Cardinals Still Heavy Favorites to Land No. 1 Pick in 2024

The Arizona Cardinals - by either their record or the Houston Texans - are still the leaders in the clubhouse for the No. 1 overall pick.

The Arizona Cardinals are dialed in on making 2023 the best year possible - at least that's the hope inside the facility.

While players and coaches in Tempe will continue to insist they're here to win and shock people in the process given the current state of the roster, outsiders aren't very optimistic first-year head coach Jonathan Gannon can turn the tide of the franchise so quickly. 

This offseason, the Cardinals:

• Fired their head coach and saw their general manager "step down" due to health reasons after finishing 4-13
• Hired a first-time general manager and first-time head coach, who brought on a relatively young and inexperienced staff that includes two first-time coordinators (including Nick Rallis, the youngest coordinator in the league at 30-years-old).
• Saw names such as DeAndre Hopkins, J.J. Watt, Rodney Hudson, Zach Allen, Byron Murphy and others depart. 
• Were blasted in the NFLPA report card from top to bottom in terms of ownership, facilities, organizational structure, etc. 
• Still have Kyler Murray rehabbing a torn ACL suffered late last season with an unknown return date.

The concept of the Cardinals finishing with a poor record isn't foreign nor ridiculous, and though the above bullet points may paint the new front office in a bad light, new general manager Monti Ossenfort has done an excellent job of clearing future cap space and stockpiling premium picks for 2024. 

Between those moves and the Cardinals not promising to be strong contenders, plenty have penciled in the team to land the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft by either their own doing or the struggles of the Houston Texans - who traded their 2024 first-round pick to move up with Arizona back in late April.

Compare.bet's Kyle Odegard highlighted recent odds via Caesars that show oddsmakers are fairly confident they'll hold the keys to the draft next offseason.

"Arizona has +220 odds to finish with the worst record in the NFL, according to Caesars, which is an implied probability of 31.25%. The Cardinals have one of the worst rosters in football and will be without quarterback Kyler Murray for an indeterminate amount of time as he recovers from a torn ACL," wrote Odegard.

"So Arizona is the clear favorite to finish with the No. 1 overall pick in 2024, and they also hold the draft pick of the team with the second-best odds to finish with the worst record.

"The Houston Texans have odds listed at +650, which is an implied probability of 13.33%. All told, the sportsbook gives Arizona a 44.6% chance of getting the top pick, either through its own worst record or that of Houston."

Rounding out the top five teams to possibly finish with the worst record are:

• Las Vegas Raiders +1300

• Tennessee Titans +1600

• New England Patriots +1800

Cardinals fans have already dreamed of a potential scenario where both teams finish at the bottom, giving Arizona a chance to pick at both No. 1 and 2.

Whether the Cardinals would stay put or trade out of either remains to be seen, but it sure seems Arizona may have their hands full at the conclusion of 2023.