ESPN’s Mike Clay gives Cardinals’ roster poor ranks, just as he did in 2023

It would have been surprising that an overall roster evaluation of the Arizona Cardinals last season ranked them second-to-last relative to the rest of the league. ESPN’s Mike Clay did just that, and Arizona’s 4-13 season that followed made his annual exercise look plenty fair.

But another offseason is in the books. Despite the roster additions across the board, the Cardinals are a year into the Monti Ossenfort era with another draft class set to debut.

Clay in his annual rankings of every NFL positional group collectively landed him in the same place as last season when it comes to Arizona. Clay has Arizona’s roster as the 31st-best, which doesn’t flow with the general expectation that the Cardinals should take a sizeable step forward in 2024.

Here’s where Clay ranked each Arizona positional group relative to the rest of the NFL followed by a quick run-through the thought process of each.

Mike Clay’s Arizona Cardinals NFL-wide ranking by position

QB: 17th (20th last season)

It’s fair Kyler Murray has lost some luster following the Kliff Kingsbury era and through his ACL recovery, but the end of 2023 seemingly should have built a little more traction that he’s yet to be at his best. Murray still has his legs, now has the locker room and already seemed plenty comfy in coordinator Drew Petzing’s offense. It’s fair that the backup situation might have questions, but if you want to argue Murray is the 17th-best quarterback in the NFL, you earn your fair share of contrarians among Cardinals followers.

RB: 20th (27th last season)

James Conner will not get enough credit for his impact, but he’s still coming off a 1,000-yard season. He’s got injury concerns from his career history, but Arizona produced a lot of optimism in the run game last year, finishing fourth in rushing yards per game. Adding third-round pick Trey Benson and giving Emari Demercado another year to grow should be enough to believe in the depth. For goodness sake, Michael Carter produced after a midseason pickup and there is some possibility he could be cut based on the first and second depth charts released by the team!

WR: 23rd (22nd last season)

Marvin Harrison Jr. existing should give Arizona a massive bump even if we’re talking a swap with last year’s No. 1, Hollywood Brown, leaving. There are still lingering questions about whether Michael Wilson can make a leap in Year 2 and if Greg Dortch will succeed as an everyday slot guy. There is a little more depth too, but perhaps this is mostly about not expecting Harrison to become a top-10 receiver right off the bat.

TE: 13th (17th last season)

Trey McBride has believers. And Elijah Higgins and Tip Rieman bring dynamic possibilities behind him.

OL: 31st (27th last season)

This might be the most egregious pick by Clay, but it has some reason behind it. He ranked last year’s unit 27th before the offensive line quietly went about its business to help the Cardinals create that smashmouth identity behind Conner’s big year. They did enough to protect Joshua Dobbs (!!) and then Murray once he was back. Still, probably not enough people are talking about the loss of D.J. Humphries and pressure on second-year pro Paris Johnson Jr. moving to left tackle. There are questions to be sure. But 31st?

Interior D-line: 31st (32nd last season)

This is where Arizona hopes Clay is most wrong. Arizona got the worst interior defensive line rating from Clay in 2023. Despite making a series of mildly pricy free-agent moves to add Justin Jones and Bilal Nichols, then drafting Darius Robinson in the late first round, they hardly moved the needle in Clay’s eyes. Roy Lopez has quietly improved, Dante Stills showed flashes as a rookie and L.J. Collier has a shot to make noise if he’s healthy following a missed season. There are at least a handful of options to think one or two surprises helps the unit improve.

Edge rusher: 30th (30th last season)

The BJ Ojulari injury further dings this ranking, which didn’t improve from last year. A position where very little has been addressed is probably the most fair evaluation of the Cardinals’ roster. Zaven Collins in his second year at the position — and with an extension in hand — and Dennis Gardeck will have a chance to prove people wrong. It’s fair to worry about this group.

Off-ball linebacker: 28th (27th last season)

No respect for Kyzir White, who was sneaky productive until he got hurt! Mack Wilson Sr., who was an outside/inside linebacker tweener in New England, was an intriguing pickup if head coach Jonathan Gannon and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis find unique ways to use him. Maybe only Eagles fans (White) and Patriots fans (Wilson) can appreciate those two more than Clay is.

CB: 31st (30th last season)

Arizona signed Sean Murphy-Bunting. Like the D-line, cornerback has plenty more options of potential breakout guys who can help the team outkick this ranking. But with that said, there is little to nothing on individual resumes to sway Clay, and the candidates are all young, unproven defensive backs. The Cardinals are banking on internal improvement, but it should be noted that even rookies like Starling Thomas V and Kei’Trel Clark showed a little something in 2023.

S: 7th (8th last season)

Understandably the strongest unit on the team. Expect the Cardinals to get wacky about how they use Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson in 2024. How they do so in theory should make up for roster talent concerns regarding the corners, the pass rush and even the off-ball linebacker groups.

Overall: 31

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