Peter King: ‘Something doesn’t feel right’ about Cardinals in 2022
May 24, 2022, 12:55 PM
A general view during the game between the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium on October 24, 2021 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
NBC Sports’ Peter King isn’t getting back good vibes when he looks ahead to how the 2022 season could unfold for the Arizona Cardinals.
In Peter King’s Football Morning in America, King released his power rankings after the offseason and has the Cardinals 22nd.
Something doesn’t feel right about the 2022 Cards. Part of it’s the pointed dissatisfaction of quarterback Kyler Murray and his agent over a new contract. Part is the six-game suspension of the best player on the offense, DeAndre Hopkins, to start the season. (That means Hopkins will miss at least 13 games over 2021 and ’22.) Hollywood Brown arrived in trades to buttress the receiving corps, but Christian Kirk left in free agency, as did the most dangerous player on defense—pass-rusher Chandler Jones. It’s an odd vibe around the team, and the attitude in negotiations with Murray this summer will tell a lot about the chemistry of the locker room coming training camp.
There is nothing fundamentally wrong in there from King. If anything, it appears he would be more optimistic about Arizona if Murray gets his extension done in a few months and everything is hunky-dory by training camp. I think we can all agree with that.
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With that in mind, the absence of Kirk (and Hopkins through six games) will leave Arizona’s wide receiver group shorthanded. When Hopkins comes back in Week 7, that’s when the addition of Brown as more of a No. 2 to Hopkins will really be felt, and the Cardinals remain optimistic about second-year wideout Rondale Moore’s ability in some of those spots in the slot Kirk previously held.
Then there’s the edge, where no replacement for Jones has been signed. Arizona will need to hope Markus Golden’s stellar production from 2021 of 11 sacks keeps up while a group made up of Dennis Gardeck, Devon Kennard and third-round picks Myjai Sanders and Cameron Thomas will make up the majority of the snaps from the other side.
Vegas doesn’t agree, though, with King’s assessment. Looking at the over/under win totals for every team from Vegas Insider, the Cardinals’ mark of 9.5 is tied for 13th.
Even going down another tier to teams with an over/under of 8.5 wins gets you to a total of 18, four spots above where King slots Arizona at 22nd.
King ranks the Cardinals as the 10th-best team in the NFC.
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