Latest / Football Junkies podcast / Stack or Shed Ep.5 Cardinals edition
Transcript
- 0:00Hey everybody, this is your GM, your back row
- 0:02dumbass, your GM who currently is not on the
- 0:03team right now, but don't you worry about it,
- 0:05Kale, here to bring you episode 5 of the Stack
- 0:08and Shed series. Now in this series, we're going
- 0:10to cover all 32 teams so nobody is neglected,
- 0:14everybody gets a turn, and we're going to be
- 0:16covering a few different topics. And those topics
- 0:19include what went wrong, what do they need, stack
- 0:22or shed, their draft picks, one move I would
- 0:26do, and their cap space. Okay, now in this episode,
- 0:29we're talking about the Cardinals. So for all
- 0:31my Cardinals fans, buckle up. It's going to be
- 0:33a little bit controversial because we're talking
- 0:34about quarterbacks. All right, let's get into
- 0:44it. So what went wrong in the Cardinals season?
- 0:46And I will eventually say it was inconsistent
- 0:48quarterback play. Now, I was thinking Kyler Murray
- 0:51was going to come into the season, silence all
- 0:53the naysayers and critics, and prove why he is
- 0:56still one of the better quarterbacks in this
- 0:57league. But I was also under the impression that
- 0:59if Kyler Murray didn't play well this past season,
- 1:01that the Cardinals were going to pivot and take
- 1:04a quarterback in the 26 draft class. Because
- 1:06at that time, you had names such as Fernando
- 1:08Mendoza, Dante Moore, Lenore Sellers, Drew Aller,
- 1:12Cade Klubnick, Garrett Nussmeyer, Taylor Green,
- 1:15and others that were going to be available in
- 1:17the draft class. Now, Jacoby... Brissett comes
- 1:19in and he hops into the roller coaster ride that
- 1:22is the season and experiences highs and lows.
- 1:25Now his lows are really bad, but his highs were
- 1:28okay. And I literally mean okay. And the 13 games
- 1:33that Jacoby Brissett played. He was 485 attempts
- 1:36for 315 completions, 3 ,366 passing yards, 23
- 1:42touchdowns, 8 interceptions, 6 .9 yards per attempt,
- 1:46and a 64 .9 completion percentage, which isn't
- 1:48bad, right? Now we look at the offensive rankings
- 1:51for the Cardinals this past season. They had
- 1:53the 19th ranked offense and they averaged 20
- 1:56.9 points per game, 325 .8 yards per game, 5
- 2:00.2 yards per play, and 38 touchdowns. They were
- 2:037th in passing offense and they averaged 232
- 2:07.6 passing yards per game, 5 .6 passing yards
- 2:10per play, and 29 passing touchdowns. They were
- 2:1331st in rushing offense and they averaged 93
- 2:16.1 rushing yards per game, 4 .3 rushing yards
- 2:19per play, and 9 rushing touchdowns. Now with
- 2:22that being said, what do the Cardinals need?
