A Variety of Thoughts as the Season Ends/Begins

[Chopper0080]

Just some things to get out of my brain.

1 - IMO, some of the key areas I am focused on in a new HC are, how detailed is the person, do they have a history of teaching (developing players), what is their plan for the OL, plan for QB, and how are they going to maximize McBride, Wilson, and MHJ?

2 - On that note, the plan for the offense is probably the most key thing for me. Mostly because it constitutes the majority of the best players on the roster, and is probably the quickest way to relevancy. The defense has young players, but outside of Sweat and Nolen, few have shown they are significantly better than league average.

3 - Something that is positive for the new HC is that there are minimal, high snap FAs walking out the door. Cuts will happen for sure to open up salary but no large FA decision looms for the new guy.

4 - Looking at what SF did with significant injuries, Seattle did with a jumbled together offense, and LA has done with very cheap defense...I do think it highlights where Gannon was lacking. For a guy who talked about coaching guys up and developing players, he was unable to execute that.

5 - I made a comment in another thread about this but it is a little comical what the Cardinals get secretive about. This guarded coaching search just seems silly.

6 - I think the staff of our new coach will ultimately be as important as the new coach himself. Another lesson from Gannon's time, where we saw the impact of losing a OL coach and being unable to replace him. Adams was able to elevate a mid OL room, and his replacement was not. it gives me a little hope that some of the young players on the roster might actually have some levels to unlock with better coaching.

7 - Maybe it is recency bias but this might be the lowest I have seen the fan base since pre and post Jake Plummer years.

8 - It's crazy there has not been any info on Walter Nolen's knee. At least that I have heard. He is one of the few bright spots on the defensive roster.

9 - I think I would be more curious about the plan at QB for AZ if there were better options available. As of now, it seems that most will feel underwhelming at best but that is how some years go.

10 - With college coaching salaries getting pretty large, I wonder if NFL teams will feel like they have to increase theirs as well. Especially for positional/coordinators. Maybe not though as the college portal environment would be very frustrating for coaches.

 

[Chopper0080]

11 - On the draft, I am happy to see some people getting on board with David Bailey at 3. Personally, unless new info on him comes out, I think he is a no brainer and the real conundrum would be if he goes 2, and the Cardinals have to decide between Reese/Mauigoa. I think you will hear more of Fano at 3, but I am not as sold on him as Mauigoa. Fano looked very lean at Utah which is a bigger concern at the pro level than college.

 

[Chopper0080]

12 - Lots of FA RBs on the market. My guess is Monti will sign one of the better ones to replace Conner. Conner's contract was structured with this scenario in mind. If you want names, Breece Hall, Rico Dowdle, Ken Walker, Etienne, and Tyler Allgeier.

EDIT: Happy Senior Bowl week.

 

[Metcalf Rules]

11 - On the draft, I am happy to see some people getting on board with David Bailey at 3. Personally, unless new info on him comes out, I think he is a no brainer and the real conundrum would be if he goes 2, and the Cardinals have to decide between Reese/Mauigoa. I think you will hear more of Fano at 3, but I am not as sold on him as Mauigoa. Fano looked very lean at Utah which is a bigger concern at the pro level than college.

I think a healthy Nolen, Sweat and Bailey would be fun to watch.

 

[Totally_Red]

6. I think that was one of my biggest disappointments with the previous staff. Player development has to be near the top of the priorities of the next one.

 

[Chopper0080]

Why post season workouts matter...specifically measurements.

Gabe Jacas was listed at Illinois as 6'3 275. At Senior Bowl, 6'3 260.

LT Overton was listed as 6'5 278 on the Bama website and measured at 6'2 278.

 

[HairZach]

I made a thread after week 3 saying that the season was over because we were going to be starting our CB6 as our CB1, and it was clear Klayton Adams replacement was really bad. The injuries only got worse from there. 47% of the initial roster on IR by the last game.

