Realistic 8th Ranked Cardinals NFL Power Rankings

[cardinals2025]

nfc west is a crapshoot - chickens will have a new qb but sf/la/az are all in the mix

That more accurate than what most analysts say. I am just trying to separate them by inches here and inches there.

NFL playoff predictor delivers shocking revelation about 49ers' postseason hopes

Pro Football Network's NFL playoff predictor didn't exactly cast the 49ers in a positive light following the 2025 draft.

ninernoise.com

This prediction by AI is not just interesting in terms of it having us as 43% to win the division. But no analyst right now would predict AZ coming in first and SEA coming in 2nd.

 

[cardinals2025]

Until we prove otherwise on the field, we are exactly where we belong. Middle of the pack. It's wishful thinking to think we are top 10 in anything at this point.

We finished middle of the pack last year. You don’t add this much talent and not get better. The question is 9 10 or 11 wins.

9 wins and Kyler is gone.

Anything less barring a major injury and people would be in absolute shock.

It is time to start being optimistic bc the alternative is a hell similar to where the Suns are right now.

4 wins to 8 wins to ?

All we need is 2 more.

 

[BirdGangThing]

That more accurate than what most analysts say. I am just trying to separate them by inches here and inches there.

NFL playoff predictor delivers shocking revelation about 49ers' postseason hopes

Pro Football Network's NFL playoff predictor didn't exactly cast the 49ers in a positive light following the 2025 draft.

ninernoise.com

This prediction by AI is not just interesting in terms of it having us as 43% to win the division. But no analyst right now would predict AZ coming in first and SEA coming in 2nd.

i'll use ai to ask weird stat questions and the like - pretty friggin useful but i respect their predictions less than k9 respects pff

 

[cardinals2025]

i'll use ai to ask weird stat questions and the like - pretty friggin useful but i respect their predictions less than k9 respects pff

The article is also written from the 49ers fan site talking about what they have lost on defense which is substantial.

Not to mention the lack of depth at WR and RB with Mason and Samuel both gone.

One big injury and they are in trouble.

I just think Rams will be more of the threat and even if 49ers stay healthy, no team in the NFC west with the worst defense has EVER won the division.

PPG last year on defense:

SEA 11th

AZ 14th

LAR 18th

SF 28th

All 4 could improve.

Doubtful SF doesn’t remain the worst. This is why they went 6-11. I can see them with 8 maybe 9 at most. Neither wins the division. They dealt with injuries on offense before and still managed to win the division. You are seeing them rebuilding on defense.

Who do they take in the draft?

Two massive DLinemen in the first 2 rounds. Which didn’t address their HUGE need in the secondary. Just look at the Points the NFC West teams put up against SF last year. Those of you who think their “offensive injuries” were their main issue are missing the point.

 

[kerouac9]

It is more sophisticated than an SI or ESPN article making power rankings. With an obvious east and west coast bias every year and being wrong about our record now 2 straight years in a row. (This includes vegas over under at this point in the offseason and before the season started)

I said our SRS could jump from 13th to 8th.

I guess the better number to look at for defense would be that we were 14th in ppg. I think we can improve on that and be 10th at least.

So our offense improves to 11th in ppg from 12th.

Our def goes from 14th to 10th.

Seems like a 10-11 win team.

Right now vegas has us at over under 8.5 wins. I do not see how we don’t get 9 wins if we avoid major injury. It would be a catastrophe and end of Kyler for sure.

When is everyone else gonna acknowledge the fact that even though we were disappointed last year, we still overachieved our national expectations for the 2nd straight season in every possible way.

I think that both have "value", although I'm not convinced that SRS is very predictive year-over-year. Both that and DVOA (my preferred metric) have historically had pretty high predictive power week-to-week (more than W/L record, at least). None are worth much in May.

Cards are plus money for over 8.5 wins. Yikes.

