The Arizona Cardinals appear on track for quite a long 2023 season as the roster is projected as one of the worst in the NFL on paper.
Despite hiring a new head coach in Jonathan Gannon, the Cardinals are going to struggle to compete as they’ve got a lot of young and inexperienced talent that needs reps to improve.
The biggest thing working against the team, though, is that they’ll be without Kyler Murray who is currently recovering from a torn ACL that he suffered in 2022.
Murray went down with the injury in December of last year and was not activated off the physically unable-to-perform list, meaning that he will have to miss the start of 2023.
Arizona will be trotting out either rookie Clayton Tune or Joshua Dobbs whom the team just traded for from the Cleveland Browns.
Gannon refused to name his starting quarterback for Week 1 and cited competitive advantage as the reason why via Mike Garafolo of NFL Network and football fans had a field day with his response.
Jonathan Gannon just told reporters he won’t name a starting QB, citing competitive advantage for the #AZCardinals. https://t.co/HWcNYDa41Z
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) August 28, 2023
Cardinals trying to be competitive is funny
— Janik Eckardt (@JanikEckardt) August 28, 2023
Competitive advantage is when you tank is what he actually means
— Mountain Lover???? (@seminoleraider) August 28, 2023
I don’t think the Cardinals have any advantage for any game this season. ??♂️
— Robi (@rlp12273) August 28, 2023
I think he's referring to maintaining the #1 pick.
— ? Troll Pats ? (@RollPats) August 28, 2023
The funny reactions are warranted as no team is going to come into a week scared of the Cardinals.
Tune and Dobbs are both still learning the system and are expected to struggle, making it somewhat easy for opposing defenses to scheme and plan for them.
Truthfully, Gannon is doing what he needs to project some level of confidence in Arizona’s chances though he knows that the result isn’t going to be pretty.
As the fans retorted, the Cardinals are better off focusing on trying to earn the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
NEXT: Cardinals HC Won’t Name A Starting QB Until Week 1
