Cardinals End of Season Report Card: Offense

The Arizona Cardinals offense was expected to carry the day in preseason predictions but ended as a slight disappointment in an 8-9 season.

Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; San Francisco 49ers cornerback Rock Ya-Sin (33) breaks up a pass intended for Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. (18) in the second half at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Since the bye week the Arizona Cardinals have been in a disappointing 1-5 skid that finally ended on Sunday with a season finale victory over their division rivals, the San Francisco 49ers.

The win gets them to a final 8-9 record for the season, officially doubling the win total from head coach Jonathan Gannon's first season in 2023.

While the win improvement is certainly a positive, and about on track for most realistic preseason expectation for the Cardinals how the team got to this record is a bit of a different story.

The Cardinals had a rough start to the year only to go on a winning streak that put them at 6-4 with control of the NFC West and looking great for an earlier-than-expected playoffs berth, but the collapse after the bye, most significantly two losses to the Seattle Seahawks in three weeks time, severely dampened fan enthusiasm.

So no that the season is over and there have been a few hours to digest what has happened over the last 18 weeks, let's grade the team one last time:

Offense

Quarterback: B-

Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) throws in the second half against the San Francisco 49ers at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images / Matt Kartozian-Imagn Images

The world of quarterbacking comes with high expectations and a team's victories and losses are often attributed most the man under center, whether that is fair or not.

For the first time in his career, Kyler Murray started all 17 games of the season and somehow posted his third lowest number of touchdowns, only 21. His other passing numbers are not bad - 3,851 yards with a career-high 68.8% completion rate, but it is concerning that given those numbers he was not able to get the ball into the end zone at a higher click.

For an average quarterback, 572 rushing yards and 5 scores would be a fantastic stat line but it is undeniably underwhelming for a player with Murray's unique athletic abilities.

The only time his gifts were truly utilized this season was in Week 5 against the 49ers with a hard-to-forget 50 yard housecall and finished the day with 83 rushing yards. That should have been the expectation for Murray on a weekly basis but whether through bad play calling or a personal unwillingness to run, the one trait that makes him truly elite was mostly a non-factor in 2024.

During the 1-5 skid post bye week, Murray was the recipient of the lion's share of blame from fans who placed the failures of the team on his shoulders. While his decline in play certainly played a part, the collapse was systemic and not the fault of a singular player.

Murray had flashes of elite play this season, but ultimately was too inconsistent to put the Cardinals on his shoulder and force wins against inferior teams. There will be an entire offseason to process what exactly went wrong, but the fact remains that Murray will be the Cardinals quarterback in 2025.

Offensive Line: B+

Dec 15, 2024; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr. (70) and quarterback Kyler Murray (1) against the New England Patriots at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Overall, the Cardinals offensive line showed significant improvement over the past several years even through battling a slew of injuries that led to multiple starting lineups throughout the campaign.

The injury problems started early when offseason addition right tackle Jonah Williams suffered a knee injury in the first half of Week 1. To the rescue came one of the most controversial offensive linemen for the Cardinals in a while, Kelvin Beachum, who put together several fantastic weeks of play.

Former 2023 first round pick left tackle Paris Johnson, Jr. played at a high level for the majority of his snaps and finished the season as the thirteenth highest rated tackle in the league according to PFF and he seems like a viable long-term solution at the position.

The Cardinals offensive line tied for fifth in pass blocking efficiency which measures pressure allowed on a per snap basis with heavier weighting toward allowed sacks. In 615 snaps the line was only determined responsible for 15 sacks. When they faced four or less pass rushers, Arizona's line was sixth in pressure rate (26%) and third in sack rate (4.2%).

Before the bye, the offensive line was the least penalized position group for a Cardinals squad that was among the least penalized teams in the league. After the bye, serious penalty issues crept into the line and the position group finished the season with 32 called penalties.

