Arizona

Cardinals

The Bears continue to knock out interviews for their head coaching vacancy and have more candidates on tap in the coming days. In two years with the Cardinals, Petzing elevated his offense to a top-12 unit by the end of 2024. The Cardinals also ranked 13th in EPA per dropback and sixth in dropback success rate, which could bode well for Caleb Williams heading into his second season if Petzing and the Bears unite.

Bethel made a living in the NFL off of his special teams abilities through 12 seasons. He only started 15 career games at defensive back, but was a three-time Pro Bowler for special teams on the Cardinals. Bethel spent the first six seasons of his career with Arizona and bounced around between the Falcons, Ravens, Patriots, and Dolphins for his final six seasons. He did not have a team for the 2024 season, making the Dolphins his last team after 17 games with them in 2023. Finishing his NFL career with 282 combined tackles, Bethel’s NFL legacy remains one of special teams utility.

Gannon also said on Monday that Murray is “a top-level, franchise quarterback.” While opinions may differ on whether or not Murray is a “top-level” quarterback, it’s hard to argue against him remaining as the team’s starter next season. Not because of his play but because of the five-year, $230.5 million contract extension he signed in the 2022 offseason. Murray is under contract through 2028 and carries a cap hit just north of $45 million next season. It’s unlikely any team would want to trade for Murray given his cap hit, and the dead cap hit he carries in 2025 tops out at just over $63 million. The Cardinals don’t have many options outside of playing Murray, who threw for 3851-21-11 in his first full season as a starter since 2020.

Petzing has spent the last two seasons as the Cardinals’ offensive coordinator after previously serving with the Browns from 2020-2022. The 37-year-old play-caller saw his offense rank 24th in points per game in 2023 but was able to elevate them to 12th in scoring in 2024 while also ranking in the top 10 in EPA/play and success rate. Petzing could field a handful of other head coaching requests in the coming days, but the Bears are the first to get a request in.

The No. 2 back behind Michael Carter with James Conner, Trey Benson and Emari Demercado all sidelined, Dallas mustered two touches in a 47-point Cardinals outburst. Playing on a one-year deal, Dallas seemed to only ever fall down the depth chart, but he was active all 17 games as a special teamer. The third unit is the key to his NFL future.

The four-catch outing doubled Jones’ Cardinals total from his first 10 games in the desert. At the end of a one-year contract as he’s two months shy of his 30th birthday, Jones never threatened Michael Wilson’s status on the boundary this season. He’s a pure role player whose fantasy moment is long gone.

The two-score outing was the first of Dortch’s career. A summer hype darling as the Cardinals’ expected No. 3 wideout/slot man, Dortch caught six balls for 47 yards in Week 1. He then caught more than three passes just one more time all season before today, totaling 18 receptions after Week 6. Older than you would think (27 in May), Dortch now heads to restricted free agency, where he could be a non-tender candidate considering the way he fell out of favor this season. It’s also possible the Cardinals bring him back on a lesser deal. Were he to reach the open market, Dortch could still end up regarded as something of a diamond in the rough by a rival front office. He has 113 catches over the past three years.

With James Conner, Trey Benson and Emari Demercado all on injured reserve, Carter made his first start since 2022. No one is going to call home about 59 yards on 21 touches, but Carter did his job for the Cardinals (absorb work) and DFS players (find the end zone) alike. Hanging around the fringes of Arizona’s roster for a little over the past year, Carter turns 26 in May. He’s going to have to earn his 53-man roster spot all over again this summer. He’s probably on the outside looking in.

After going 14 games without a score, McBride heads into the offseason with a touchdown in back-to-back contests. The lack of scoring was legendary, but so was the compiling. His 111 receptions (in 16 games) finish just seven short of the all time record for a tight end, while his 1,146 yards are a sky-scraping number for a seam stretcher. Still only 25 with increased compiling and efficiency (he entered Week 18 second in yards per route run amongst tight ends) each of the past two seasons, McBride has a claim to TE1 overall status in dynasty leagues even with Brock Bowers in the picture. McBride is eligible for a monster extension this offseason.

Harrison’s eighth touchdown of the season was his first in five weeks. The five-catch outing was his second straight, while he heads into the offseason having cleared 60 yards in back-to-back games for the first time since Weeks 2 and 3. His 12-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter featured one of his crisper routes of the year. MHJ’s lack of a consistent connection with Kyler Murray will go down as the story of his up-and-down rookie campaign, but the 22-year-old was far from a bust. He was also far from a can’t miss star, with his yards per route run entering Week 18 at a less than stellar 1.63. Increased efficiency and target commanding will be a must for 2025, but that has as much to do with Murray as Harrison. MHJ still has extreme youth — he doesn’t turn 23 until August — on his side, but he has lost his claim to being the top wideout in the 2024 draft class. He can still get it back, but that is no longer the most likely outcome. Neither an obvious buy nor sell in dynasty leagues, Harrison is a player where we simply need more data points.