 

[cardinals2025]

You must be registered for see images attach

At the end of the day if we take care of OUR business 10 wins is clearly within reach. 9 wins would be nothing other than major disappointment (barring major injury) and 11 wins is within reach. I will be hardpressed as a fan to be upset with this team if 10-7 is somehow not good enough to win the division.

3-3 in the division like last year is always the conservative way I project us within the division, despite the fact 4-2 is also in play.

Then we need to go 7-4 outside the div.

HOME WINS:

Ten, Car, Jax

ROAD WINS:

Dal, No, Ind


That is 6 wins right there. Now lets assume we blow one of those games, which is possible and that makes us 5-1 + 3-3 is 8-4.

8-4 with these games left:

vs Atl

vs GB

at Cin

at Hou

at TB

2-3 in these gms is 10-7.

We don’t have to “prove ourselves.” All we have to do is not F it up.

It doesn’t matter how you finish the year if you win the division. And as bad as last year was, it was less bad than 2021. And I believe the end of this reg season will be less bad than 2024 because talent hides weaknesses and our coaching is improving and our depth is better.

Seahawks have used overwhelming talent in certain areas the last few years to hide their biggest weaknesses. Thats why they are always in the mix.

DO NOT count them out either. Like others in sports media have. Their def could be even better than last year while everyone is focusing on their offense.

 

[cardinals2025]

I think that both have "value", although I'm not convinced that SRS is very predictive year-over-year. Both that and DVOA (my preferred metric) have historically had pretty high predictive power week-to-week (more than W/L record, at least). None are worth much in May.

Cards are plus money for over 8.5 wins. Yikes.

Fair enough. I haven’t done year over analysis. That would be interesting so I will take your word for it.

Yeah haha. Last year we were at 6.5 wins at this point. Before week 1 it changed to 7.5. And we still beat that.

 

[BurqueCardFan]

We finished middle of the pack last year. You don’t add this much talent and not get better. The question is 9 10 or 11 wins.

9 wins and Kyler is gone.

Anything less barring a major injury and people would be in absolute shock.

It is time to start being optimistic bc the alternative is a hell similar to where the Suns are right now.

4 wins to 8 wins to ?

All we need is 2 more.

I agree we should be better but to say we are top 8 in the NFL power rankings is a pretty big stretch/leap. Once again, everyone is trying to anoint Gannon as the best coach in Cardinals history and he hasn’t accomplished anything yet.

 

[ASUCHRIS]

Imagine implicitly trusting AI for anything predictive.

 

[BirdGangThing]

last two seasons i was 1 game off - the cardinals won one more game then i predicted both years - a.i. couldn't clean my bong (literally)

i went with 11 wins this year btw

 

[daves]

They’re demonstrably worse than a 6-11 team? Is their rookie gonna get shot again? Is Brandon Aiyuk only gonna play seven games again?

So is McCaffrey going to bounce back to 2023 form in 2025? Because he blew when he played in 2024.

Is Aiyuk going to fully return to 2023 form as well? Because he sucked when he played in 2024, before blowing out an ACL and MCL in October.

Samuel is gone. Do you think a full season of Jennings and Pearsall plus a partial season from Aiyuk in 2025 will be better than a full season from Samuel and Jennings plus partial seasons from Aiyuk and Pearsall in 2024?

The 49ers may be getting some injured guys back, but they also lost Greenlaw, Hufanga, Charvarius Ward, Hargrave, Maliek Collins, and Leonard Floyd in the offseason, and made no significant additions in free agency.

I wouldn't predict that they'll be worse than 6-11, but I don't see where any optimism for a big improvement comes from. They're nowhere near the same team as the one that was in the Super Bowl two seasons ago.

 

[daves]

CMC played 4 games.

Brandon Aiyuk played 7 games.

Trent Williams played 10 games.

The argument is that they have lost players but they also had bad injury luck to three of their best players. Easy to argue that those players are good enough to offset any losses.

McCaffrey's bilateral Achilles tendinitis was said to be chronic. Every week they said he was getting better and close to playing, but when he finally came back he was a shadow of his former self - then suffered a PCL injury. He's played more than 7 games in exactly two of the last seven seasons.