- 2:24And that is stability at quarterback. Now, unfortunately,
- 2:27that's not going to happen this offseason. So
- 2:29what do the Cardinals do at this point? Do you
- 2:31run it back with Jacoby Brissett for one more
- 2:33year? Do you maybe hope and pray that Ty Simpson
- 2:35falls out of the first round and maybe you take
- 2:37him in the second round? Do you take a swing
- 2:39at Kay Klupnick? Do you take a swing at maybe
- 2:42Garrett Nussmeyer? Do you try to bring in a veteran
- 2:44quarterback who has ties with Mike LaFleur? All
- 2:47of these options should be on the table right
- 2:49now for the Cardinals. Because at this point,
- 2:52what you need to be aiming for is taking a quarterback
- 2:55quarterback in the 27 draft class. Now I understand
- 2:58that everybody said that this draft class was
- 3:00supposed to be the draft class where all the
- 3:02quarterbacks come out. Unfortunately, that didn't
- 3:04happen. So if you're the Cardinals, you need
- 3:06to figure out what can we do to at least put
- 3:09a band -aid at quarterback. Even if it means
- 3:11that you run it back with Jacoby Brissett for
- 3:13two more years, it's not going to hurt you because
- 3:16at the end of the day, it's a low risk, high
- 3:18reward move. And you saw how well he worked with
- 3:21Marvin Harrison Jr., Trey McBride, and Michael
- 3:24Wilson. As long as Jacoby Brissett can win you
- 3:27a couple more games than what you won last year,
- 3:29I think that's not a problem. Because at the
- 3:30end of the day, Jacoby Brissett's floor is maybe,
- 3:33I don't know, the 25th to maybe the 31st best
- 3:36quarterback in the league. And his ceiling is
- 3:38maybe the 20th to maybe the 15th best quarterback
- 3:42in the league. That's not bad because, again,
- 3:44your expectations going into this next season
- 3:47is very low because you're trying to get a quarterback
- 3:50next year. Now, I'm not saying that you need
- 3:52to go 0 -18, but you can win you a couple of
- 3:55games. You can have a little bit of momentum,
- 3:57just a little bit, not a whole lot. Now, with
- 3:59that being said, the question we all need to
- 4:01ask ourselves is stack or shed. And I would venture
- 4:04to say stack, and that's mainly in part because
- 4:06this team has some pieces. All they need to do
- 4:09is find a franchise quarterback. Now, I'm not
- 4:12trying to make it seem like finding a franchise
- 4:13quarterback is like picking an apple from a tree.
- 4:16And I understand that it takes some time and
- 4:18a lot of homework to do that. But everybody knows
- 4:21that once you find your franchise quarterback,
- 4:23the roster construction process becomes a whole
- 4:26lot easier. And make no mistake, this team has
- 4:28some talent. You have an emerging star in Michael
- 4:31Wilson and Marvin Harrison Jr. You have Trey
- 4:34McBride, who is a top 10 tight end in the league
- 4:36right now. Now with the defense, you have some
- 4:38emerging stars on that side of the ball. But
- 4:41all you have to do is just continue to build
- 4:43this roster up. And I know it's going to take
- 4:46some time. And I know fans are not happy with
- 4:48it. And I understand that ownership isn't happy
- 4:50with it. But building a roster takes time. This
- 4:54is not an overnight thing. This is not something
- 4:56that you can just snap your fingers and everything
- 4:58is fixed. This requires a lot of time, especially
- 5:02when you're about to go through a transition
- 5:04from having a franchise quarterback to looking
- 5:06for your next franchise quarterback. That is
- 5:09a difficult process. There are certain teams
- 5:11right now that are still going through that process
- 5:14right. now. The Steelers are still trying to
- 5:16find the heir to Ben Roethlisberger and have
- 5:19been unsuccessful in doing it. But that's because
- 5:21of other reasons, which we're not going to get
- 5:23into this episode right now because this isn't
- 5:25about the Steelers. It's about the Cardinals.
- 5:27By hiring Michael Flora, you're bringing in somebody
- 5:30who comes from a successful tree and developing
- 5:33quarterbacks with Sean McVay. So we all know
- 5:36that he has some foundational understanding on
- 5:39how to develop a quarterback. So I think as long
- 5:43as Mike LaFleur doesn't mess up the next franchise
- 5:45quarterback, I think this team is going to be
- 5:48in a really good spot. However, if he butchers
- 5:51that move, the fan base and the organization
- 5:53will never forgive him for it. Now with that
- 5:56being said, when we look at their draft picks,
- 5:58they have their first, their second, their third,
- 6:00their fourth, their fifth, their sixth, and seventh.
