Could Cardinals be next to make 49ers-like jump in win total?
Jan 29, 2020, 11:56 AM
Head coach Kliff Kingsbury of the Arizona Cardinals shake hands with head coach Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers after the end of the game at State Farm Stadium on October 31, 2019 in Glendale, Arizona. 49ers won 28-25. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)
(Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)
The Arizona Cardinals will have to watch as the NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers play in the Super Bowl this weekend.
It’s a remarkable feat for the Niners, when you consider that their 13-3 season this year followed just a 4-12 season in 2018. Maybe Arizona (5-10-1) can be the next team to do that.
The Athletic’s Jay Glazer answered questions in a mailbag last week, and one of them was about which club might be next to make a jump from bad to elite, as the 49ers did.
Glazer’s answer, couched by the fact that it’s still early because we haven’t seen the draft or free agency, was the Cardinals:
Kyler Murray will have an extra year of maturity under his belt and if they put some extra pieces there, they can make a nice little jump.
The Cardinals won only five games this past season and just three the year before that. But the 49ers’ defense, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and offense-first head coach Kyle Shanahan are all big reasons for their leap, and the Cardinals could do the same with Murray, Kliff Kingsbury and adding necessary pieces to fill some gaps.
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On defense, the 49ers ranked eighth in the NFL in points allowed and second in the fewest yards allowed. The Cardinals ranked 28th and 32nd in those categories, respectively, which points to a clear area of needed improvement for a team that otherwise had a middle-of-the-pack offense, in terms of production.
The Cardinals will have the eighth overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, and according to Spotrac, they’ll have the 13th most cap space entering free agency.
