Arizona Cardinals Team Preview 25-26

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  • Last Updated on June 16, 2025 5:37 pm by Jon Mosales | Published: June 16, 2025

     

    The Cardinals are the living embodiment of a Jekyll and Hyde franchise, meaning you never know which team will show up on any given Sunday.  They started the season 6-4 and seemed to finally be gaining momentum, only to lose five of thier last six and fall out of the playoff hunt.  On paper, they are an ideal fantasy team.  Finishing as a near top-10 offense, ranking 12th in points scored, 11th in total yards, 2nd in yards-per-rush and 7th in total rushing yards.  Kyler Murray bounced-back to finish as the QB10, but more importantly stayed upright all season and played all 17 games.  He’s the prototypical fantasy stud that you wouldn’t want to bet on to win a big game, but would feel confident that he could put up 20 fantasy points vs. anyone.  While the Cardinals aren’t a purely Murray-driven team, it certainly feels like when he’s playing great or even more so when he’s the worst version of himself.  The team certainly formed an identity last season and was really focused on lessening the burden on Murray to pull plays out of his hate.  They ran the ball at 45/55 split, which was good for the 11th heaviest rushing team and only had him throw the ball 33.7 times per-game (24th).  James Connor was a traditional bell cow and the real engine of the offense, finishing as the RB11 and defying the age gods with his best season over the last three.  At age 30, it’s very likely the best version of him is gone as broke down by the end of the season, only having four rushes over the last two games.  The real bonus Connor provided was in the passing game, as he had the most receiving yards (414) since his breakthrough season on PIT on 2018.  The best thing he has going for him is the lack of a young workhorse to overtake him, so while the string is running out, he might have one more solid fantasy season left in him.

    The best part of the ARI offense is that it’s still emerging and the passing attack is a two-pronged spear led by Trey McBride (TE3) despite not catching a receiving TD until Week 17. The other less sharp part of the attack is Marvin Harrison Jr., who carries more hype into this rookie season than few rookie WRs before him.  Finishing as the WR29 wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if he didn’t cost a first round pick in most drafts.  The Cardinals were great at spreading the ball to the TE (5th in FPPG) and RB (8th in FPPG), but the WR struggled and racked up the 29th most FPPG.  Fantasy GMs had gotten spoiled with rookie WRs booming out of the gate and last year was no exception, but that doesn’t mean the shine should be any less bright on MHJ’s sophomore season.  MHJ still finished top-5 in end-zone targets and air yards and was the WR1 in Week 2, accumulating all his stats in the first half.  This is definitely an offense to invest in, but it’s definitely top-heavy which has it’s on pros and cons.

    Player most likely to beat ADP: Marvin Harrison Jr. (ADP 41, RB19)

    I was all-in on him last season until he kept flying up the draft boards.  I never actually drafted him in any leagues, but remain incredibly high on based on talent, pedigree, opportunity and now more importantly value .

    Player most likely to fade based on ADP: Kyler Murray (ADP 79, QB8)

    I don’t see him cracking the first or even second tier and mostly just don’t want to be part of the Kyler Murray experience.  There is more about the rest of the league than Murray himself, but I just won’t be taking a QB in this range.

    Late-round Flier that could blow up: TRey Benson (ADp 129, RB44)

    Benson didn’t impress as a rookie, but behind his o-line and playing with Murray, this could be a system built to prop up RBs.  If Connor gets hurt which is very possible or simply shows his age like 90% of RBs north of 30, Benson could easily fail upwards.  I really like this pick for the spot, but remain skeptical about Benson himself.

     


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    June 16, 2025, 5:36 pm