TEMPE — The Arizona Cardinals’ previous bread and butter has been anything but two games into the season.
Among 32 NFL teams, the Cardinals are outside the top 10 in rushing yards per game at 114 and have posted the second worst team rushing success rate at 34.7%. Only the Cincinnati Bengals have a worse mark (32.5%).
That metric translates to keeping the offense on schedule and centers around positive EPA (expected points added).
Last season, Arizona finished inside the top 10 in both departments:
– 144.2 yards per game (seventh)
– 44.1% team rushing success rate (ninth)
Only three times last year did the Cardinals finish with worse single-game stats in both regards than the two games they’ve played in 2025.
Yes, that’s a full season of work. Game flow has slightly impacted things in 2025 and there are plenty of games left this year, but there’s clearly something lacking in the Cardinals’ biggest offensive asset.
While “it needs to be better,” Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon isn’t panicked over the run game two weeks in. pic.twitter.com/UnBjo7VcmF
— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) September 15, 2025
“It needs to be better,” head coach Jonathan Gannon said. “I do think that. Just our efficiency of it. We’ve played some premium players in there for two weeks. But that’s not an excuse, it needs to be better. Playing penalty free in the run game, too, has to be better.
“It’s not all bad but it has to be better. It has to be more efficient, a little more productive, but there’s no panic about the run game right now.”
The potential in-house remedy? Mijo.
There’s a reason why Will Hernandez was activated off the active/PUP list ahead of the regular season. As general manager Monti Ossenfort told Arizona Sports’ Wolf & Luke following initial 53-man roster cuts, Hernandez was “close” to a return.
He doesn’t want to just be available, either. He wants to play.
“I understand that nothing in this league is just given. You have to earn it,” Hernandez said upon his return in August. “I did it myself when I became a starter. I had to earn that, too. It wasn’t just given. The way things are now could be completely different than where they are later on.
“Me knowing that’s really up to me, it’s not up to anyone else, is what keeps me calm. At the end of the day, you never know what’s going to happen later on. I love to think that the situation is in my hands.”
And given the play at guard through two games, he could find himself back in the starting lineup sooner than later.
Despite a strong training camp, Isaiah Adams hasn’t been the consistent presence some expected him to be, especially in the run game. According to Pro Football Focus, Adams has posted a 41.2 run-blocking grade.
Evan Brown hasn’t been much better at 47.5.
Adams has been flagged three times (one was accepted), while Brown has two penalties on his 2025 resume through two games.
Hernandez, meanwhile, hasn’t posted a run-blocking grade worse than 60.6 since he came to town in 2022. He’s also committed just three penalties in the past two seasons, albeit with 2024 just a five-game sample size.
Now, this all comes down to Hernandez’s health, but if he’s checked the necessary boxes this week, the lineman is at the very least an option.
And up against a tough San Francisco defense this week, his presence could come in handy.
Through two games, the 49ers are eighth in the league in team rushing yards per play at 3.7. They’ve only allowed three plays of at least 10 yards and are fourth in team stuff rate at 25%.
In other words, it’s shaping up to be tough sledding this week for Arizona. Any added umph could go a long way in run game.