The NFL season got underway this week, and for the first time, the season began on a Wednesday, with the defending champion Seattle Seahawks beating the New England Patriots in Seattle. Then Thursday night, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, Australia.
Closer to home, and this hemisphere, the Arizona Cardinals start their new campaign on Sunday in LA against the Chargers.
The preseason rankings have not been kind to the Cardinals. They generally have the team finishing last in the NFC West.
Josh Weinfuss, who covers the Cardinals for ESPN, joined The Show to talk about what the upcoming season might look like.
**Full conversation**
**MARK BRODIE:** Josh, good morning.
**JOSH WEINFUSS:** Good morning, how are you?
**MARK BRODIE:** I’m doing all right. So are you pessimistic about the upcoming season, or should Cardinals fans maybe be pessimistic about the upcoming season?
**JOSH WEINFUSS:** Yes and no, right? Everyone, like you said, has this team ranked at the bottom of the NFC West. A lot of the predictions and projections have them at the bottom of the league overall.
But I think this team’s going to be better than people think or believe, and here’s why: I think their offensive talent as a — in the skill players, which when I say skill players, it’s quarterback, wide receiver, tight end, running back, is probably among the best in the NFL. And if they can utilize that, and if they can keep them healthy and protect them with the offensive line, I think that this offense could really get going this year and surprise a lot of people.
To me, the biggest question mark is the defense. It wasn’t very good last year, especially at the end of the year. They brought back the same coordinator, a few different position coaches, and they got some guys back from injury from last year, but overall we don’t know what kind of steps they’re going to take from last year.
Like this year, new head coach in Mike LaFleur, he brought his own offensive scheme, like they’ve upgraded some of the talent, so we can see the noticeable improvement on the offensive side of the ball. To me, at least, we just haven’t been able to see the noticeable improvement on the defensive side of the ball.
**MARK BRODIE:** So what will you be looking for — you mentioned the new head coach — what will you be looking for early in the season to sort of get a gauge of the kind of impact the new coach is having?
**JOSH WEINFUSS:** Yeah, you know, he’s an offensive-minded coach, he’s going to be calling the plays. So if we’re going to look at how he’s impacting this organization, it’s going to be on the offensive side. So how good is this offense, how efficient is it, are they putting up a lot of points?
Yards don’t necessarily matter, it’s more about the points, right? So just kind of how good of an offense is he bringing with him. The last time he called plays was with the New York Jets in like 2020, 2021-ish, and it didn’t go well, right? I’m sorry, I think it was 20 — yeah, 2020, 2021-ish, just did not go well.
So this is his second chance to do it. I’m sure a lot of coaches learn from their prior experiences, so we’ll see how that carries over to this year.
**MARK BRODIE:** So Josh, you kind of alluded to this, but I want to ask you about the division that the Cardinals are in, because they’re in the same division as the Rams, the 49ers, the Seahawks, who of course won the Super Bowl last year.
So it kind of sounds like what you’re saying is maybe the Cardinals will finish last, but some of that is maybe a reflection of who they have to play twice a year.
**JOSH WEINFUSS:** 100%, right? This is by far the hardest division in football. I mean, you just named them, right? That’s a gauntlet right there of six games a year. But then you add in the rest of their schedule for the first nine, 10, 11 games-ish, like it’s not an easy go.
So they could have a good year and still finish at the bottom of their division, and I think that could be considered a success this year, right? It might not look like it in the standings, but when you’re playing, like you said, the defending Super Bowl champions, the Rams are predicted to win the Super Bowl this year by a lot of people, but then the Niners did what they did last night to the Rams, so really, it’s a great division.
And I do think the Cardinals have the skill and the talent to steal a game or two, I just don’t know how many.
**MARK BRODIE:** So what then to you would success look like for the Cardinals? Is it a matter of like having a better record than last year, or scoring more points than last year? Like how do you think they should be gauging success?
**JOSH WEINFUSS:** Yeah, it’s a great question, right? And I think the baseline from last year is not very — I guess the bar, I should say, the bar is not very high, right? They won three games last year. So you win four games, it’s a better season overall.
I think honestly, it’s staying competitive. I’ve said this before: If they can be competitive in games to the last minute or two, make it a — be competitive in one-score games, and be in a position to win those and steal those, I think that’s considered a good season.
Because anytime you have changeover at head coach, and they went through a turbulent offseason as an organization, anytime you can get through that and just have a consistent season, I think is a win, and I think that would be success for this team this year.
**MARK BRODIE:** OK. Let me ask you about the quarterback position, because, you know, there was a lot of talk about what should they do with Kyler Murray. He’s of course not there anymore. Jacoby Brissett will be the starting quarterback. Is he — and they drafted a quarterback in the NFL Draft. Do you anticipate that Brissett will still be the starting quarterback, let’s say, midseason?
**JOSH WEINFUSS:** Midseason, yes. I think end of the season is going to truly depend on how the year goes. If this season ends up like last year, I can see them at some point — and when I say “them,” the Cardinals — benching Brissett and playing Carson Beck, who was a rookie they drafted in the third round, just to see what they have in him.
Because if you’re going to have that bad of a season, you’ll most likely be drafting pretty high in next year’s draft, and next year’s draft class is loaded with quarterbacks. So before you go and take one of those guys high, you want to see what you have in Beck because you obviously invested some serious draft capital in him. And he’s good, right? He’s talented, he’s young, but he had a lot of college experience. He played in college for six years, so his learning curve is a lot shorter than a lot of other guys coming out of school.
So I wouldn’t be surprised if they benched Jacoby Brissett at some point if the season kind of goes off the rails, but if they’re competitive and they’re winning games, then I would expect Brissett to play the entire season.
**MARK BRODIE:** Is there a player or players that you are looking for to sort of have breakout seasons, to maybe — if the Cardinals are going well, it will be because of this guy or these guys?
**JOSH WEINFUSS:** Yeah, that’s a great question. I think the first name that comes to mind is Marvin Harrison Jr., right? He had a injury-riddled season last — wide receiver, yep, a lot of injuries last year, but still was productive in the games that he played.
So I think this is a type of season, the type of situation with Jacoby Brissett at quarterback where I think he could take that next step in his career. And to me, that next step is 1,000 yards, right? I think he could be a 1,000-yard receiver. And then you look at all those receivers as a whole: Michael Wilson, he’s coming off his first 1,000-yard season, I think he could be part of that equation; Trey McBride.
But another name that I think a lot of people need to pay attention to is the Cardinals’ first-round pick this year. They took Jeremiah Love, a running back out of Notre Dame, with the third overall pick, and he is dynamic, right? He could do everything. He’s super quick, super fast, great hands. I think he could be a game-changer this year.
**MARK BRODIE:** All right. It’ll be interesting to see. The Cardinals kick off their season on Sunday against the L.A. Chargers. That is Josh Weinfuss, covers the Cardinals for ESPN. Josh, thanks, I really appreciate it.
**JOSH WEINFUSS:** Yeah, thanks for having me.
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