The Arizona Cardinals have made a fairly sizable splash by hiring Jonathan Gannon, the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive coordinator, as their new head coach.
Gannon is fresh off helping the Eagles get to Super Bowl LVII, where they held a 10-point second-half lead but lost to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, 38-35.
Quarterback Kyler Murray appeared eager to get to work when he was captured on video meeting Gannon on Tuesday.
FIRED UP 🔥 pic.twitter.com/flHpfermpC
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) February 14, 2023
The Cardinals had hoped they could be competitive this season and perhaps get a wild-card playoff spot in an NFC field that looked somewhat underwhelming when the schedule started.
Instead, they limped to a 4-13 finish and missed the playoffs.
Arizona will have some work to do before it can even think about making just its second postseason appearance since 2015.
Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins has been rumored to be on the trading block and the team will have several weeks to decide what to do with him.
He is still a nice weapon, but at age 30, he may be on the downside of his career.
Murray is rehabbing from a torn ACL he suffered in Week 14 versus the New England Patriots, and his status for training camp and Week 1 of the 2023 campaign is currently unknown.
But the Cardinals’ biggest problem appears to be defense—they finished 24th in passing yards allowed, 28th in passing touchdowns allowed and next-to-last in points given up.
With the San Francisco 49ers looking championship-caliber, the Seattle Seahawks coming off a surprising playoff appearance and the Los Angeles Rams possibly running it back, Arizona will have its work cut out for it in 2023.
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NFL World Reacts To New Cardinals Head Coach
