TEMPE — With the regular season in its final phase, voting for the 2025 NFL Pro Bowl Games is ramping up.
The Arizona Cardinals may not be among the top five teams in Pro Bowl fan voting as of this week, but they do have a handful of playmakers who at the very least make strong cases for February’s All-Star festivities.
And it starts with a couple of no-doubters given the seasons they’re putting together.
The Cardinals’ should-be shoo-ins
If anyone has deserved a Pro Bowl nod within the Cardinals’ locker room, the line starts at tight end Trey McBride and safety Budda Baker.
Capitalizing on his natural abilities and improved connection with quarterback Kyler Murray, McBride continues to ascend as one of the top tight ends in the NFL.
In 12 starts this season, McBride is pacing the Cardinals in catches (80) and receiving yards (851). He’s just two catches shy of surpassing the single-season franchise record (81) he set just last season with four games to play.
The only tight end with more yards and receptions 14 weeks in is the Las Vegas Raiders’ Brock Bowers, who is up to 933 yards (and four touchdowns) on 87 catches.
Where’s Cardinals TE Trey McBride elevated his game in head coach Jonathan Gannon’s eyes?
Route detail. pic.twitter.com/HBi5ij5TfN
— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) December 6, 2024
“He’s a playmaker. I’ve talked about his skillset and what he does,” Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon said last week. “I think where he’s really elevated his game is route detail. Certain routes I think he’s gotten a lot better at running. There’s no indecisive with the quarterback. … And that takes time.
“As good as he was last year, we sat down and said, ‘How do you become a better player?’ That was one of the top things, just route detail. … It’s minute, but when you do those little things correctly consistently, you should become a better player. He took it to heart.”
Save for a dramatic flip in the script, McBride should have one of the NFC’s two tight end slots all but locked up. If a challenger does end up showing themselves, Green Bay’s Tucker Kraft or Tampa Bay’s Cade Otton are the likely candidates.
As for the starting role? That’s going to be a tough one to pry away from San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle.
Why? The touchdown department.
Kittle may be behind McBride in receiving yards (800) and catches (56), but the fan favorite is head and shoulders ahead of the third-year pro in scores (eight). McBride meanwhile has just two on the year, though none as a pass catcher.
“Weird stat, because he’s going crazy,” Murray said last week. “I think we’ve had a couple opportunities and haven’t connected. That’s definitely got to happen soon.”
Either way, all signs point to McBride adding “Pro Bowl” to his rapidly growing NFL resume.
Baker, however, knows a thing or six about Pro Bowls. And it’s not a surprise he’s headed for a seventh.
Trailing only Zaire Franklin (135) for the NFL lead in tackles with 132 to go along with 2.0 sacks and three passes defensed, Baker has once again set the tone as Arizona’s primary defensive threat.
That includes an 18-tackle effort, something Baker had never done in his career — in last week’s loss to Seattle.
“Anytime somebody had 18 tackles, they probably had a good day in terms of their motor and getting to the football,” defensive coordinator Nick Rallis said Tuesday.
Toss in his leadership within Arizona’s locker room and there’s not much more you could ask for from the veteran safety in a contract year.
Outside of interceptions.
Much like McBride, Baker is lacking in one major stat this season and remains without a pick 13 games in.
The missing turnovers are likely part of the reason why Baker slipped out of the starting spot in fan voting for strong safety. Instead, that honor currently belongs to Detroit’s Brian Branch and his four interceptions and eight passes defensed.
The Lions’ standing at the top of the NFL surely has some added weight in the voting, but the numbers (outside of tackles) side with Branch.
That being said, Baker has more than earned another Pro Bowl nod, if not the starting role.
Competition is tight
The list of Arizona’s potential Pro Bowlers doesn’t end at McBride and Baker, but it does go from nearly airtight to it’s going to take some work.
Take kick returner DeeJay Dallas for example.
The first-year Cardinal made history this season with the first-ever dynamic kickoff touchdown return and has played an important role in setting up the offense.
Across 15 kick returns, Dallas is averaging 30.6 yards an attempt to go along with the score.
Dallas Cowboys returner KaVontae Turpin, however, has something Dallas doesn’t on his stat sheet in 2024:
Punt returns.
Turpin has turned into one of the league’s biggest return threats this season with touchdowns as both a kick and punt returner. He’s also in the top 10 in average kick (36.3 yards per game) and punt returns (12.4) in the league.
It should come as no surprise that he’s the NFC’s top vote-getter at return specialist as of this week.
Carolina’s Raheem Blackshear is another name to watch for the lone spot on the conference roster.
Speaking of special teams, punter Blake Gillikin has been a consistent bright spot for the Cardinals outside of his abbreviated showing last week due to an ankle injury.
He’s currently turning in one of his best seasons as a pro, averaging 44.2 net yards per attempt (third best in the NFL). Gillikin is also seeing half of his 38 punts land inside the 20-yard line. If he keeps that rate up, that would be a new career high.
The odds are stacked against him, though, with Detroit’s Jack Fox sporting better net yards per punt (46.1). He’s also landed one more inside the 20 than Gillikin.
The uncertainty surrounding the ankle issue — Arizona added a punter to the practice squad on Wednesday — doesn’t help, either.
Then there’s starting left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. The cornerstone of Arizona’s offensive line, Johnson already had his work cut out for him in a competitive position group.
Toss in his recent stretch of inconsistency, and it’s an even tougher hill to climb for the lineman.
That’s not to say he hasn’t been one of the best parts of the Cardinals’ offensive line in his first NFL season at left tackle, but others such as Tampa Bay’s Tristan Wirfs and Philadelphia’s Jordan Mailata have made stronger cases 14 weeks in.
When do the 2025 Pro Bowl Games take place?
The 2025 Pro Bowl Games are slated for Feb. 2.
How does Pro Bowl voting work?
Fan voting, which runs until Dec. 23, counts as one-third of Pro Bowl balloting. Coaches and players make up the remaining votes and must make their picks by Dec. 27.
What’s the roster breakdown for the NFL Pro Bowl Games?
Each conference’s Pro Bowl roster will consist of 44 players.
As it relates to the Cardinals in the mix, the position groups to watch are tight ends (two roster spots), strong safeties (two), offensive tackles (three), punter (one) and return specialist (one).