kerouac9
Klowned by Keim
The Cards have 58 players under contract for the 2024 season. This is good; last offseason GM Monti Ossenfort didn't have enough players to fill his roster before free agency even if you added in walking-dead players like WR DeAndre Hopkins. This year the Cards could have a lively spring practice while drafting all the players with disclosed and undisclosed injuries they like.
You don't have to scratch very deep in the 2024 roster before getting to the 2023 draft class (Paris Johnson, Jr has the seventh-highest cap number on the team) or sub-replacement level warm bodies (only 23 players have a cap number greater than the $1.05 million of Naquan Jones, Toney Jones, Roy Lopez, Andre Chachere, Michael Carter, Phil Hoskins, and Jeff Smith). This situation isn't unusual -- most teams have a core of players that make a lot of money and a constellation of draft picks and minimum salary veterans surrounding them. The relative paucity of core talent of this roster really sets the Cards apart from the vast majority of the NFL.
Let's look ahead to 2026 -- when the Cards currently have Kyler Murray, Jalen Thompson, Elijah Higgins, and their 2023 draft class under contract. For comparison's sake, the Bengals have QB Joe Burrow, OT Orlando Brown, and LB Logan Wilson under contract, likely to be joined by Ja'Marr Chase in the next few weeks or months. San Francisco has Trent Williams, Fred Warner, Javon Hargrave, Nick Bosa, Mitch Wishnowsky, and Jake Brendel under contract, along with voided years for Deebo Samuel, Arik Armstead, George Kittle, Charvarious Ward, Christian McCaffery, and others. It'll all be worth it for them if they win the Super Bowl in the next two years.
One imagines that two or three members of the Cards' 2024 free agency class are likely going to join Kyler, Thompson, Higgins, most of the 2023 draft class, and much of the 2024 draft class. Here are the players on the roster today I expect to still be hanging around two years out (current FA year):
Krys Barnes (2024)
Greg Dortch (ERFA 2024)
Blake Gillikin (2024)
Kyzir White (2025)
Brutal. Two off-ball linebackers, a fourth wide receiver, and a punter. Salvation probably isn't coming through free agency. Monti is going to have to draft difference-makers at high-impact positions, and a lot of them.
You don't have to scratch very deep in the 2024 roster before getting to the 2023 draft class (Paris Johnson, Jr has the seventh-highest cap number on the team) or sub-replacement level warm bodies (only 23 players have a cap number greater than the $1.05 million of Naquan Jones, Toney Jones, Roy Lopez, Andre Chachere, Michael Carter, Phil Hoskins, and Jeff Smith). This situation isn't unusual -- most teams have a core of players that make a lot of money and a constellation of draft picks and minimum salary veterans surrounding them. The relative paucity of core talent of this roster really sets the Cards apart from the vast majority of the NFL.
Let's look ahead to 2026 -- when the Cards currently have Kyler Murray, Jalen Thompson, Elijah Higgins, and their 2023 draft class under contract. For comparison's sake, the Bengals have QB Joe Burrow, OT Orlando Brown, and LB Logan Wilson under contract, likely to be joined by Ja'Marr Chase in the next few weeks or months. San Francisco has Trent Williams, Fred Warner, Javon Hargrave, Nick Bosa, Mitch Wishnowsky, and Jake Brendel under contract, along with voided years for Deebo Samuel, Arik Armstead, George Kittle, Charvarious Ward, Christian McCaffery, and others. It'll all be worth it for them if they win the Super Bowl in the next two years.
One imagines that two or three members of the Cards' 2024 free agency class are likely going to join Kyler, Thompson, Higgins, most of the 2023 draft class, and much of the 2024 draft class. Here are the players on the roster today I expect to still be hanging around two years out (current FA year):
Krys Barnes (2024)
Greg Dortch (ERFA 2024)
Blake Gillikin (2024)
Kyzir White (2025)
Brutal. Two off-ball linebackers, a fourth wide receiver, and a punter. Salvation probably isn't coming through free agency. Monti is going to have to draft difference-makers at high-impact positions, and a lot of them.
Don't @ me.
