After beginning the season with a series of close losses, the Cardinals have struggled for much of their time after the bye week. Especially if things continue the way they have in recent games, head coach Jonathan Gannon‘s job security will become even more of a talking point. 
Arizona missed the playoffs during each of the first two years with Gannon and general manager Monti Ossenfort at the helm. Still, a four-win improvement took place from 2023 to last season. As such, expectations for further improvement in 2025 were reasonable. Instead, the Cardinals find themselves well out of playoff contention with a 3-10 record.
The closing month of the current campaign could prove to be critical with respect to how owner Michael Bidwill approaches the head coaching spot. As ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler writes, Gannon and the Cardinals may need to win one or two games down the stretch for him to “reach solid footing” for 2026. Arizona’s season will end with games against Texans, Falcons, Bengals and Rams.
Once that slate of contests is over, a decision will need to be made regarding Gannon and Ossenfort’s future. Last month, Fowler and colleague Dan Graziano reported that pair was likely to be retained for at least one more season. The thinking behind that approach would be to allow the Gannon-Ossenfort regime to identify a new franchise quarterback beginning in the 2026 offseason. Kyler Murray will not return this year, and many expect a parting of ways to take place in his case.
Indeed, the latest ESPN piece includes Graziano predicting the Cardinals will allow the current HC-GM combo to remain intact. In that event, the team’s QB approach would be one of the league’s top offseason storylines. Murray is already owed $36.8MM in guarantees for next season, with a portion of his 2027 compensation currently scheduled to vest on March 22. By that date, there will likely be clarity regarding his future. A trade will be difficult to pull off given the finances of this situation, while veteran backup Jacoby Brissett (under contract for next year) could be viewed by suitors as an affordable bridge option.
If a new quarterback is to be drafted in April, it will mark the first time since Gannon and Ossenfort’s arrival that a rookie is added. The Cardinals are among the teams within reach of securing the No. 1 pick, although the final four weeks of the season leave plenty to be determined. The list of unanswered questions includes whether or not it will fall to Arizona’s current regime to decide on the team’s future under center.
a 4-5 win season earns another chance? Parity my backside. Bad owners are just that, bad at their jobs.
Their owner has gotten into enough trouble, and has been doing well staying out of the media.
In my opinion, keep them one more season making sure they understand win or you’re out. My reasoning, there isn’t anyone out there, other than retreads, capable of doing that much better. There aren’t any QBs who are QBoF coming out. Brissett is doing more than a fair job. QB is not the problem. wide Receivers aren’t the problem. The OL and coaching is the problem. Holes aren’t opened for the RBs. Good defenses rush 4 and no matter who plays QB, they are running for their lives. . KM can’t see over the lineman. You could put 4 HoF receivers on this team and they’d be fair to middling as the OL does t allow the QB time to find the open guys.
I squarely blame Bidwill for current state of the team. From salary cap issues to the atrocious contract KM signed. Who knows how many potential HCs turned us down as they knew they had to start KM and defenses figured him out years ago.
They need better coaching at all levels. They need to fix their OL. Period
They inherited maybe the worst roster in the NFL and a quarterback commitment they didn’t choose. Gannon and Petzing have done a lot of good work. Not enough to make this a slam dunk decision, but I would err toward giving them another year, especially in a market that won’t be overrun with great candidates.
Gannon was hyped up as some genius to change the Cardinals system. He has done nothing in 3 years and they’ve gotten worse. Kingsbury at least made the playoffs once and came close another season.
It was also a bad look to put hands on Demercado..That sure shows disrespect for people in general. That is still in thier mind as well.
It didnt look like a #MeToo situation to me. Lou Holtz used to yank the players facemask whether their neck got jerked or not.
If you want job security as a HC you have to beat the teams in your division and Gannon is 3-14… so he better get working on his resume.
I never would wish anyone to lose their job. That being said as an eagles fan, and with Gannon basically admitting he was looking past the 22 super bowl instead of game planning for it, i have enjoyed watching him struggle as a HC. That being said, again don’t wish to see anyone fired. But struggling? That’s just karma.
Is amasing a guy like oooff thinks he is a expert on everything. Give him a pen and paper the oooff guy couldn’t spell FOOTBALL, you can give him 3 chances . Don’t worry he will mess it up.
I think every forum needs a few guys that stir things up a bit and Oooof is rather good at doing that. I can’t remember the guy ever being personally abusive to anyone so there’s no valid reason to flag him.
It’s ok to disagree with people’s opinions, but you just out yourself as an unserious troll when you post comments like this
probably time to move off Murray .. is there any trust that current management/coach will get trading Murray and drafting his replacement correct ? ?