Before the 2024 NFL season, fans of the Arizona cardinals were largely prudently optimistic about their second season under Jonathan Gannon.
After losing Kyler Murray for a large part of the season due to a torn ACL at the end of 2022, the cardinals were able to shoot very good results with players like Josh Dobbs and Clayton Tune Under Center, ending the season with A 4-13 sheet but a lot of optimism for the future. From there, the team added key players in the free agency, including the offensive platform Jonah Williams, the Sean Murphy-Bunting corner half and the defensive line players Justin Jones and Deejay Dallas, and followed in the draft, where They selected Marvin Harrison Jr. and Darius Robinson in the first round.
Admittedly, the cardinals could use this talent and skyrocket at the top of the NFC West, right? New weapons in attack, a much necessary help on the defensive line, takes into account the good and a step forward for everyone in the 2nd year of the Gannon system, and Arizona would surely be back in the swing of things.
On paper, the cardinals took a step forward, doubling their total victories compared to the previous year in an effort which deserves to be greeted. Trey McBride took a step forward as a tight elite, just like Zaven Collins as a full-time rusher, and Murray has proven that he was always worthy of being considered a quarter of franchise, even If he has never returned to his summit of week 2 where he absolutely dismantled the Rams of Los Angeles alone.
Unfortunately, the cardinals also play in one of the most difficult divisions of the NFL, so even at 8-9, they nevertheless finished in the basement and will choose the 16th place at the draft of the NFL 2025.
Is it the offseason where Arizona finally gets enough talent to break in the playoffs? Or will fans have to start having uncomfortable conversations on Gannon at the end of the season, wondering how long they can wait for his program to come together?
Needless to say, Monti Ossenfort has its hands fully in front of the 2025 NFL season, and that it all starts with the free agency, where the cardinals have $ 71.3 million to spendAccording to the cap, and the holes to be filled.
1. Milton Williams
If there is a player above all the others, the cardinals should continue this offseason, it is the defensive platform of the Eagles of Philadelphia, Milton Williams.
Initially written in the third round when Gannon was still with the team, the defensive coordinator of the time became viral to celebrate the selection of Williams by Louisiana Tech in the third round while Senior football advisor Tom Donahoe molded in the area.
After the project, Nick Sirianni commented on how Gannon was specifically enthusiastic about the addition of Williams, because he thought that the Bulldog Collegiate checked all the boxes be an effective contributor to the defensive line.
“Jonathan Gannon and our defensive staff are justified to work with Milton to help him achieve the potential he has shown in college and throughout the screening process,” said Sirianni after the project. “Versatile players like Milton make things difficult for opposing offenses because they open many options for a defense. With the players we have in this d-line room, we know that Milton will be able to develop his game and find a role to contribute. »»
Standing 6 -inch, 290 pounds with an incredible dashboard time of 4.67 of 40 yards at the NFL combined, Williams really became his for the Eagles in 2024, picking up five bags in the regular season plus two other in SERIES eliminations The way to a Philly career definition performance performance in the Super Bowl; Bringing Patrick Mahomes down on the way to an eruption victory. Williams resumed Klutch Sports during his day cleaning day, and despite his announcement during the Super Bowl fashion show that he would like to go back to Philadelphia, he could theoretically go anywhere in free agency that offers good terms.
Enter Arizona.
While Williams only turned into three techniques from time to time, while Vic Fangio kept Jalen Carter in the field for 75% of the team’s shots, the Los Angeles product would immediately become the best interior rusher of the cardinals and would get All possibilities of precipitation of your choice. The 26 -year -old would bring the Super Bowl experience to a group that got used to losing more often than not and would not even have a particularly difficult learning curve to join the team system, Because he had already succeeded under Gannon in Philadelphia.
Walk, don’t run to sign Williams, Ossenfort: it is as close to a home run as you will find it in a free agency.
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2. Haason Reddick
Another explosion of the past on two fronts, Haason Reddick, is both an old cardinal and a former member of the Eagles under Gannon, where he has transformed two -digit bags on the way to an appearance of the Super Bowl.
Now granted, as most members of the world of football observation will already know, Reddick has been involved in one of the strangest situations that you will never see with the jets last season, refusing to play on the last Year of his contract during the best part of the part of the season before finally returned to the team for a disappointing end of the season. Reddick has finished without ceremony his record of two -digit bags with four, coming nine unless the brand to be exact, and should now strike the free market with its stock at a hollow of all time.
Will a team be diving and will offer Reddick a one-year contract, is compensation probably strongly based on striking incentives to avoid additional 2024? Yes, and this team should be the cardinals, while Reddick probably returned its best season under Gannon to Philadelphia.
In 2022, Reddick was unstoppable, picking up a At the top of the career, 16 bags On the path of his very first appearance in Pro Bowl. Reddick followed it with 3.5 bags in the playoffs and looked like a long -term adjustment in Philly before Gannon left the city, and his production fell in 2023.
Will Reddick be a 16-course player again? No, probably not, but since the cardinals would have been satisfied with another six helmets in 2024, leaving two figures from the Temple product was worth the risk.
3. James Bradberry
If you only look at football in 2024, you would have no idea who is even James Bradberry because the Super Bowl champion spent the whole season on IR for the Eagles after suffering a leg injury during the camp training.
Originally stolen far from the New York giants after their ceiling problems rendered its unrealistic services, Bradberry was a great reason why the Eagles went to the Super Bowl under Gannon in February 2023, even if his sad call cost them the big game when everything was said and done. From there, Bradberry played well in 2023 before being effectively set aside in 2024 because his cap space made him an obvious cup candidate.
Assuming that Philly lets him work, Bradberry could join the cardinals cheap and potentially steal regular playing time outside or in the slit as the first reserve of the bench or as a starter who gives a player like Starling Thomas V has a race for his money as a veteran starter in a one -year agreement. Just like in 2022, the loss of philly could be the gain of Arizona, and Gannon could have the trick to optimize the Bradberry season at 32 in the NFL.
