PFF Identifies Cardinals' Biggest Strength, Weakness in 2022
The Arizona Cardinals retained most of their roster from a playoff appearance last season, yet fans and media outlets continue to write off their squad for the upcoming year.
The Cardinals lost Christian Kirk and Chandler Jones via free agency, but most believe general manager Steve Keim did an adequate job filling in the gaps.
Moving forward, there's no excuses for a team that just inked Kyler Murray, Kliff Kingsbury and Keim together for the next few years down the road.
The secondary and offensive line still hold questions that will need answered sooner rather than later, and there's some doubts on how Arizona will proceed without DeAndre Hopkins for the first six weeks of the season.
In PFF's roster rankings for the 2022 season, Arizona falls to a dismal No. 23 with the following explanation:
PFF Says Cardinals Have Plenty of Holes in Roster
"Biggest strength: Over the past two seasons, Kyler Murray has completed 75% of his passes when targeting DeAndre Hopkins for a 122.5 passer rating. It's one of the best quarterback-wide receiver duos in the NFL when both players are healthy. However, both players being healthy hasn't been a given, and Hopkins is scheduled to start the 2022 season on a six-game suspension because he violated the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing drugs. If the Cardinals do end up making a run in the NFC, it will be, in part, because that combination is back at full strength down the stretch.
"Biggest weakness: For a team that has had some success over the past two seasons, there are a lot of holes on this roster. Cornerback was a concern heading into last season, but the Cardinals managed to get by with a solid season from Robert Alford. He is no longer on the roster, and Arizona's cornerback concerns remain entering 2022. Marco Wilson and the newly-acquired Trayvon Mullen are the favorites to start alongside Byron Murphy Jr. while Antonio Hamilton is on the NFI list. Wilson allowed a 129.8 passer rating on throws into his coverage as a rookie last year.
"X factor for 2022: Linebacker Isaiah Simmons hasn't lived up to the expectations that come with being a top-10 overall pick across his first two NFL seasons. He showed some promise in coverage in a limited role as a rookie in 2020 but was ineffective against the run and saw his PFF coverage grade drop over 10 points in an every-down starting role last season. Arizona needs both Simmons and Zaven Collins to become the reliable players that they were drafted to be in Vance Joseph's defense."
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