Arizona Cardinals Biggest Weakness Revealed

A thin Arizona Cardinals position group is a bit thinner than anticipated.

Jun 10, 2025; Tempe, AZ, USA; Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker (3) and cornerback Garrett Williams (21) do drills during minicamp at the teams Arizona Cardinals Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Arizona Cardinals have done exceptional work to shore up their defense and give their offense more of a cushion to work with this offseason.

It's already obvious in training camp that Arizona's defenders are at a much higher level than they were a year ago.

But most of that attention went into fixing a defensive front that was full of holes. Most of the Cardinals' resources were used to acquire DL and edge rushers, leaving another group somewhat neglected.

Bleacher Report's Alex Ballentine put together a list of every NFL team's biggest strength's and weaknesses, and he highlighted this defensive group for Arizona's biggest weakness.

Arizona Cardinals Biggest Weakness Revealed

The Cardinals' biggest weakness? Their secondary.

"It's a good thing the Cardinals are going to be able to run the ball. They'll need to protect leads if the secondary isn't better than it is on paper," Ballentine wrote.

"The safety tandem of Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson has been good in the past, but they gave up passer ratings of 129.8 and 120.0, respectively, last season.

"They'll be charged with backing up a cornerback room that has more potential than production at this point. Max Melton will be CB1, with rookies Will Johnson and Denzel Burke joining the fold to compete with Garrett Williams and Steven Gilmore, who joined after Starling Thomas V tore his ACL on Friday."

While Ballentine does have a point that this group is somewhat unproven and thin from a depth perspective, one line in his article nearly discredits his entire argument.

Let's revisit: "Max Melton will be CB1, with rookies Will Johnson and Denzel Burke joining the fold to compete with Garrett Williams and Steven Gilmore..."

Ballentine, like most of the NFL world, seems to be unaware that Williams is already one of the best cover corners in the NFL.

Yes, Williams primarily plays the slot, but he's been absolutely lock-down, and is going to get more looks outside in 2025 as well.

But on the whole, the recent Thomas injury does provide questions for this group. Melton has shown potential, Baker and Williams are stars, and Johnson should be an immediate starting-caliber player.

But there is still concern that this group doesn't have the experience or depth to be a sturdy group for the long haul. The hope is that the improved DL will give these young DBs a wider margin for error and take less pressure off the secondary as a group, but that remains to be seen.

Still, Jonathan Gannon is known for creating stars out of raw young DBs. What he's done with Williams, Melton and Thomas (before his injury) was noteworthy, and could continue in 2025.