GRADES: Arizona Cardinals' Disaster vs Denver Broncos

Beginning this with the caveat that last night's performance was a preseason game and does not necessarily reflect the future success of this Arizona Cardinals team seems appropriate. That being said, the product seen on the field on Saturday night was anything but encouraging.

The Cardinals went to Mile High Stadium for their second preseason matchup of the year against the Denver Broncos and they walked away with a 27-7 loss after a flat, uninspired performance all around.

Starters did not get playing time in this one and the backups were supposed to have a chance to showcase their abilities in their fights for roster spots on the final 53-man list coming up in a few weeks. Sadly, very few of them made a major case in Denver.

Like last week, let's take a look at each major side of the ball and give them a 1/10 rating for regular season readiness. Instead of standout players like we did last, let's instead look at major cut candidates.

Offense

Arizona Cardinals QB Clayton Tun — Aug 16, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Clayton Tune (15) passes the ball in the second quarter against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Regular Season Readiness: 2/10

Beyond the less than a quarter of playing time we saw from Jacoby Brissett, this entire unit did not look good. In fact, they looked they weren't prepared or even particularly willing to play the game of football on Saturday night.

Denver outgained the Cardinals by a whopping 427 yards of offense with the visiting team only managing 113 passing and 36 rushing yards.

Starting from the inside out - the offensive line depth still looks shaky at best. The re-signing of Will Hernandez should help and, of course, swing tackle Kelvin Beachum didn't get any play so there are at least some players higher on the depth chart that should take over in the case of injury before any of the depth players highlighted last night would get their names called.

Michael Carter had an abysmal stat line of 10 yards on 8 carries, but from watching the game he truly did try to make the best out of a bad situation and his numbers were heavily impacted by the fact the Broncos defense were regularly swarming the backfield.

Wide receivers like Xavier Weaver and Tejhuan Palmer are fighting for roster spots and did not do much to help their case. On one of the first offensive outings of the game they had back-to-back drops that killed the drive and both only managed to finish with one catch for the night.

Cut Candidate - QB Clayton Tune

In more than than three times the amount of snaps that Brissett saw, Tune finished with one less passing yard, 56 total over more than three quarters. That is not good, to put it lightly.

He completed 65% of his passes which at first glance might seem alright, but look closer and notice that the yards per attempt for Tune were only 2.8. Not even enough to average a first down.

Part of the reason the wide receivers fighting for spots seemed to have a terrible night was due to the bad quarterback play of Tune who has survived on this roster for two years now, but has never shown himself to be taking a step forward.

The Cardinals have a lot of defensive line depth that they would like to keep around and that additional spot will have to come at the expense of another position group. Brissett is one of the most solid backup options in the league and Tune is now expendable.

He seems to be a prime candidate for the practice squad to open up a very valuable position for a more deserving player on the final 53-man roster.

Defense

Arizona Cardinals HC Jonathan Ganno — Aug 16, 2025; Denver, Colorado, USA; Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon during the second quarter against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Regular Season Readiness - 4/10

This section was about to be much more scathing before seeing the following X post from AZCentral reporter Theo Mackie:

Jonathan Gannon said Nick Rallis was upstairs in the booth and did not call the defense tonight
— Theo Mackie (@theo_mackie) August 17, 2025

It is at least some explanation for why the Cardinals defense seemed so disjointed and lackadaisical on Saturday, but there are still some points for concern.

The primary one being secondary depth. The loss of Sean Murphy-Bunting and Starling Thomas for the season to injury was surprisingly received by the fanbase with something close to disinterest when it probably should have triggered some feelings of uneasiness about the cornerback room.

Will Johnson got some play last night, but his only major highlight was an across the field race to tackle a free Evan Engram. Rookie Denzel Burke also had a nice pass breakup. But these two moments represent nearly the entirety of good secondary play.

The spot at inside linebacker opposite Mack Wilson, Sr. is still a question mark and nothing much was answered in this game. Rookie Cody Simon got a fair amount of playing time but he did not jump off the tape and neither did third year player Owen Pappoe.

Cut Candidate - LB Owen Pappoe

It's been years in waiting for Pappoe to develop into a starting caliber linebacker seems like an exercise in futility. He has some really nice, intrinsic athletic abilities but doesn't seem to have a natural feel for the game.

His speed and other attributes have kept him on the team this long, but with free agent additions like Mykal Walker and Akeem Davis-Gaither, along with rookie Simon, all competing in the same room it seems that Pappoe is the odd man out.

Special Teams

Chad Ryland, Arizona Cardinal — Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals kicker Chad Ryland (38) against the San Francisco 49ers at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Regular Season Readiness - 8/10

It really didn't count, as it happened during pregame warmups but it is still fun seeing kickers boot incredibly long field goals like this 72-yarder from Chad Ryland.

Cardinals kicker Chad Ryland from 72 yards in pre-game warmups in Denver. pic.twitter.com/gz63waCiFd
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 17, 2025

After some bad fumbles and missteps against the Chiefs last week, the special teams unit seemed to have taken whatever criticism coordinator Jeff Rodgers gave them and put it to work for a much more balanced outing.

Punter Blake Gillikin got a workout having to use his leg a total of nine times and racking up an almost unbelievable 478 punt yards.

Emari Demercado got some play as a returner and did an admirable job with two returns for a total of 60 yards.

Cut Candidate - DeeJay Dallas

This is easily the least likely one to happen since this coaching staff loves Dallas, but Demercado showed he can be a productive returner making Dallas' position on the team a bit more redundant.

He still has a lot of upside on all aspects of special teams but if another position group desperately needed another spot on the 53-man roster the gifts of Dallas might not be enough to justify his inclusion.