The NFL is a league of parity. Each year we seem teams make the climb from worst to first with forces pushing good teams back towards average and lifting those from the bottom of the standings back to contention.
Out of every last-place team in the NFL, the team with the toughest climb in 2026 and beyond is easily the Arizona Cardinals. They are effectively at the foot of Mt. Everest. The internal challenges are equally as difficult as the external battles.
Kyler Murray isn’t likely to return as the
quarterback, and he certainly cannot coexist with Jonathan Gannon at this point. Gannon isn’t guaranteed to lead the team next year either. The Cardinals must decide who they want to be and craft their path forward towards an identity. As of right now this is entirely unsolved.
And even if you arrive at a perfect answer with a head coach and quarterback pairing, Arizona plays in the NFC West where all three division rivals will finish the 2025 season with more than 11 wins. The West contains two of the best offensive head coaches in all of football in Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan. These Wunderkinds clash against Mike MacDonald twice a year, their defensive foil. All of the Rams, 49ers, and Seahawks seem primed for success for the foreseeable future. Even if the Cardinals enter that conversation, it will be an uphill battle for them for a long while.
Murray or Gannon?
Gannon expects to return as Arizona’s head coach. I think the Cardinals are planning to keep the wrong guy. It’s much easier to craft a narrative that supports retaining Murray over Gannon.
The Cardinals have a 15-35 record under Gannon. 13 of those victories (87%) have come with Murray starting at quarterback. Murray’s record with Gannon is 13-17. Murray’s record before Gannon was 35-45, but adjusts to 30-35 if you take out his rookie season.
These numbers aren’t great, admittedly, but it’s very evident that this is a better team when Murray is under center. We are talking about the Cardinals, not the Rams, Seahawks, or 49ers. Historically this has largely been a hapless team that has only enjoyed short stints of success. They would probably be pleased with a record close to .500.
Kyler Murray might be one of the best things to happen to this franchise, even if he has not taken the step towards elite status as a quarterback. He’s a much better player than Gannon is a head coach.
Arizona’s biggest failure
The Cardinals spent last offseason investing in their defense. They certainly raised the level of talent on a side of the ball that was heavily dependent on smoke and mirrors to remain competitive in gains, which was always part of Gannon’s appeal. That added talent largely did not stay healthy in 2025 although the process was sound.
Arizona’s biggest failure was an ill-conceived plan to build around Murray. The Cardinals created a supporting cast around Murray that accentuates his weaknesses instead of his strengths.
It all started when the team elected to draft Marvin Harrison, Jr. over Malik Nabers. Murray can hit vertical throws with the best of quarterbacks, and his ability to scramble and extend plays would have resulted in magic with Nabers. Instead the Cardinals drafted Harrison who does most of his damage over the middle of the field as a souped up possession receiver. This is an area of Murray’s game that has always been an exploit. The same holds true with Trey McBride at tight end and Michael Wilson on the outside.
Harrison, McBride, and Wilson are all three good to great players. Arizona deserves credit for identifying these talents. However, NFL roster building at it’s finest is not collecting talent but instead establishing an identity and crafting a team that has shared strengths. The Cardinals failed to acquire playmakers that best-suited Murray’s strengths. Their run game also took a major step back when Gannon lost his key assistant, Klayton Adams, to the Dallas Cowboys.
The bottom line is that the Cardinals were fortunate to draft a player like Murray. They did not build a supporting cast to enhance his strengths, and now they will likely cast him out in favor of a head coach that helped create this problem.
Fixing the Cardinals was already an immensely difficult problem. Arizona is likely to make that task even more difficult by retaining Gannon over Murray.
