In 2024, the Arizona Cardinals took a step ahead beneath head coach Jonathan Gannon.
Sadly, whereas soccer is a sport of inches, the Cardinals wanted a couple of years extra to essentially present the form of progress their fanbase wished to see, with an 8-9 file culminating within the sixteenth total choose within the 2025 NFL Draft a bittersweet reward for coming shut however no cigar behind the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks within the NFC West.
Their offense was okay, rating 18th in passing yards and seventh in dashing yards, and whereas they did flip in some actually unimaginable performances in 2024, like their unimaginable 40-plus level bookend wins over the Rams in Week 2 and the San Francisco 49ers in Week 18, they have been just too few and much between.
Was it shocking that the Cardinals’ offense was inconsistent in 2024? Not likely, as Kyler Murry was successfully studying a brand new scheme after lacking most of final season, and Marvin Harris Jr. turned out a bit of in another way than some followers initially anticipated.
What was shocking, nonetheless, was the Cardinals’ defensive struggles, as that was broadly thought-about Gannon’s power. Rating fifteenth in factors allowed however twenty first in yards surrendered, with the 14th-ranked passing offense and the Twentieth-ranked dashing protection, the Cardinals actually struggled with getting constant strain in opposition to opposing quarterbacks, with just one participant, Zaven Collins, having 5 or extra sacks on the season. Now granted, the workforce nonetheless completed out the yr with 41 sacks, or roughly 2.4 per sport, however they did not actually have “a man” to construct their assault round, with 17 totally different gamers recording at the very least one sack on the season.
May that participant come within the draft? Possibly sure, perhaps no, as there are many fascinating defenders with mid-first-round grades like Mykel Williams out of Georgia, Kenneth Grant from Michigan, Texas A&M’s Shemar Stewart, and even Jack Sawyer if he continues to explode within the Faculty Soccer Playoffs, however can the Cardinals assure that occurs? Nope, not except they give up much more draft picks to pick out “their man” up excessive, be that an elite edge like Abdul Carter or Mason Graham, who would possibly remind Gannon of his former tone-setter with the Philadelphia Eagles, Fletcher Cox.
Would Gannon prefer to re-live his Philly glory days when his defensive efforts have been so spectacular if it landed him the Cardinals job within the first place? Most definitely, and in an fascinating accident, he has an opportunity to try this, as arguably his greatest Philadelphia success story, Javon Hargrave, was simply launched by the 49ers and will take a airplane experience to Arizona for another shot at turning into a double-digit sacker.
Jonathan Gannon is an enormous fan of Javon Hargrave
If the Cardinals are going to pay massive cash for a Professional Bowl-caliber defensive deal with, even when Hargrave’s precise cap hit will virtually definitely be decrease than his $28.105 million cap hit in San Francisco would have been if every little thing labored out within the “Gravedigger’s” favor, they should know he is a match on the sector, proper?
Most definitely, and on the subject of Hargrave, that vetting course of could be a simple one, as all Monti Ossenfort must do is ring up his head coach, who has been singing the South Carolina product’s praises since 2021, after they each known as South Philadelphia residence.
“Javon performed very well. We anticipated him to play nicely. He had an awesome coaching camp, the joint practices he performed very well. That entire unit, there’s a number of guys, when he was on the market, who he was enjoying with [defensive tackle] Fletcher Cox, B.G. [defensive end Brandon Graham], [defensive tackle] Milton [Williams], Sweaty [defensive Josh Sweat], [defensive end Derek] Barnett, these guys are serving to him be the very best model of himself as nicely. These guys are profitable at a excessive degree,” Gannon advised reporters again in 2021 through the Philly Tribune.
Associated Arizona Cardinals InformationArticle continues beneath
“Sure guys get a single block, they usually win. Javon had a pair singles due to Fletch actually. They need Fletch. Effectively, you may’t double all people. Personally, I anticipated him to play very well, and he did. I feel the emphasis is between inside and out of doors guys, you want all of them. There’s actually no premium — everybody used to speak about you want an edge rusher and a great nook. What we talked about approach again when, you want all 11, all 22 to be good gamers. Sure positions aren’t forward of different positions. I’d assume he executed. You’d like to have the ability to win from inside and win from exterior. When you will have the folks to try this, it makes the quarterback’s job fairly laborious.”
Initially miscast as an undersized nostril deal with with the Pittsburgh Steelers, which, in a approach, solely highlights his unimaginable inside power, Hargrave actually got here into his personal as a member of the Eagles, choosing up 23 sacks, 161 tackles, and 42 QB hits on the best way to his first of two Professional Bowl appearances. Even when a few of that was due to Cox, who was nonetheless an authorized difference-maker on the time, Hargrave nonetheless knew easy methods to win in Hargrave’s scheme, which is half the battle.
The opposite half? Hargrave loves Gannon, too, as he credit him for actually unlocking his NFL potential.
Javon Hargrave was nonetheless a Jonathan Gannon fan in San Francisco
When Gannon was teaching soccer on the alternative facet of the nation, it was simple for Gargrave to nonetheless co-sign his outdated defensive coordinator, however even in San Francisco, the place the 2 sides have been imagined to be heated rivals, Hargrave could not assist however stay a fan, as he famous earlier than their first sport in opposition to one another in September of 2023.
“He gave me a number of freedom and talked to me in the course of the week about what I favored and among the performs he was going to name if we favored them. He’s one these gamers’ coaches that listens to gamers lots to get the very best out of them,” Hargrave declared through The Press Democrat. “I wanted him, he wanted me,” Hargrave mentioned. “I mentioned thanks for every little thing he’s carried out, and he mentioned the identical to me.”
In San Francisco, Hargrave was nonetheless a fairly good participant however there was a sure je ne sais quoi that was lacking on the sector, even when he ought to have theoretically been thriving subsequent to Nick Bosa. After making the Professional Bowl in 2023, Hargrave appeared in simply three video games in 2024 and was finally launched to save cash, even when the 49ers would welcome him again.
Sadly for Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch, and firm, the Cardinals have $71.7 million in cap area, based on Over The Cap, and should need to add a constructing block veteran rusher to their entrance seven who can play an enormous position in ushering within the subsequent technology of Cardinals cross rushers no matter who finally ends up heading to Glendale in April’s draft.