No matter who the coach is, next year will be better than 2025 was because half our players wont be on IR. There is talent on this roster. The expectation should be to improve from our 8-9 record in 2024. Absolutely nothing has happened with our roster that would justify a regression from 2024. No real contributors have been lost.

 

[Chopper0080]

I made a thread after week 3 saying that the season was over because we were going to be starting our CB6 as our CB1, and it was clear Klayton Adams replacement was really bad. The injuries only got worse from there. 47% of the initial roster on IR by the last game.

No matter who the coach is, next year will be better than 2025 was because half our players wont be on IR. There is talent on this roster. The expectation should be to improve from our 8-9 record in 2024. Absolutely nothing has happened with our roster that would justify a regression from 2024. No real contributors have been lost.

I hear you but injuries can't cause your team to fall off the rails completely. SF is a good example of that. Tons of injuries, but they didn't fall apart. In contrast, when injuries hit AZ they tied or set a record for penalties in a game. Lost multiple games by 30+ points. Did not look like they had players prepared to play mentally. And even when healthy, things were not buttoned up for a team in year 3. I agree with K9 when he says that Gannon knew what needed to happen, but he was unable to instill that in the players. He could not implement his vision.


EDIT: in addition, he let them change his identity. His defense bent and broke. His offense lacked explosive plays and gave them up. His team was no longer a physical team. He wanted "killers" but coached them to play safe. It just never added up.

 

[HairZach]

I hear you but injuries can't cause your team to fall off the rails completely. SF is a good example of that. Tons of injuries, but they didn't fall apart. In contrast, when injuries hit AZ they tied or set a record for penalties in a game. Lost multiple games by 30+ points. Did not look like they had players prepared to play mentally. And even when healthy, things were not buttoned up for a team in year 3. I agree with K9 when he says that Gannon knew what needed to happen, but he was unable to instill that in the players. He could not implement his vision.


EDIT: in addition, he let them change his identity. His defense bent and broke. His offense lacked explosive plays and gave them up. His team was no longer a physical team. He wanted "killers" but coached them to play safe. It just never added up.

I'm not arguing for Gannon at this point, he's gone. I'm just saying we have reason to be optimistic for 2026. There are other teams that bottomed out due to injury then bounced back the next year. For example the 49ers in 2024 and 2020.

SF went 6-10 in 2024, lost multiple games by 3 scores, and got swept by Gannon. 4th in the division, Petzing put up 47 on them in week 18. They finished the year with 16 players on IR. Huge bounce back in 2025 with much better injury luck (They finished the regular season with 5 players on IR this year)

The same exact thing happened in 2020, 6-10 again, tons of blowout loses, 4th in the division. Again, huge bounce back in 2021 with better injury luck.

What happened to the Cardinals in 2025 was worse than what happened to the 49ers in 2024 or 2020. So while we looked bad in 2025, our expectations should be to be better than we were in 2024.

I cant take the 49ers seriously as an example of why injuries shouldnt sink a season. Shanahan's track record proves the opposite.

In 2025 SF had 20 players spend time on IR, that is a lot. But most of those injuries were early and most the players came back by week 8. By week 17 they only had 5 players on season ending injured reserve. 1/3rd of what they dealt with in 2024.

The 2025 Cardinals had 32 players spend time on IR and by week 17 had 25 players on season ending IR. That is 5x the injures SF ended with. You can replace 5 guys and make due with depth pieces. The Cardinals lost their starters and depth pieces. Again, my point is that barring coaching malpractice next year, we should be better than 8 wins in 2026.

 

[slanidrac16]

Gannon and Petzing scheme was terrible.
Watching this weeks playoff games made it painfully obvious.
We lament over MHJ production. He will never be Njigma. Wilson is closer to him.
The same could be said for Rallis. Him and Gannon were hell bent on a 4 man rush and to hell with the results.
I feel a guy like LaFluer and Kubiak would bring a solid scheme and plan.
They will bring a coaching staff familiar with their vision.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

5 - I made a comment in another thread about this but it is a little comical what the Cardinals get secretive about. This guarded coaching search just seems silly.

