At 3-7, the Cardinals are headed for a last-place finish in the NFC West. Odds are they’ll miss the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. There may be questions about the job security of general manager Monti Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon in the coming weeks as a result.
The Cardinals hired Ossenfort, previously a Titans executive, in January 2023. He picked Gannon, formerly the Eagles’ defensive coordinator, a month later. Arizona has gone a woeful 15-29 in two-plus seasons under its current regime.
Considering the team’s lack of progress, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler writes that “opinions are split on whether Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill will take action.” ESPN colleague Dan Graziano expects Ossenfort and Gannon to remain in place, though.
Both Fowler and Graziano note that the Cardinals haven’t been in position to draft a franchise QB under Ossenfort and Gannon. Bidwill could give them the opportunity to do so in April.
The Cardinals’ present leadership inherited former No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray when they arrived in Arizona. However, Murray’s time in the desert could soon run out. Statistically, the seventh-year man has endured an up-and-down career with the Cardinals. From a team standpoint, the Cardinals’ lone playoff appearance under Murray yielded disastrous results in a wild-card round loss to the Rams in January 2022. The Cardinals have finished below .500 in every season since then.
A season after helping the Cardinals to the playoffs, Murray tore his ACL in Week 14 of the 2022 campaign. The recovery process limited him to eight games in 2023. Murray bounced back to play his first 17-game slate last season, but a mid-foot sprain has held him to five appearances this year. Murray has been on IR since Nov. 5. He won’t play again until Week 14 at the earliest.
With veteran backup Jacoby Brissett performing well in Murray’s place, it’s reportedly possible the latter has played his last snap with the Cardinals. Murray is still on the five-year, $230.5MM deal Arizona gave him in 2022, and he’s guaranteed $36.8MM in 2026. His $19.5MM salary for 2027 will vest on March 22, 2026. The Cardinals could trade or release Murray before then, which would enable them to escape that portion of the 28-year-old’s contract.
If the Cardinals move on from Murray ahead of next year’s draft, it would enable Ossenfort and Gannon to devote their attention to selecting his successor. Clayton Tune, a 2023 fifth-rounder who’s now with the Packers, is the only QB the Cardinals have drafted since they brought in Ossenfort and Gannon. Assuming those two stay in place, that figures to change next spring.
They inherited a terrible roster with a quarterback on a big contract they didn’t choose. They’ve done enough to turn the team around to deserve a little more time and a chance to start over at QB, I think. It took until this year for them to even have a decent amount of NFL talent on defense.
Don’t disagree, but they’ve also done nothing with their offense or that QB on a big contract. The backup QB performing as well as your big contract QB is a glaring problem. Also not getting the potential out of your high draft pick WR is another.
Ossenfort maybe has done some good things, but I don’t really see much in Gannon. I’m not sure, to be honest, what he brings to the table that the majority of other coaches wouldn’t.
You’re right in that they inherited their QB problem in Murray, but they’re probably very have control over whether he plays or not. They can do more to rejuvenate the offense than simply trotting him every week hoping that he’ll finally be mature. It’d not like they haven’t had opportunities to see other QBs in action, either-Murray only played a full season for the first time in 2024, and missed a host games in 2022 and 2023 with a torn ACL.
In that time, management has only drafted one QB (who’s not even on the roster anymore). To me, if I had a QB that I was dissatisfied with or who could be a miss on an unmovable contract, I think that it would be wise move to add some rookies or a rookie who could develop or take the reign in case of injury. Outside of Murray, though, there has been disappointment in other areas, so it’s not the coaching staff can’t find other ways that they could improve.
Their defense has been in the top half of the league despite playing in a tough division and still having some roster holes and injuries. Gannon has done some creative schematic stuff with limited personnel. I’m not saying he’s been stellar, but I’d give him another year.
Eh, fair argument. I don’t think Gannon absolutely is the worst, I just don’t think he brings enough defensive prowess to the table to offset the team’s struggles. I did with Fangio in Denver, as an example of what I would mean. However, Gannon also has been saddled with a quarterback that wasn’t his pick (granted, he’s a defensive guy, so it really doesn’t matter as much if he picks a QB), and it’s not like the Cardinals haven’t had spots of positivity.
I’m not one to spam the reset button, but I definitely see it doing well in Arizona. There’s not much that is absolutely necessary to a new foundation that’s left on the roster, and I don’t think that Gannon takes them to new heights. However, I do see your point, so if they did get another year (which is what I expect to happen), I don’t think it’s the most egregious error in the world. I think Murray is closer to the end of his leash than either Gannon or Ossenfort are. We’ll see if they get an opportunity that they can make good on.
Another consideration here is that I think Petzing is a very good offensive coach who’s been held back by personnel (and losing Klayton Adams), so I think a change might not necessarily bring an upgrade on BOTH sides of the ball.
Well, I do agree about Petzing. He’ll probably be on the list for head coaching interviews again, but this year probably wasn’t the follow up that was needed. The Cards’ woeful offensive developments might impede him, but I think he has respect where it counts. Will that be enough to survive their record in coaching considerations? Possibly, possibly not. But that’s another topic.
‘…the seventh-year man has endured an up-and-down career with the Cardinals.’ Did I miss the up part of Kyler’s career?
The parts that were not as bad as others were the up parts, in a relative sense.
I got knocked out of a survivor pool because of the Cardinals brilliance at self destructing against the hapless Titans. Larry Fitzgerald is gone so I don’t have any reason to even watch this team anymore. Anything is possible where the Bidwells are concerned.
Being a long time AZ Cardinal fan, there is a lot of blame to go around from owner to GM to HC to QB. When you have a team front office that flips HC more often that IHOP flips pancakes. No, they better not fire this HC and GM without giving them the opportunity to bring in their own drafted QB. I have always said when Murray was drafted that he was not going to be the type of QB to lead them to consistent wins. One he is to scramble happy, has happy feet in the pocket, does not read the field or let the receivers run a route before he takes off running, maybe at 5-9 he is too small for the pocket. So let this GM have this draft to trade or release Murray, trade up to get a in the pocket that can read a defense, can wait for his WR/TE’s to run a route completely before he leaves the pocket. As far as the coach goes give him at least one more season.
Go rogue, hire Adam Gase.
NFL has to quit picking guys that have to learn how to play QB in the pros.
Any team that sets the record for penalties in a game not named the Raiders lacks discipline and that is the result of a bad head coach. Gannon has to go