarter. Only the Bills (six) had fewer, and the Cowboys were the only other team with seven close games. That’s a number that usually regresses to the mean the next season, so expect more competitive games for the Cardinals in 2025.

That one could go either way for them. Historically, Murray is only 14-25-1 (.363) at game-winning drive opportunities, which is a little below average among current starting quarterbacks.

But let’s try to think positively about this team. If Darnold proves to be a one-year wonder in Seattle, a year after that team swept the Cardinals, then maybe that reverses itself in the division and the Cardinals can pull off a Seattle sweep this year.

Arizona Cardinals Offseason Review

The Cardinals have retained their core coaching staff for Gannon’s third season. But the draft was a clear attempt to improve the defense after the team signed a pass rusher in March’s free-agency period.

Improving the Defense Is a Must

Gannon got this coaching job after he helped the 2022 Eagles record 70 sacks in a Super Bowl season. But the talent was not at all comparable in Arizona, and that was still true last year when Zaven Collins led the pass rush with just 13 pressures and 5.0 sacks. Without much of a rush, even one of your best players, like safety Budda Baker, can have poor coverage numbers as he allowed seven touchdowns in 2024.

That’s why the Cardinals had to improve the defense. When free agency opened in March, Arizona made one of the largest signings by bringing Philadelphia edge rusher Josh Sweat over for a 4-year deal worth $76.4 million. He played for Gannon and had a career-high 11.0 sacks in that 2022 season. Sweat was again very good for the Eagles last year in their Super Bowl winning season and dismantling of the Chiefs in the big game. He should play well this year and be the centerpiece of the pass rush.

But why stop there? The Cardinals brought Calais Campbell home to the team that drafted him in 2008. He’s 39 this season but can still provide that veteran leadership and a handful of sacks in a season. They also added run-stopping nose tackle Dalvin Tomlinson, another veteran.

But Arizona wasn’t done there. The team used April’s draft to restock the defense, using their top five picks on that side of the ball. The best pick will hopefully be No. 16 pick Walter Nolen, the defensive tackle from Ole Miss who was one of the highest-rated players at his position. He’ll make up the line with Campbell and Tomlinson this season.

The Cardinals also took a chance on Michigan corner Will Johnson in the second round. He was thought by many to be the best corner not named Travis Hunter in this class, but his medical issues made him fall to the Cardinals at No .47. We’ll see when he’ll be ready to take the field, but that could work out well for them in the long run as this secondary has a lot of uncertainty at corner. They need a star.

They also added some edge depth in the third round with Oregon’s Jordan Burch as depth was always key to Philadelphia’s pass-rushing success. Gannon needs to replicate that in Arizona.

Best Bets for the 2025 Cardinals

This is usually the part where we go over the schedule and try to pinpoint how the team will fare. We already acknowledged the favorable schedule earlier as they’ll play the two South divisions.

Arizona has slight juice to win over 8.5 games (-120 at FanDuel). The idea of this team improving on last year’s record by at least one win is certainly appealing, but the schedule gives me pause, especially when you consider Murray’s career-long trend of not finishing strong.

It’s realistic to think the Cardinals could start 7-4 with this schedule, but they’ll close with games against the Buccaneers, Rams, Texans, Falcons, Bengals, and on the road against the Rams in Week 18. Most of those games are on the road actually. That’s a tough finish, so this team straddling the line between 8.5 wins and 9.5 wins right down to the final week is well within play.

If I had to choose, I’d take the even odds on under 8.5 wins just because we have bigger expectations for the 49ers and Rams this year, and it’s always hard to be that third-place team with a winning record. You also can’t reliably say they’re going to be better than Seattle this year. It’s just a tough division right now as it usually is.

But I think the bet I’d feel a lot more confident in is for Arizona to miss the playoffs, which could easily be achieved even with a 9-8 finish. The Seahawks were 10-7 last year and still missed the playoffs.

Oddly enough, my favorite Arizona bet is a prop pick as I expect Marvin Harrison Jr. to break 1,000 yards for the first time in 2025.

NFL Pick: Arizona Cardinals under 8.5 wins (+100) at FanDuel
NFL Pick: Arizona Cardinals to miss playoffs (-150) at FanDuel
NFL Pick: Marvin Harrison Jr. over 975.5 receiving yards (-114) at FanDuel

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