The Arizona Cardinals have not been super active in free agency. Aside from re-signing a number of their own players from last season, they have added only two free agents from other teams. They signed cornerback Jeff Gladney to a two-year deal and offensive lineman Will Hernandez to a small one-year contract.
Christian Kirk, Chandler Jones, Chase Edmonds and Jordan Hicks all have found new teams.
It doesn’t feel like they have improved after an 11-win season and that is reflected in the latest NFL power rankings from USA TODAY’s Nate Davis.
In his last power rankings, Arizona was 10th. After free agency, they fall all the way to No. 20.
They lost seven of their final 11 games, including an embarrassing playoff loss to the Rams, have an unhappy quarterback and hemorrhaged talent in free agency. Otherwise, no issues.
The first two statements are true. Murray wants a contract extension, but it doesn’t appear that he is unhappy. And as for the “hemorrhaging” of talent, they lost a receiver whose replacement they drafted last year and a 32-year-old pass rusher who had 5.5 sacks after Week 1. The loss of Jones will be felt, that’s for sure.
However, with a healthy DeAndre Hopkins and J.J. Watt, this team was the best in the league a year ago. The front office certainly seems to be working on that assumption, so maybe they won’t be as bad off as it looks now.
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