We found a rare someone who sees the 2024 Arizona Cardinals as an NFL playoff pick
Sep 3, 2024, 8:48 AM | Updated: Sep 6, 2024, 9:42 am
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A scan of season predictions for the 2024 NFL season by a very large margin leaves the Arizona Cardinals out of the playoff picture.
Nobody out of 28 participants in an NFL.com poll, for example, named Arizona as an NFL playoff pick. All three other teams in the NFC West received at least a vote to win the division, while the Cardinals didn’t receive a single vote to make it as a Wild Card squad.
While some football watchers have Kyler Murray on their minds with the expectation that he could leap back into sniffing top-10 quarterback territory, the view of the Cardinals as a whole remains tepid at best.
But not in the opinion of NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt.
.@KyleBrandt has the @AZCardinals making the playoffs this season 👀 pic.twitter.com/M3u745c3qB
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) September 3, 2024
“Here’s my sweet, sweet baby. Make sure we’re nice in focus and 1080p because nobody else likely on this show and certainly no other show is going to put this up,” Brandt said Monday before revealing the Cardinals are one of his NFL playoff picks. “Boom! Believe in yourself, kids. Believe in your convictions, be unafraid be committed, get in there and pick the team you love and don’t apologize for squat.
“Big year from this team. Kyler is back. He’s going to become a star. I don’t care how small he is, I care how big his arm is. The Arizona Cardinals are going to grab one of these Wild Cards in the NFC.”
Brandt may be mostly alone, but there is unbiased backing to his bullishness for picking the Cardinals to make the playoffs.
ESPN’s Football Power Index ranks the Cardinals 23rd to begin this season. With it, the model gives Arizona a 19% shot of making the playoffs. The projected win total for that model sits at 7.2 for Arizona, which isn’t good enough to push for a playoff spot but is a significant leap forward compared to last season.
And if the Cardinals steal a win or two extra, suddenly they’re right in the NFL playoff mix.