Cardinals Fans Must Trust the Process Now More Than Ever

TEMPE -- The Arizona Cardinals continue to gear up for Week 1 of what projects to be a tough season ahead after smashing the rebuild button during the offseason.

The Cardinals finished 2022 with a 4-13 record, lost key players across the board and were forced to seek a new coaching staff and front office. Above all, speculation around franchise quarterback Kyler Murray has reached an all-time high concerning not only his return to the field, but his status with the organization moving forward after 2023 as well.

Football is played on grass, not paper. The Cardinals could easily shock the world by playing better than anticipated and winning more than a handful of games (their over/under of 3.5 wins set by Vegas is the lowest in the NFL), though that seems unlikely given the inexperience of Jonathan Gannon's staff and the overall state of the roster.

The previous regime under Steve Keim ultimately proved to be a failure in a multitude of ways. Monti Ossenfort has been tasked with cleaning up the mess previously left behind, and he's done a fairly good job in clearing cap space for the future while acquiring top-level draft capital in 2024.

Things will get worse before they get better - and though this season doesn't promise to be rewarding in the short view - Cardinals fans must trust the building blocks Ossenfort has assembled thus far.

Kay Adams agrees:

"I think focusing on a long-term plan is the right move. It's brilliant and it's going to put this rebuild on a fast-track. They've got 12 picks next year - 12, more than any other team and that includes the Texan ' first-rounder. I think there's this growing feeling of, 'Oh we love Caleb Williams, it's gonna make sense, Heisman-winning quarterback. Let him go here. Let's get rid of Kyler.'

"I don't think that necessarily has to be the case. They've got options. They can take the year to evaluate Kyler, on or off the field. He's rehabbing, let's see what he looks like, what he's like as a leader, all of that. Then they leave themselves with two paths that are pretty damn good.

"Option 1: You like what you see in Kyler and you keep him and you get an absolute haul for those picks in what should be a great quarterback draft, OR option two: You decide you want to move on from Kyler and you draft Caleb Williams and you use the $80 million in cap space and 11 other picks to rebuild the roster.

"Either way, the path exists to turn this thing around very quickly. Cardinals fans... It's gonna be a toughie. You might wanna cheer from the seats, you might want to find another team for just a second. Everyone's gonna make their jokes, and they're gonna be the low-hanging fruit and the punching bag and the piñata of the NFL.

"Keep the receipts, because I have a feeling none of them are going to be laughing a couple of years from now."

Full clip:

Is @heykayadams the most based in the sports media world? She completely gets what Monti and this new regime is doing in the desert. Let Monti cook 👨‍🍳 pic.twitter.com/vHtt7xEA5j
— K1SinceDay1 (@KSzn2021) September 4, 2023

There's a stench the previous regime left in the desert that still hangs over the team, though they're working hard to rid the organization of previous errors.

2023 won't be pretty - yet that's by design. The Cardinals needed to shed what they considered to be dead weight and move forward with the future in mind.

Trust the process.