NFL Free Agency 2024 Tracker: Arizona Cardinals Aggressively Pursuing DB Help With the Likes of Stephon Gilmore Ready to Hit the Open Market

In his inaugural season with the Cardinals, Jonathan Gannon went 4-13 with the side. With that, now they have back-to-back 4-13 seasons under two different head coaches. Despite having the former DC who led the Eagles to the Super Bowl LVII, the defense has been unanimously the team’s biggest letdown.

Following the end of the regular season, the team is in the market for a makeover of their defense. Things have gone desperate for the Cardinals who have failed to emulate their 11-6 success just 2 seasons ago. And they are going all-out with their approach this time.

Desperate Cardinals push for front-7 in free agency

According to Johnny Venerable, the host of the PHNX_Cardinals podcast, the team is already in the market looking for defensive backs. They are particularly focusing on the cornerback position, their biggest weakness against fast receivers. Additionally, the team wants a makeover of the entire front 7, or the group consisting of DLB and DLs.

Apart from the defensive niggles, QB Kyler Murray‘s ACL injury significantly held the Cardinals’ season back. During his absence, the team tried their luck with 5 different QBs under 2 coaches, but it ultimately led to nothing and things kept falling apart. Following his December return after 11 months, it was too late for the QB to turn things around.

Read More: NFL Injury Report: Darius Slay and Kyler Murray Set To Miss Eagles’ Drive To Avoid Further Cardinals Embarrassment

Sadly, the QB wasn’t the only position the Cardinals struggled to keep up with the injuries. The whole team, marred by injuries, kept losing one after another of their dependable players. Which accounted for the 4-13 season and is observable in this statistic.

Will the Cardinals come back from their injury-laden season?

The Cardinals used 77 different players throughout the season, which was the 3rd highest in the 2023 NFL regular season. 6 of the team’s week 1 starters were injured during their week 18 game, and 3 three more were injured during different times of the regular season. Combined, nearly the entire 11-man starting roster sat on the bench at some point in the season, which largely affected their overall performance.

The team was on an improving run under past coach Kliff Kingsbury, who clinched a playoff berth in 2021 with 11-6. But 2022 seemed too much to handle for the management when he finished the season with a seven-loss streak. But even Gannon’s arrival hasn’t really helped the Cardinals even by a bit, not statistically at least.

Understandably, the team is desperate in the free agency market this time, often a place for bargains and hidden gems. As per Venerable, the team recognizes they need to do a lot of work to get back on track; and at the moment it looks like they are doing it from early.

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