They are guarded because this is probably what is happening.

'We inquired about X coach, coach laughed in our face.'
'We inquired about Y coach, this coach will let us know if they are interested down the road.' (meaning they'll take the AZ job if they do not get any other job etc.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

11 - On the draft, I am happy to see some people getting on board with David Bailey at 3. Personally, unless new info on him comes out, I think he is a no brainer and the real conundrum would be if he goes 2, and the Cardinals have to decide between Reese/Mauigoa. I think you will hear more of Fano at 3, but I am not as sold on him as Mauigoa. Fano looked very lean at Utah which is a bigger concern at the pro level than college.

If Bailey is gone at 2, I'm letting people know the pick is for sale. Hopefully for someone who wants Simpson. I see no separation between Reese, Mauigoa, Fano, Bain etc. The BPA would be Love and would probably be a reach at 3.

 

[MadCardDisease]

Gannon and Petzing scheme was terrible.
Watching this weeks playoff games made it painfully obvious.
We lament over MHJ production. He will never be Njigma. Wilson is closer to him.
The same could be said for Rallis. Him and Gannon were hell bent on a 4 man rush and to hell with the results.
I feel a guy like LaFluer and Kubiak would bring a solid scheme and plan.
They will bring a coaching staff familiar with their vision.

I think Gannon and his staff started coaching scared this season. They were playing not to lose when they should have been playing to win. That ultimately doomed them and the momentum of losing just snowballed IMO.

 

[Chopper0080]

I would like to see more aggressiveness overall from the AZ Cardinals.

 

[BullheadCardFan]

I would like to see more aggressiveness overall from the AZ Cardinals.

In all phases of the team

 

[football karma]

They are guarded because this is probably what is happening.

'We inquired about X coach, coach laughed in our face.'
'We inquired about Y coach, this coach will let us know if they are interested down the road.' (meaning they'll take the AZ job if they do not get any other job etc.

the team knows via agents who is willing to accept an interview and who isnt for that very reason

 

[Cheesebeef]

I think Gannon and his staff started coaching scared this season. They were playing not to lose when they should have been playing to win. That ultimately doomed them and the momentum of losing just snowballed IMO.

The crazy thing about that was it started from Game 1. This was supposed to be the year we came out to kick ass and make an impact on the league and instead we came out happy to sneak away with Ws against bad teams and tell themselves 2-0 was all that mattered.

They just weren’t ready for the moment. It’s easy to coach or really do any kind of job when no one expects anything from you.

 

[phillycard]

I made a thread after week 3 saying that the season was over because we were going to be starting our CB6 as our CB1, and it was clear Klayton Adams replacement was really bad. The injuries only got worse from there. 47% of the initial roster on IR by the last game.

No matter who the coach is, next year will be better than 2025 was because half our players wont be on IR. There is talent on this roster. The expectation should be to improve from our 8-9 record in 2024. Absolutely nothing has happened with our roster that would justify a regression from 2024. No real contributors have been lost.

In other words. Nowhere to go but up.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

The crazy thing about that was it started from Game 1. This was supposed to be the year we came out to kick ass and make an impact on the league and instead we came out happy to sneak away with Ws against bad teams and tell themselves 2-0 was all that mattered.

They just weren’t ready for the moment. It’s easy to coach or really do any kind of job when no one expects anything from you.

I think it was clear at that point that something wasn't right, and this group wasn't going to be credible.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

Maybe it is recency bias but this might be the lowest I have seen the fan base since pre and post Jake Plummer years.

I don't think it is - I think some people wishcasted Michael to be something other than a less likeable version of his dad, but here we are.

No QB/no HC/no team president/and a GM who has been mostly bad. One playoff APPEARANCE in the last 10 years. The proof is in the pudding. Other than McBride, what is there to point to for any optimism?