ESPN: Cardinals come in at No. 6 in Future Power Rankings

The last three seasons of Arizona Cardinals football have been, well, outstanding.

Thirty-four regular season wins and a trip to the NFC Championship Game were brought on by a talented group of players being led by one of the league’s better coaching staffs.

Coming off the best regular season in franchise history, it’s understandable that expectations for the 2016 Cardinals are high. But when looking at the team in terms of the future, as in the next three seasons, where does it rank?

That’s what some folks at ESPN.com tried to figure out, as they put together their future power rankings for the NFL.

Using a scale that graded teams on five categories — roster, quarterback, draft, front office and coaching — with all being weighted a bit differently, the Cardinals came in a respectable and healthy sixth in the Insider piece.

The highest mark for the organization was coaching.

There are innumerable aspects to coaching, including the ability to instill a belief in players that the system, scheme and personnel in place are good enough to win. Bruce Arians is an exceptional playcaller, but he is also a no-nonsense, straight shooter who has a contagious confidence about his demeanor. The Cardinals are loaded with talent for the future, and because of their coach and culture, they will never play scared. — Field Yates

Arians has a .717 win percentage as an NFL head coach, which ranks him fifth all-time among coaches with a minimum of 50 career games at the helm.

The Cardinals’ front office earned the second-highest grade, and it’s fairly easy to see why. Arizona went 5-11 in 2012 — the season before Arians and GM Steve Keim were named to their posts — and since then have been one of the best teams in the NFC.

In that time Arians, as noted already, has instilled a level of aggressiveness and confidence, but all of it would matter less if not for the immense amount of talent on the roster. Keim made 182 transactions during the 2015 season, and since the team’s final game has gone out and acquired pass rusher Chandler Jones via trade and put together what appears to be a pretty solid draft haul.

The lowest grade was given to the team’s QB situation.

Starter Carson Palmer is coming off a season that saw him earn an MVP vote after throwing for 4,671 yards and 35 touchdowns with just 11 interceptions and a QB rating of 104.6. He has appeared to improve every season since joining the Cardinals in 2013.

However, while the 2015 Pro Bowler and No. 12 overall player in the NFL (according to an NFL Network vote) has shown no signs of slowing down, Palmer is not without some question marks. Well, mostly just one question mark.

Carson Palmer is coming off the best season of his career in terms of yardage, yards per attempt, touchdowns and passer rating, but there’s a reason Father Time is undefeated. With Palmer set to turn 37 in late December, a succession plan needs to be put into place. The QB of the future is currently not on the roster — Drew Stanton, Matt Barkley and rookie Jake Coker are the backups — making this position a priority for the front office going forward. — Louis Riddick

Indeed, the QB picture post-Palmer is a cloudy one at best, because while Stanton has proven to be a capable backup and he is confident the opportunity to start will be there, it’s difficult to feel all that confident in any of the options who do not wear No. 3 on their jersey. The idea of finding a quarterback of the future has been discussed during the past couple of drafts, though the Cardinals did not choose a passer in either of the last two years.

Along with analysis of each team’s high point and low point, the piece offers a thought on “what could change” for each team.

Palmer and Tyrann Mathieu are two of the Cardinals’ most important players. Both are question marks for the long term. As Louis mentioned, Palmer’s age is a concern. So too is his injury history: He has suffered two torn ACLs in his right knee, the most recent of which came in 2014. Even if Palmer remains effective, it’s unlikely he will remain an MVP-caliber performer three seasons from now. Mathieu has finished two of his first three NFL seasons on injured reserve. Can he hold up? — Mike Sando

The teams listed ahead of the Cardinals are the Green Bay Packers (5), Pittsburgh Steelers (4), Carolina Panthers (3), New England Patriots (2) and Seattle Seahawks (1).

And for what it’s worth in 2013, when ESPN produced its future power rankings (which again looked at the next three seasons), the Cardinals came in at No. 26. Three years later, they have proven to be a bit better than that.

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