Cardinals Officially Lose No. 1 Pick

ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals were one of three double-digit underdogs in Week 17. Sitting at just three wins on the season, not many gave Jonathan Gannon and co. a chance in his return to a familiar face in the Philadelphia Eagles.

Having already clinched a playoff spot and touting one of the top offenses in the league, the Eagles were assumed to roll over Arizona.

60 minutes later, the Cardinals got the last laugh in Philadelphia with a 35-31 victory.

The win signified a handful of things. Arizona moved to 4-12 on the year, Philadelphia lost the opportunity to secure homefield advantage in the NFC, and most notably the Cardinals are now out of contention for the No. 1 pick.

It was a simple yet difficult path for Arizona to grab the top spot, as they needed to lose their final two games on top of the Carolina Panthers winning out.

That's now out of the realm of possibility - and that's completely fine.

Let's get the obvious out of the way: Players and coaches don't tank. To blatantly try to lose would result in massive ramifications for the respective parties that participated, but more than anything, football is a game of pride.

Players and coaches are performing not only for their current situation, but also any future possibilities that arrive. Tape matters to all 32 teams across the league.

Losing breeds losing. You hear that often in the NFL where bad teams tend to stay bad unless changes are made.

Those changes came in the desert last offseason in the form of GM Monti Ossenfort and HC Jonathan Gannon.

Admittedly so, Ossenfort gutted the roster and trimmed necessary fat - which was an ugly process. The Cardinals simply needed to part ways with players that didn't fit the future, and Ossenfort was smart enough to understand a full rebuild was needed.

The Cardinals did their best to downplay the obvious reset in the desert through the offseason.

On the first day Gannon was introduced as Arizona's next leader, he told the world the Cardinals were going to win games.

"We’re going to be adaptable; we’re going to be violent, we’re going to be explosive, and we’re going to be smart. All three phases go into that, and we will maximize the talents of the players that we have," Gannon said.

"That’s how we’re going to win games, and don’t get it twisted— we’re going to win games."

People laughed. And to their credit, Arizona currently has a top-five pick with just four wins.

To Gannon's credit, the Cardinals have fought hard every single week and rarely have appeared shockingly outmatched by their opponent.

A massive shift in culture was the big talking point through training camp. Memes were made about Gannon's awkward interactions with players and his odd training camp speech looking for "killers" on the roster.

With just one week remaining on the calendar - this team looks different than Kliff Kingsbury's squad last season.

Arizona is still far away from being the playoff team they've flashed in the past. Holes are littered across the roster, though ample draft capital and cap space should see a few of those filled in 2024.

Marvin Harrison Jr. would look great in a Cardinals uniform - there's no doubting that. Whether he ends up in Arizona remains to be seen. That's a little more in doubt as the Cardinals now sit with the No. 4 pick with just one game remaining to change their standing.

For a young team looking to carve its identity moving forward, winning is everything. Learning how to win is priceless in their pursuit of turning the ship around in Arizona. You can't gain that by tanking/losing/whatever you want to call that.

There's hope the Cardinals look better in 2024. With plenty of resources at their disposal, they should.

Arizona couldn't care less about losing the right to the No. 1 pick. They care about winning. They care about building something that can withstand storms and adversity in the future under Gannon.

Today, another brick was added to that foundation, draft position be damned.