- 6:02Now the question is this. Should the Cardinals
- 6:05address the interior offensive line or get a
- 6:08right tackle? When you know that the right tackle
- 6:10class is pretty good. Now, I'm not saying it's
- 6:13legendary, like you're going to get the next
- 6:15Trent Williams or Penesuel or whatever great
- 6:18tackle that you want to list, but... I think
- 6:20getting a right tackle would shore things up
- 6:22a little bit more. Now, with that being said,
- 6:24the one move that I would do is move on from
- 6:27Kyler Murray. According to Spoltrak, if a team
- 6:31trades for Kyler Murray, they're only on the
- 6:33hook for guaranteed money for this year at $36
- 6:37.8 million. After that, all of his other money
- 6:40isn't guaranteed. By moving off of Kyler Murray,
- 6:42the Cardinals are saving $34 .7 million in cap
- 6:45space, but only taking on $17 .9 million in debt
- 6:49cap, which isn't bad. But here's the kicker.
- 6:52Kyler Murray is owed a $17 million roster bonus
- 6:55on March 15th when $19 .5 million of his 27th
- 6:59salary is guaranteed. So that's where things
- 7:02get a little bit complicated. Now, if you're
- 7:05the Cardinals, what would it take for you to
- 7:07move off of Kyler Murray? Because at this point,
- 7:09you can't ask for a first. or a second -round
- 7:12pick. At best, you can maybe ask for maybe a
- 7:14third or fourth, maybe even a fifth -round pick,
- 7:17because the other team is still inheriting a
- 7:20contract that most likely they're going to have
- 7:22to adjust in some capacity, or they're going
- 7:25to have to give him an extension to maybe lower
- 7:27the cap hits to some degree. Now, if you're a
- 7:30team that needs a quarterback, how high is Kyler
- 7:33Murray on your list? Because outside of the veteran
- 7:35quarterback options, all you have is Tua, Daniel
- 7:39Jones, which we all know he's going to go back
- 7:40to the Colts, and Kyler Murray. Now, sure, you
- 7:43can try to see if you can pluck Mac Jones on
- 7:45the 49ers, but I can tell you right now, that's
- 7:47not going to be successful. And even if it is
- 7:50successful, the 49ers are going to drive up his
- 7:52price, and they're probably going to demand a
- 7:54second round pick from Mac Jones. Are you going
- 7:56to be willing to give up a second round pick
- 7:58from Mac Jones, knowing that you're going to
- 8:00have to pay him market value money? We all know
- 8:03that the bell of the ball this year is Malik
- 8:05Willis. And we all know there's only going to
- 8:07be a few teams that are really going to be interested
- 8:09in getting Malik Willis. And if you're Kyler
- 8:12Murray, where's the best place for you? Do you
- 8:14believe that if you go to the Steelers, your
- 8:15play is going to be elevated? Do you believe
- 8:18that if you go to the Dolphins, your play is
- 8:19going to be elevated? Do you believe that if
- 8:21you go to any of the places that needs a quarterback
- 8:24right now, that you're going to be able to elevate
- 8:27that offense and prove that you are still one
- 8:29of the better quarterbacks in this league right
- 8:31now and that you're more than just a bridge quarterback?
- 8:34Now, the Cardinals have $44 million in cap space,
- 8:37which isn't bad, but they can create more cap
- 8:39space if they trade away Kyler Murray, they cut
- 8:41a few people, and they restructure some deals.
- 8:44Now, I don't expect the Cardinals to be big players
- 8:46in free agency, but I do expect for them to make
- 8:49at least one to two significant signings. After
- 8:51that, they'll probably make some smaller tier
- 8:53signings, maybe people that are trying to compete
- 8:56for a roster spot, or players that are trying
- 8:58to reunite with a coach. Now, do I expect for
- 9:01them to get someone like Alec Pierce or George
- 9:03Pickens or Trey Hendrickson? No. But I think
- 9:06maybe that second to third tier in free agents
- 9:09will be where the Cardinals make their mark at.
- 9:11But I'm going to end this episode here. If you
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- 10:49K A I L E. All right. as always I hope I gave
- 10:53you guys the fix that you guys need I love you
- 10:55guys appreciate you guys so much stay tuned there's
- 10:57more on the way and as always this is your GM
- 11:00Kale signing out peace and love later guys