What must happen for Cardinals to be successful in 2024?

The Arizona Cardinals are days away from kicking off their 2024 slate of regular season games.

Only time will tell if the moves general manager Monti Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon made on top of last year’s foundation setting will pay off with added wins and a higher ceiling.

Unlike the San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens, the Cardinals aren’t anywhere close to being considered in the Super-Bowl-or-bust category this year. There are just too many questions along the roster.

That’s not to say they can’t make some noise and exceed expectations, though. Doubling the win total and at least threatening for a playoff spot would be big accomplishments for the new regime in just its second season still picking up the pieces of the past.

A look at what must happen for a successful Cardinals season:

K1 fully back

This is an easy, yet necessary factor.

Arizona may bring an unquestioned fight to every battle it’s in under Gannon and Co., but when it comes down to it, the franchise goes as quarterback Kyler Murray goes.

His return from a torn ACL last season provided a noticeable spark across the roster and was a big reason in the team’s final three wins of the season after starting out 1-8. Even through the rust and growing pains Murray had operating a new system, there was a clear difference on tape with the franchise signal caller under center.

Now, Murray has a clean bill of health, a better understanding of offensive coordinator Drew Petzing’s system, a reloaded arsenal of weapons led by No. 4 overall pick Marvin Harrison Jr. and a tighter bond to those around him.

The potential for a big year reminiscent to the start of 2021 is 100% there for the signal caller in 2024. There’s really no excuse for it not to be at this point. If he can reach anywhere close to that, Arizona should be in a decent spot.

Picking up where they left off

Yes, the Cardinals went out and nabbed Harrison with the fourth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

No, that doesn’t mean the offense’s run-first identity suddenly changes.

As we saw last season, the Cardinals offense is at its strongest behind a dominant run game led by starter James Conner, who just turned in his first 1,000-yard season as a pro in 2023.

Coming out of the bye last year, Arizona’s ground attack was on full display behind three showings of at least 206 yards in a four-game span to end the season. The wins were at a premium (1-3), but the added juice helped solidify the Cardinals as a top five rushing team and legitimate threat moving forward.

The Cardinals have since upgraded all facets of the attack through free agency and the draft. Third-round picks Trey Benson, Tip Reiman and Isaiah Adams, plus veteran Jonah Williams were prime examples of that.

It all starts with Conner, though.

The lead back ripped off 1,040 yards and seven touchdowns on 208 carries across 13 games played last season. He added another 165 yards and two scores on 27 catches.

If he can stay healthy for more than 13 games, something he hasn’t accomplished in three of the past four years, there’s no reason to believe he can’t put up similar numbers in the run-heavy offense.

More than Marv

The Cardinals got their guy in Harrison this past April. He’s expected to be the No. 1 wideout the offense needs to truly flourish and should be an immediate factor as a rookie.

Murray will look his way early and often throughout the season, just like he did throughout training camp and joint practice. Anything less than 1,000 yards from the rookie would be shocking at this rate.

Harrison’s impact on the offense cannot be denied. He’s not the only playmaker Murray has at his disposal, though.

Aside from the expected contributions from Conner and Benson as pass catchers, Greg Dortch brings a trusted pair of hands to the slot. When healthy, Michael Wilson gives Arizona a legit No. 2 option behind Harrison.

And while he can’t play until Week 6, veteran wide receiver Zay Jones will help move the needle post-suspension.

But it’s tight end Trey McBride who could really be in store for a career year after breaking out midway through last season.

No longer stuck behind Zach Ertz on the depth chart, McBride enters Year 3 with loads of confidence in himself, Murray and the offense as a whole.

Under pressure

Ask three of your friends who they think will lead the Cardinals in sacks in 2024?

We’ll wait.

If they all responded with someone different, they’re not alone!

With projected starter and Cardinals 2024 sacks leader BJ Ojulari down for the count thanks to a season-ending knee injury, there’s really no way to feel good about giving a pass-rushing answer.

Dennis Gardeck is a trusted veteran voice and led the team with six sacks last year. But can he find more consistency and add more to his pass-rushing repertoire?

Zaven Collins has been someone coaches and players have seen more out of entering Year 2 as a full-time pass rusher, so much so that he earned a two-year contract extension this past training camp. But will his play measure up to a true NFL pass rusher?

👊😤👊😤@DGardeck @ZavenCollins pic.twitter.com/a0KynNs43r

— Cardinals Corner (@AZCardsCorner) September 2, 2024

Xavier Thomas has jumped off the tape throughout the preseason after coming on slow and is expected to have an important role, especially in known passing situations. But can he fill out a pass rush rotation on a consistent basis and avoid the rookie wall?

The questions are valid and don’t appear to be going away any time soon. The role of lead pass rusher is there for the taking after Arizona as a team put up a paltry 33 in 2023. Someone just needs to step up and seize the moment.

“There’s a lot of different ways to affect the quarterback and I think we have the ability to do that,” Gannon told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Tuesday. “I think we’ve got guys with the skillset to be creative and to win one-on-ones and to affect the quarterback.”

Stop the run!

This one doesn’t need much explaining. If the Cardinals want to have any shot at tasting the playoffs in 2024, they must defend the run better.

Arizona was absolutely gashed by opposing rushing attacks last year, giving up a league-worst 143.2 yards per game to go along with 19 touchdowns allowed (fifth most).

Those numbers simply don’t translate to victories.

The Cardinals look much improved along the defense line, even with rookie Darius Robinson on injured reserve to start the season, with free agent additions Justin Jones and Bilal Nichols sliding in alongside Roy Lopez.

But only time will tell if the Cardinals have successfully plugged a very leaky hole.

Take advantage of the unknown

The Cardinals and the rest of the NFL’s teams are in the same boat when it comes to the new kickoff rule.

Implemented for the first time this year, it’s been toyed with at the preseason level and now is full steam ahead into the regular season.

Special teams coordinator and assistant head coach Jeff Rodgers believes Week 1 is going to bring about a new beast to the new rule.

Cardinals special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers believes the new kickoff is going to be a different beast than it was in the preseason.

“Priorities are different. The priority is to win games now.” pic.twitter.com/GWM1bt2MCK

— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) September 3, 2024

“I think it starts over again both from a return standpoint and a coverage standpoint. Priorities are different. The priority is to win games now,” Rodgers said Tuesday.

“The priority before is to evaluate your players, evaluate some of the things schematically that you want to do. I think we’re going to see some different things on tape and how they attack this play.”

But with the chaos that is about to ensue, brings an added opportunity for Arizona to control that phase of the football even more.

Aside from Matt Prater’s veteran savvy on kickoffs, the Cardinals have a dynamic pair of returners in Greg Dortch and DeeJay Dallas.

Dortch is expected to get first crack in the return game, but Dallas will get his chances regardless on if his counterpart is being used more offensively or not given the veteran’s training camp showing and three-year price tag.

The best ability is availability

We’ve already seen two major pieces of the defense go down in Ojulari and Robinson. Ojulari is already lost for the year with a season-ending knee injury suffered in training camp, while Robinson is out until at least Week 5 after a calf injury during practice put him on injured reserve.

For a defense that already had questions about the pass rusher, it can’t afford any more losses in that department.

But offensively and across the entire roster, no one’s availability matters more to Arizona’s success than Murray’s. If he goes down, it’s going to be extremely difficult for the Cardinals to win football games.

Wilson avoiding any missed time would be a huge win, too, given his injury history since college.

Follow @Tdrake4sports