Aiyuk played like a shadow of his former self even before his season-ending injury, which will keep him out at least half of 2025 and who knows whether he'll be any good when he returns?

Williams will be 37 before the season starts.

The 49ers didn't have "bad injury luck" - they're old and injury prone.

They've got great scouting and coaching, but they'll need extreme luck in the positive direction to return to 2023 form in 2025.

 

[daves]

It is more sophisticated than an SI or ESPN article making power rankings. With an obvious east and west coast bias every year

I agree that the Cardinals are being underrated nationally... but as for "obvious east and west coast bias"... two of ESPN's top four, and five of the top ten ranked teams are in the midwest.

 

[kerouac9]

So is McCaffrey going to bounce back to 2023 form in 2025? Because he blew when he played in 2024.

Is Aiyuk going to fully return to 2023 form as well? Because he sucked when he played in 2024, before blowing out an ACL and MCL in October.

Samuel is gone. Do you think a full season of Jennings and Pearsall plus a partial season from Aiyuk in 2025 will be better than a full season from Samuel and Jennings plus partial seasons from Aiyuk and Pearsall in 2024?

The 49ers may be getting some injured guys back, but they also lost Greenlaw, Hufanga, Charvarius Ward, Hargrave, Maliek Collins, and Leonard Floyd in the offseason, and made no significant additions in free agency.

I wouldn't predict that they'll be worse than 6-11, but I don't see where any optimism for a big improvement comes from. They're nowhere near the same team as the one that was in the Super Bowl two seasons ago.

And yet despite all this the 2024 San Franciso 49ers were fourth in yardage and 13th in scoring. The problem was not the offense -- we scored 11 more points than them over the course of the season with essentially all our skill positions healthy.

The problem was their 29th-ranked defense. They brought back their Super Bowl coordinator and drafted four defensive players in their top 100 picks.

Will that be enough to put them in the top 15 in defense? Probably not. But will it help a ton? I think you'd have to say yes.

 

[Chopper0080]

McCaffrey's bilateral Achilles tendinitis was said to be chronic. Every week they said he was getting better and close to playing, but when he finally came back he was a shadow of his former self - then suffered a PCL injury. He's played more than 7 games in exactly two of the last seven seasons.

Aiyuk played like a shadow of his former self even before his season-ending injury, which will keep him out at least half of 2025 and who knows whether he'll be any good when he returns?

Williams will be 37 before the season starts.

The 49ers didn't have "bad injury luck" - they're old and injury prone.

They've got great scouting and coaching, but they'll need extreme luck in the positive direction to return to 2023 form in 2025.

For CMC, he has played more than 7 games in 5 of the 8 seasons of his career. 17, 18, 19, 22, 23. And in the two seasons he was healthy in SF, they lost a combined 9 games. But don't let my facts get in the way of your narrative.

Aiyuk has been very good, and last year was the only year in his career where he produced less than 700 yards.

And Trent has been very healthy over his career. Never having a season of playing less than 10 games, and last year was the first year he played less than 14 game since he came to SF.

 

[Krangodnzr]

For CMC, he has played more than 7 games in 5 of the 8 seasons of his career. 17, 18, 19, 22, 23. And in the two seasons he was healthy in SF, they lost a combined 9 games. But don't let my facts get in the way of your narrative.

Aiyuk has been very good, and last year was the only year in his career where he produced less than 700 yards.

And Trent has been very healthy over his career. Never having a season of playing less than 10 games, and last year was the first year he played less than 14 game since he came to SF.

Do oft injured running backs tend to stay healthy more as they get older?

 

[Krangodnzr]

McCaffrey's bilateral Achilles tendinitis was said to be chronic. Every week they said he was getting better and close to playing, but when he finally came back he was a shadow of his former self - then suffered a PCL injury. He's played more than 7 games in exactly two of the last seven seasons.

