Coaching Staff
Head Coach: Mike LaFleur
Offensive Coordinator: Nathaniel Hackett
Defensive Coordinator: Nick Rallis
Special Teams Coordinator: Michael Ghobrial
2025 Summary (W-L Record: 3-14)
The Cardinals entered the 2025 season as a lot of people’s sleeper pick for the year (I won’t name names, but one of them wrote this breakdown).
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, things unravelled pretty quickly. They finished the year 3-14 and ultimately fired head coach Jonathan Gannon at the end of the season.
To be fair, injuries played a major role in their 2025 season going down the toilet. Their top two running backs were done for the year just 4 weeks into the season. Quarterback Kyler Murray also didn’t play again after Week 5.
That would explain why their run game, which had been one of the best in the NFL the two years prior, ranked 31st in the league.
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Their defense didn’t provide much help either, ranking 29th in points allowed, 24th against the pass, 25th against the run, and near the bottom of the league in too many other important categories.
The Cardinals hired Mike LaFleur to take over as head coach this offseason. His first order of action will be to get the offense turned around.
Key Additions
QB Carson Beck (3rd Rd, 65th Overall)
RB Jeremiyah Love (1st Rd, 3rd Overall)
RB Tyler Allgeier
WR Kendrick Bourne
WR Reggie Virgil (5th Rd, 143rd Overall)
TE Teagan Quitoriano
LG Isaac Seumalo
RT Elijah Wilkinson
OT Matt Pryor
OT Oli Udoh
OG Chase Bisontis (2nd Rd, 34th Overall)
DL Roy Lopez
DL Andrew Billings
DL Jonah Williams
DL Kaleb Proctor (4th Rd, 104th Overall)
LB Jack Gibbens
S Andrew Wingard
S Isaiah Oliver
Key Losses
QB Kyler Murray
RB Michael Carter
RB Emari Demercado
WR Greg Dortch
WR Zay Jones
LG Evan Brown
RT Kelvin Beachum
OT Jonah Williams
OG Will Hernandez
DL Dalvin Tomlinson
DL Calais Campbell
DL PJ Mustipher
LB Akeem Davis-Gaither
S Jalen Thompson
S Darren Hall
Biggest Questions Entering 2026
Can the run game keep the Cardinals competitive?
There are a lot of questions with this team. One thing that doesn’t seem to be in doubt, however, is that the run game will be the foundation of this offense. That’s what Mike Lafleur wants to do, and that’s what the Cardinals signaled by taking running back Jeremiyah Love with the 3rd overall pick.
Regardless of your stance on taking running backs that early in the draft, the fact of the matter is that Love is now on the Cardinals’ roster. So they’re going to use him.
Love is a different cat. We got a few glimpses of that in his preseason debut:
He can do it all as a running back. He can catch the ball out of the backfield and turn small gains into big ones. He can align in the slot and on the perimeter, both to create coverage indicators for the quarterback and to create mismatch opportunities. He’s also good in pass protection.
Can Jeremiyah Love be what Tony Dorsett was to the 1977 Cowboys? (Transcript with All-22 Highlights)
Below, I’ve posted the transcript of the most recent Football Film Room podcast and included clips of the plays I talked about in the episode.
The bottom line is that the Cardinals can lean on him to be the foundation of their offense, and while I don’t think that will lead to them being any good this year, it will keep them in more games than you think.
Unfortunately, Love has a high ankle sprain that could lead to the Cardinals holding him out of some early games or slow-playing his return to the lineup. I’d expect him to start making an impact in October and beyond.
Can Marvin Harrison put it all together?
One reason to be optimistic about the Cardinals is that they do have some really good weapons on offense.
Aside from Love, Trey McBride is one of the best pass-catching tight ends in the NFL, and he’s a matchup nightmare.