Tight Ends: A

Jan 5, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride (85) catches a touchdown pass against the San Francisco 49ers in the first half at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

There is not another grade possible for a position group that includes one of the truly elite tight ends in the modern NFL.

Trey McBride had a fabulous sophomore season 2023, but he has solidified his standing as one of the best at his position in 2024.

McBride finished the year with 1,146 receiving yards, the second-most among tight ends, on 111 receptions, also second-most among tight ends. He broke several franchise records including both single season targets and receptions for a tight end and was only 60 yards away from breaking Jackie Smith's 1967 record of 1,205 receiving yards.

By far, the oddest aspect of McBride's amazing season was his lack of scoring. Even though he was targeted 139 times, McBride only found the end zone twice. His other scoring coming on a trick run play and a fumble recovery in the end zone.

Regardless, of that weird stat line McBride has established himself as the second best Cardinals tight end of all time behind the legendary Jackie Smith in only his third professional season.

Rookie Tip Reiman might not have had the season expected of a third round pick, but he did prove more than serviceable in the blocking game and acted as a sixth offensive lineman in many running sets.

Running Backs: A

Dec 22, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Arizona Cardinals running back James Conner (6) runs for yardage against the Carolina Panthers during the second quarter at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

For a second year, the Cardinals finished the season as a top ten rushing offense spearheaded by the efforts of James Conner.

Conner also just finished the first back-to-back 1,000 yard season of his career and came very close to his first fully healthy season with 17 starts, but a late season injury kept him out of the season finale against San Francisco.

He isn't the flashiest name or even one that gets a large amount of national media attention, but Conner is a consistent runner that is truly the heartbeat of the Cardinals offense. When he gets going it is highly likely the Cardinals secure a win and when opposing teams shut him down, it was almost a guaranteed loss.

Conner ends the 2024 season in the top ten of several key running back metrics such as missed tackles after a rush (3rd), 10+ yard runs (4th), yards per attempt (9th), yards after contact per attempt (7th), breakaway percentage (9th), and just outside the top ten in total rushing yards at 11th with 1,094 yards.

Behind Conner was a third round pick from the 2024 draft, Trey Benson and Emari Demercado. Benson might not have played up to expectations but it was also difficult for him to get much going with Conner taking the majority of snaps.

Wide Receiver: C

Dec 28, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. (18) catches the ball against Los Angeles Rams cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon (4) in the first half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

After spending the fourth overall pick of the 2024 draft on Marvin Harrison, Jr. expectations for the rookie receiver were sky high and not without some valid reason. Rookie receivers have exceeded expectations over the last four years with monster seasons out of the gate from the likes of Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, and Puka Nucua.

While Harrison, Jr. did not have a season of that caliber, he also did not put a bad rookie season either so it is important to keep that in perspective when looking at his first-year accomplishments.

Even with what looked like major communication issues between the quarterback and receiver, Harrison, Jr. still finished 2024 with 885 receiving yards and tied Cardinals legends Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald with 8 touchdowns as a rookie. Nothing terrible about that.

The problem with Harrison, Jr. wasn't really the production but the Ohio State product looked inconsistent and didn't always pass the eye test sometimes calling into question his level of effort on what looked like lazy routes.

There is no reason to not expect a great career out of Harrison, Jr. but he did undoubtedly fall a bit short of what were clearly lofty and possibly unfair expectations.

The real issue with the wide receiver group as a whole was that beyond Harrison, Jr. and the occasional heroics of second-year player Michael Wilson the position group just did not contribute much to overall offensive vision.

The leading receiver on the team was a tight end, which by itself is not that uncommon in the modern NFL, but Harrison, Jr was supposed to be an elite threat that opened up opportunities for other players like Wilson, Greg Dortch, and Zay Jones but this did not materialize.

Dortch had impressed over the past couple of seasons as an underdog but as the legitimately annointed slot receiver, he never got going and became a significant part of the offense.

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Make sure to check Arizona Cardinals on SI tomorrow for the end of season grades of the defense.