Cardinals' Roster Ranked Bottom Five in NFL

ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals supplemented plenty of positions across the 2024 offseason, and there's a lot of hype around what the team can look like moving forward.

Locally, at least. The national perspective is still fairly low on Arizona moving into year two of the Jonathan Gannon/Monti Ossenfort regime.

Bleacher Report recently went through and ranked the worst five NFL rosters, and the Cardinals landed on the list at No. 5:

"The Arizona Cardinals possess something no one else in the bottom five of NFL rosters has: a $200 million quarterback. But it's fair to wonder if the Redbirds are having buyer's remorse about that extension for Kyler Murray," wrote Gary Davenport.

"Since signing it in 2022, the 26-year-old has missed 15 games with an ACL tear and won six of 19 starts. Last year, his career-low QBR of 47.2 was lower than Minshew's."

After highlighting Trey McBride's vocal support for Murray (which you can read about here), Davenport concluded with:

"McBride blossomed into a fine young tight end last season, and Marvin Harrison Jr. has the makings of a star at wide receiver. But the wideout group behind the first-round pick isn't imposing. And while James Conner and Trey Benson are a capable pair of running backs, it's not easy to generate consistent offense behind a bottom-five offensive line.

"The offense is the Cardinals' strength, though.

"Arizona was 25th last year in total defense and 31st in points allowed. The team's starting edge-rushers (B.J. Ojulari and Zaven Collins) combined for 7.5 sacks in 2023. Jalen Thompson and Budda Baker form one of the league's better safety tandems, but the cornerback room might be the weakest in the entire NFL."

The Cardinals did well to upgrade both sides of the ball through free agency and the draft - there's plenty of reason to be excited about Arizona in 2024.

Should fans have their expectations tempered?

Absolutely. Rebuilds often take time - but the Houston Texans serve as a stark reminder with proper leadership and players buying into a culture, the ship can turn around sooner than anticipated.

Is the Cardinals' roster unproven? There is indeed unknown everywhere through the roster, though bottom five in the NFL might be questionable.