Cardinals End of Season Report Card: Defense

The Arizona Cardinals defense defied most preseason expectations and put together a solid season with a few standout performances under defensive coordinator Nick Rallis.

Dec 15, 2024; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Detailed view of the jersey of Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker (3) against the New England Patriots at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Preseason discussions surrounding the Arizona Cardinals in August tended to posit that the 2024 edition of the team would feature a potent offense that would have to consistently score to make up for a subpar defense.

The reality of the season was an offense that moved the ball but struggled to score and a defense that played significantly above its paygrade.

Defensive coordinator Nick Rallis started to make a name for himself in 2023 by getting more out of his talent-depleted unit than most expected and that trend continued into 2024 with the Cardinals defense showing a grittiness that, in spite of a lack of talent, was often more than enough to help the squad win games.

In fact, the biggest preseason prediction reversal was that it was the Arizona defense that kept the team in many games and the offense that failed to live up to their end of the bargain as evidenced by only allowing a negative point differential of -8 in two games against the NFC favorites, Lions and Vikings.

The surprising performance of the Cardinals will probably temper these grades a bit, but they showed a shockingly solid foundation for the front office to build on for more success in 2025.

Defense

Defensive Line - C

Dec 22, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Arizona Cardinals defensive end Darius Robinson (56) rushes as Carolina Panthers guard Brady Christensen (70) and guard Robert Hunt (50) defend in overtime at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

The defensive line saw several additions last offseason with the free agent signings of Justin Jones, Bilal Nichols, and Khyiris Tonga along with the drafting of Darius Robinson at the end of the first round.

Injuries impacted the position early with Robinson suffering a calf injury in training camp that reduced his appearances to only six games this season. He only managed one sack and a total of six tackles in that limited game time which is disappointing output for a first-rounder, even one coming off an injury.

By mid-October Jones and Nichols were both on the injured reserve list and the starting lineup became a heavy rotation of Naquan Jones, Dante Stills, Roy Lopez, and L.J. Collier.

There was some improvement in run defense with the Cardinals rising to 20th in the NFL in rushing yards allowed and 21st in rushing touchdowns allowed, but it is clearly still a point that needs to be improved going into next season.

Arguably, the largest failure of the group was the lack of interior pass rush. Cardinals opponents seemed to have plenty of time to read the field and go through their progressions when bringing four or less pass rushers. Arizona was 27th in the league in pressure rate against quarterbacks with only 18.1% and a lot of that has to do with a lack of interior pressure.

Linebackers - B-

Dec 8, 2024; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals linebacker Kyzir White (7) against the Seattle Seahawks at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

With Rallis/Gannon's defensive scheme a lot of the designed pressure is supposed to come from hybrid EDGE/OLB's and that group did have slightly more success at getting to the quarterback, with the operative word being slightly.

The team's sack leader for 2024 was the converted inside linebacker, Zaven Collins, who only managed six. Baron Browning, who only played eight games with the Cardinals this season, managed to come in third on the team in hurries and posted the second best pass rush win rate after fellow linebacker Victor Dimukeje.

Where the linebacker group really shined this year was at inside linebacker with veterans Kyzir White and Mack Wilson, Sr. playing solid football the majority of the season.

White came to Arizona after playing under Rallis and Gannon in Philadelphia and has been a solid anchor and defensive leader since his arrival. Looking at the raw numbers for White will not be impressive, but put into some difficult positions from a lack of pass rush and poor run defense, he did what he could and passes the eye test.

Secondary - B-

Dec 8, 2024; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals cornerback Max Melton (16) against the Seattle Seahawks at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Coming into the season there were valid doubts about the performance of a young Cardinals secondary whose only major offseason addition was a veteran cornerback in Sean Murphy-Bunting.

In reality, Arizona's young defensive backs seemed to take a step forward and had some key players put together great seasons. Second-year cornerback Garrett Williams took a leap and turned into a true lockdown corner with some of the best coverage grades and metrics in the league.

Budda Baker had one of the best seasons of his professional career with 164 combined tackles, a career-high, and earned a 3-year, $54 million contract extension.

Rookie Max Melton worked his way into a major role and finished the year with 565 defensive snaps and showed some intriguing flash and high-level athleticism.

Despite the preseason misgivings, the Cardinals secondary ended up in the top half of the league in pass defense at 14th in yards allowed and 5th in passing touchdowns allowed (20). An area that certainly needs improvement going forward is in takeaways, as the team only managed 9 interceptions in 2024.

Still, there are a lot of young players with great potential in this Cardinals secondary and if they continue the same path of progression this should be a pretty stout group in 2025.

To read our offensive grades, click here.