Arizona

Cardinals

Something has to change with the Cardinals losing 13 of their last 14 games in Gannon’s third year on the job, just don’t expect it to be the 42-year-old former defensive coordinator’s job status. Despite Kyler Murray being injured for much of the season, the offseason focus will be on how they can get rid of Murray rather than Gannon, according to Rapoport. Gannon, who inherited Murray, will also have a say along with GM Monti Ossenfort in selecting the next Cardinals QB. With Murray’s years of failure in Arizona outnumbering Gannon’s, it seems he was destined to lose this power struggle. At some point, though, the results have to turn around for Gannon to remain in place past next season.

Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said Harrison would continue to play through his heel injury this week if he was healthy enough. It turns out that the 23-year-old receiver isn’t healthy enough after hurting his other foot in the Week 17 loss to the Bengals. Harrison wasn’t having much of an impact with one catch in the last two games since returning to the lineup. With Harrison out, Michael Wilson is a must-start option for fantasy managers. Wilson is the WR3 over the last seven weeks behind only Puka Nacua and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He needs 93 yards in Week 18 to have his first 1,000-yard season.

In other words: If both GM Monti Ossenfort and head coach Jonathan Gannon get fired, Cardinals ownership will leave the quarterback decision up to their new braintrust. Most rumors that we’ve seen leading up to Black Monday have had Ossenfort safe — he’d probably bring back Jacoby Brissett on the second year of a two-year deal and then draft a quarterback to either push or develop behind Brissett. But given how disappointing the Cardinals have been en route to falling from 2-0 to 3-13, we shouldn’t be surprised if Ossenfort doesn’t survive.

It certainly seems like forcing Harrison to play through this heel injury isn’t helping anybody — he’s caught one ball in two games since returning, leaving each of them early — but Gannon refused to rule it out. Either way, Trey McBride and Michael Wilson are the Cardinals you actually want to start in fantasy leagues in Week 18. Harrison would be hard to trust if active.

Demercado remained stuck in the 5-7 touch range behind fill-in starter Michael Carter. We would not expect anything to change for Week 18 against the Rams.

With the Cardinals down 13-0 early and 23-7 at halftime, there wasn’t much opportunity to establish the run, not that Carter will ever be treated as a between-the-tackles banger. Still shedding a non-trivial amount of work to Emari Demercado, Carter does not profile as a great Week 18 play against the Rams.

With Marvin Harrison Jr. active but barely playing through his heel injury, Wilson immediately resumed posting strong fantasy lines. He’s up to five touchdowns over the past four weeks. With MHJ once again leaving today’s game and all but certain to be shut down for Week 18 against the Rams, Wilson should be in for a big statistical day as he finds himself just 93 yards shy of 1,000 on the year.

The “Brissett Experience” has finally been sputtering out a bit in recent weeks, but the fantasy folk hero still understood the assignment until the very end this afternoon, tossing an 18-yard touchdown to Trey McBride with the Cardinals down 37-7 with 1:50 remaining. Not all heroes wear capes. Having one of the most convincing “Flacco campaigns” in some time, Brissett has maybe worked his way into bridge status for someone in 2026. It could even be Arizona if they select a new signal caller to replace Kyler Murray. Brissett gets one final chance to put something on film against the Rams’ burnable secondary in Week 18, though the sides’ first matchup was a lopsided L.A. victory four weeks ago.

Trying to gut through what is very clearly a painful issue, MHJ was barely on the field before being announced as being hurt again and never returning. He will now almost certainly be shut down ahead of Week 18 against the Rams, clearing the way for Trey McBride and Michael Wilson to go bonkers in fantasy one final time this season. Stay tuned.

McBride entered the proceedings three catches away from a career new high at 112. He exited with 119 grabs on the year, setting a new single-season record for a tight end with a game to spare. Today was his fourth 10-catch effort of the season, while he’s caught fewer than five balls only once. That was last week with Marvin Harrison Jr. back in the lineup. Today, MHJ aggravated his heel injury and failed to catch a pass. That means McBride could paint one more statistical masterpiece against the Rams in Week 18.