There are books that could be written about the Arizona Cardinals 2025 season.
Decisions that have been made, framing of losses, and how a 2-0 season has unfolded and trended towards being a historically
bad season, even for the Arizona Cardinals.
In their 27-24 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars there are a number of things that came up that were odd.
No more than their use of their cornerback room.
With Will Johnson once again missing time, the Cardinals had Garrett Williams, Max Melton, Denzel Burke and Kei’Trel Clark at their disposal.
As the game progressed it became apparent that Burke and Clark were going to be targeted by the Jaguars, and yet the player who the Cardinals spent a 2024 second round pick on Max Melton was suspiciously missing.
Melton played 15 snaps on defense, six against the run and nine against the pass.
On the flipside, Clark was in for 24 snaps, nine against the run and 15 against the pass. That means the cornerback two in the game was rookie fifth rounder Denzel Burke.
Jonathan Gannon was asked about it in the post game presser and once again, just played it off:
This is an interesting development, as Melton has been seen as a key piece to a young defensive group. Now, it seems like he is on the outside looking in in a room that needs as much help as possible.
Melton getting usurped by Clark is also not ideal in the sense that Clark is an ideal fourth or fifth cornerback, but when he is playing meaningful snaps consistently he can get exposed.
If Melton is being graded below that, he may not be long for the team. Yet, seeing rookie Denzel Burke, who we all hope is a diamond in the rough day three pick find, is what is even more concerning.
Burke could be good, but he hasn’t been great and you usually want to develop these guys slowly.
Yet, Gannon and company would rather see Burke on the field than Melton? If there is an injury concern, then it should absolutely be addressed, but if it is a performance issue, then that would be concerning for the short-term, but bad for the long-term.
