Power ranking all NFC West teams ahead of 2022 NFL Draft

NFC West power rankings No. 3: Arizona Cardinals

There’s a substantial gap between the No. 4-ranked Seahawks, in terms of NFC West power rankings, and that of the No. 3 team here. Keep that in mind.

For the second year in a row, the Cardinals managed to shoot themselves in a foot with a massive late-season collapse, and what transpired in 2021 was easily more embarrassing than what happened the year prior.

After getting out to a red-hot 7-0 start, the NFL’s last undefeated team, head coach Kliff Kingsbury’s squad faltered down the stretch, winning only three of its final eight games before suffering an uninspiring 34-11 loss to the Rams in the Wild Card round.

Ouch.

Tight ends Zach Ertz and Maxx Williams are back, so that’s cool. So is running back James Conner. But Arizona also lost defenders like EDGE Chandler Jones and linebacker Jordan Hicks, while offensive standouts like running back Chase Edmonds and wide receiver Christian Kirk chased big deals elsewhere.

And the Cardinals didn’t exactly do anything in free agency to supplement those losses.

With quarterback Kyler Murray’s own contract situation seemingly weird enough, the red birds have to hope at least one of their three top-100 picks turns into a cornerstone player.

They should also hope Kingsbury can figure out how to win in the second half of the season, especially after extending his own contract, rather surprisingly.