Aiyuk played like a shadow of his former self even before his season-ending injury, which will keep him out at least half of 2025 and who knows whether he'll be any good when he returns?

Williams will be 37 before the season starts.

The 49ers didn't have "bad injury luck" - they're old and injury prone.

They've got great scouting and coaching, but they'll need extreme luck in the positive direction to return to 2023 form in 2025.

I would say that the 9ers have had this weird luck where it's Super Bowl or suck virtually every other year.

 

[Chopper0080]

Do oft injured running backs tend to stay healthy more as they get older?

He has been more healthy than not in his career. He has played two full(ish) seasons of his past 3. I don't pretend like I can predict injuries.

 

[Krangodnzr]

He has been more healthy than not in his career. He has played two full(ish) seasons of his past 3. I don't pretend like I can predict injuries.

I mean you're kind of downplaying his injuries but few star running backs can withstand 3 major injuries in their career. It's not like he missed two or three games in those seasons, he missed over half of seasons.

I wouldn't really bet against him though because he is still relatively young (only 28).

 

[oaken1]

I mean you're kind of downplaying his injuries but few star running backs can withstand 3 major injuries in their career. It's not like he missed two or three games in those seasons, he missed over half of seasons.

I wouldn't really bet against him though because he is still relatively young (only 28).

Chronic Achilles tendonitis.

"Chronic"

 

[DVontel]

We should be winning our division. We have the 11th easiest schedule on paper (not that it means much now) with only the Niners with an easier one.

The Seahawks have a new QB learning a new scheme and lost DK and Lockett. The Niners decimated their roster and rely on an aging, often injured RB. We should finish above both.

The Rams are my main concern. Like us, much will come down to how their QB plays. If Kyler isn't trash we should win the division.

Kyler can play good & the Rams are still better than us. They are & should be the favorites.

 

[daves]

For CMC, he has played more than 7 games in 5 of the 8 seasons of his career. 17, 18, 19, 22, 23. And in the two seasons he was healthy in SF, they lost a combined 9 games. But don't let my facts get in the way of your narrative.

My bad - not a "narrative", just a careless reading of Pro Football Reference, which lists the 2022 season on three separate rows since he split it between Carolina and San Francisco.

Still, he's missed more than half of three of the last five seasons (2020, 2021, and 2024), and will be 29 in a month with chronic Achilles tendonitis. Doesn't bode super well.

They lost Mason to free agency also, though Guerendo seemed like another solid backup.

Aiyuk has been very good, and last year was the only year in his career where he produced less than 700 yards.

Sure, but coming back in the second half of the season fresh off an ACL tear isn't a recipe for great success in 2025.

And Trent has been very healthy over his career. Never having a season of playing less than 10 games, and last year was the first year he played less than 14 game since he came to SF.

Again... he's 37 now.

As said... if San Francisco gets just as much "good luck" this year as they had "bad luck" last year, sure, they could be great again. I just wouldn't bet on it. We shall see!

 

[kerouac9]

Kyler can play good & the Rams are still better than us. They are & should be the favorites.

Are they though? We ranked higher than them in offensive and defensive yardage and scoring. We split the season series.

The Rams 2024 NFC West title can easily be read as an artifact of luck and timing. I worry that McVay is just a much better coach and we have to be 125% more talented to overcome that.

 

[Mulli]

Are they though? We ranked higher than them in offensive and defensive yardage and scoring. We split the season series.

The Rams 2024 NFC West title can easily be read as an artifact of luck and timing. I worry that McVay is just a much better coach and we have to be 125% more talented to overcome that.

You worry? As in every day? Get out more, my brutha

 

[DVontel]

Are they though? We ranked higher than them in offensive and defensive yardage and scoring. We split the season series.

The Rams 2024 NFC West title can easily be read as an artifact of luck and timing. I worry that McVay is just a much better coach and we have to be 125% more talented to overcome that.

They upgraded their run D by signing Poona Ford on a DLine that’s already proven & swapped out washed Kupp for Adams. On paper, they are more talented now than they were last year.