Arizona Cardinals 2018-19 - NFL Season Preview & Future Odds Predictions

The Arizona Cardinals will start with several new faces this season including that of new head coach Steven Wilks. The Cardinals organization hopes the new faces bring about positive change following the team’s 8-8 season in 2017. New quarterbacks including free agents Sam Bradford and Mike Glennon along with Josh Rosen, the team’s first round pick in the draft, are the most noteworthy new players. Defensively, the team must replace six of its starters from last season and learn a new 4-3 scheme.

If everything were to go as planned Sam Bradford would be the Cardinals starting quarterback for the entire season and use a rushing attack as the principal method of moving the chains. However, David Johnson is prone to injuries at running back and Bradford has played full seasons just twice during his career. The offense was No. 24 in third-down percentage a season ago, No. 25 in points scored and No. 30 in touchdowns in the red zone. Improving on that after Arizona lost 10 offensive players who played significantly last season could be hard. Seven of Arizona's lost contributors were skills position players. On the line, the Cardinals picked up Justin Pugh at right guard and Andre Smith at right tackle. Both Mike Iupati at left guard and A.Q. Shipley at center return and D.J. Humphries should have recovered by the start of the season from a knee injury.

Besides Arizona picking their future QB in Rosen, the Cardinals drafted Christian Kirk a top wide receiver and Mason Cole an interior lineman. A surprise pick was Chase Edmonds a record setting tailback from Fordham, yes that’s right, Fordham. Larry Fitzgerald the future hall of fame receiver returns for season No. 15 but his age, 35, will not help as the season progresses.

The defense has carried the Cardinals of late. The unit has been in the top 10 of the NFL for three straight seasons. In two of the last three seasons, the defense finished in the top 5. The big question mark is whether the change to 4-3 from 3-4 will hurt or help and how much the absence of Tyvon Branch and Tyrann Mathieu will hurt as well as linebackers Tramon Williams and Karlos Dansby.

Arizona's Patrick Peterson is one of the league’s best cornerbacks and defensive end Chandler Jones led the NFL last season in quarterback sacks with 17. However, there are holes to fill on Cards opposite side of those two stars. On the line with Jones will be Robert Nkemdiche at tackle, but he must reach his potential after being highly touted out of Ole Miss in 2016.

Brandon Williams appears to be the best pickup at corner for Arizona, and Markus Golden returns on the edge from a torn ACL in 2017 after posting 12.5 QB sacks in 2016. Josh Bynes has been given the job to hold down the middle linebacker spot and on each side of him will be youngsters Hasson Reddick and Deone Bucannon. At safety, Antoine Beathea starts the season at age 34. Second year player Budda Baker is huge on talent, but has started just a few games at safety.