Should Cardinals Panic After Free Agency?

The Arizona Cardinals had a less than stellar offseason in the eyes of many.

Such is life when you fire your head coach and pull the plug on your franchise quarterback, especially after a 3-14 season. The Cardinals entered 2026 with low expectations and thus far have unfortunately filled those.

The initial wave of free agency frenzy has come and gone. While running back Tyler Allgeier and guard Isaac Seumalo were nice adds, no moves made by the organization doused fuel on the flames of excitement for Arizona.

That's a sentiment carried by fans and national media, as SI's MMQB debated which NFL teams should be in panic mode after free agency, and the Cardinals were picked by Connor Orr:

"The Cardinals were stiffarmed by Jimmy Garoppolo, or at least that’s the way it seems right now. Minshew and Jacoby Brissett will compete for QB1, and the Mike LaFleur era appears to be off to a rough start," said Orr.

"Arizona is last year’s Giants, where we could read the tea leaves and assume players may be avoiding the team because of grim long-term prospects. I thought the team would do well to overspend and make a splash at the bridge quarterback position, knowing that I would need that person for 2026 and the beginning of ’27 when my highly drafted rookie would be learning the ropes."

Should Cardinals Really Be Panicking?

Arizona Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill and general manager Monti Ossenfort speak to the press from the Arizona Cardinals training center in Tempe after the decision to fire head coach Jonathan Gannon on Jan. 5, 2026. | Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The reality is, parting ways with Kyler Murray was always going to net a Arizona a rough immediate outlook this offseason. Simply put, there was no clear and obvious choice for the Cardinals to make after Murray's departure.

Addressing Orr's comments really quick: "doing well" and "overspending" typically don't go together. Neither does a "splash" at the "bridge quarterback" position where overpaying on a passer would still net the Cardinals a high draft pick.

Look, Malik Willis wasn't the guy. I'm terribly sorry to break that to national media, but overspending on Willis and eying a high draft pick in 2027 is counterintuitive. Either the Cardinals were going to make a serious effort to compete next year with Willis, or they're eying next year's crop of quarterbacks.

Ultimately, Arizona chose the latter.

Should the Cardinals be panicking? Admittedly so, Arizona swung and missed on their free agency plans as a whole, especially concerning Garoppolo. While he would have been the ideal bridge quarterback thanks to experience under Mike LaFleur and low cost/future commitment, Arizona's franchise passer was always going to be found down the road.

There seems to be an understanding from the Cardinals' front office of the road in a post-Murray era: There's no immediate re-route to success, but that shouldn't have prevented Arizona from ripping the band-aid off.

Ideal? Not exactly. But panicking? That seems like a stretch when keeping the big picture in mind.