Three Things We Learned From Cardinals' 2023 Season

ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals again fell short of the postseason in 2023, mirroring their 4-13 record from last season with a wildly different feeling after the dust has settled.

There's a sense of hope for the Cardinals, who decided to rebuild from the ground up just a year ago. After acquiring significant draft capital and trimming fat off the roster, Arizona has potential to further their rebuild and potentially push themselves into postseason contention in 2024.

That's down the line, however. We've got a long offseason ahead, so perhaps it's time to evaluate some things we learned from 2023:

Three Things We Learned From Cardinals' 2023 Season

1. New Regime Was Right Call

There were a plethora of excuses and reasons to keep names such as Kliff Kingsbury and Steve Keim around Arizona, though owner Michael Bidwill ultimately made the right decision to cleanse the organization of both.

Bidwill then made a string of correct decisions again to hire Monti Ossenfort and Jonathan Gannon - tampering be damned.

Ossenfort did a masterful job of hitting the reset button in a league where many general managers feel pressure to fill a sinking ship immediately. Rather than kid themselves, the Cardinals parted with many notable and expensive names that didn't fit the future.

While that happened in both free agency and over the summer, Arizona maneuvered the 2023 NFL Draft and added instant impact rookies while also gaining major draft picks for the future.

On Gannon's side, he helped reset the culture in Arizona massively with his attitude, energy and overall mentality he's helped bring to the Cardinals. There's an obvious difference between the players' fight from last year to this season, and Gannon's presence is no coincidence.

It's far too early to start building statues outside of State Farm Stadium, but the Cardinals made two good calls in selecting their respective leaders for the future.

2. It's Kyler Murray's Team

The difference in play comparing before and after Kyler Murray's return is about as close to night and day as one could get.

That's no disrespect to guys such as Joshua Dobbs or Clayton Tune - but Murray has been heralded as a franchise quarterback for a reason - and despite a slew of doubts, he proved himself worthy of being the man moving forward.

Murray benefited from a new offense under coordinator Drew Petzing that utilized him more under center with a more balanced offense in terms of run/pass distribution.

Murray checked all the boxes the Cardinals were looking for: He rebounded fully from ACL surgery, still displayed the same ability to move with his legs, improved as he learned the offense, made the team competitive and most importantly - he matured into the leader many thought he wasn't previously.

Should Arizona add more offensive firepower in the offseason like they're expected to, Murray has an opportunity to make serious noise in 2024.

3. Defense Desperately Needs Playmakers

For all the talk about Arizona's offense, the Cardinals were surprisingly a bit disappointing on the defensive side of the ball. Perhaps those expectations were due to Gannon's prior experience as a prior defensive coordinator who appeared in the Super Bowl before taking the Cardinals job.

There's a handful of talking points when it comes to the overall play on that side of the ball. Yes, Arizona moved away from some major pieces prior to the season. And yes, injuries did make their wrath felt consistently in 2023.

Yet when there's really not a bunch of "dudes" (also known as War Daddies to Gannon) outside of Budda Baker and Jalen Thompson, that's a problem.

For what it's worth, Kyzir White was a tremendous addition via free agency and should he return healthy, the entire league should be talking about his play.

Yet besides the three names mentioned above, there's reason to believe Arizona should look to upgrade each position group from cornerback to the defensive interior.

It felt like far too often other teams were able to move the ball at will against the Cardinals. If they're to continue their upward trajectory, the defense needs some playmakers.