The Cardinals’ top NFL free agency targets at the start of the 2025 offseason
in 2024, Arizona Cardinals took a step forward under head coach Jonathan Gannon.
Unfortunately, even though football is a game of inches, it took a few more years for the Cardinals to really show the kind of progress their fan base wanted to see, with an 8-9 record culminating in 16th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft a bitter reward for getting close but without a cigar behind the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks in the NFC West.
Their offense was okay, ranking 18th in passing yards and seventh in rushing yards, and while they’ve had some truly incredible performances in 2024, like incredible 40-plus point wins over the Rams in Week 2 and the Sun Francisco to the 49ers in Week 18, there were simply too few of them and far between them.
Was it surprising that the Cardinals offense was inconsistent in 2024? Not really, as Kyler Murray has been learning a new scheme after missing most of last season and Marvin Harris Jr. has panned out a little differently than some fans initially expected.
What was surprising, however, were the Cardinals’ defensive struggles, as that was considered Ganon’s strength. Ranking 15th in points allowed but 21st in yards surrendered, with the 14th-ranked passing defense and the 20th-ranked rushing defense, the Cardinals have really struggled to get consistent pressure against opposing quarterbacks with only one player, Zaven Collins, who had five or more sacks on season. That being said, the team still finished the year with 41 sacks, or roughly 2.4 per game, but they didn’t really have a “guy” to build their offense around, with 17 different players record at least one sack for the season.
Could that player be drafted? Maybe yes, maybe not, as there are plenty of interesting defensive backs with mid-first round grades like Georgia’s Mikel Williams, Michigan’s Kenneth Grant, Texas A&M’s Shemar Stewart, or even Jack Sawyer if he continues to explode in the College Football Playoff , but can the Cardinals guarantee that will happen? No, unless they surrender even more draft picks to select “their guy” high, whether it’s an elite asset like Abdul Carter or Mason Graham, who might remind Gannon of his former Philadelphia Eagles tape recorder, Fletcher Cox.
Would Gannon want to relive his glory days in Philly when his defensive efforts were so impressive if it would land him the Cardinals job? Sure enough, and in an interesting twist of fate, he has the opportunity to do so, as arguably his biggest success story in Philly, Javon Hargrave, was just released by the 49ers and could be on a plane to Arizona for another shot at becoming double digit saker.
Jonathan Gannon is a big fan of Javon Hargrave
If the Cardinals are going to pay big money for a Pro Bowl-caliber defensive tackle, even if Hargrave’s actual scoring will almost certainly be less than his The maximum value reached was $28.105 million in san francisco it would have worked out in “The Undertaker’s” favor, they have to know he’s good on the field, right?
Certainly, and when it comes to Hargrave, that vetting process would be easy, as all Monty Osenforth would have to do is call his head coach, who was singing the praises of the South Carolina product. praise from 2021when they both called South Philly home.
“Javon played very well.” We expected him to play well. He had a great training camp, he played really well in the joint training sessions. That whole unit, there’s a lot of guys, when he was there, that he played with (defensive tackle) Fletcher Cox, BG (defensive end Brandon Graham), (defensive tackle) Milton (Williams), Sweaty (defensive end Josh Sweet ), ( defensive end Derek) Barnett, those guys help him be the best version of himself. Those guys are winning at a high level,” Gannon told reporters in 2021, via the Philly Tribune .
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“Certain guys get one block and win. Javon had a couple of singles because of Fletch really. They want Fletch. Well, you can’t double everyone. Personally, I expected him to play very well, and he did. I think the emphasis is between inside guys and outside guys, you need them all. There’s really no premium — everyone’s been talking about the fact that you need an edge and a good angle. What we talked about a long time ago, you need all 11, all 22 to be a good player. Certain positions are not ahead of other positions. I think he executed. You would like to be able to win from the inside and win from the outside. When you have people to do that, it’s a pretty tough job for the quarterback.”
Originally miscast as a small impact with the Pittsburgh Steelers, which, in a way, only highlights his incredible inner strength, Hargrave really came into his own as a member of the Eagles, racking up 23 sacks, 161 tackles and 42 KB hits en route to his first of two Pro Bowl appearances. Even if some of that was due to Cox, who was still a certified difference maker at the time, Hargrave still knew how to win in Hargrave’s scheme, which is half the battle.
The other half? Hargrave also likes Gannon, crediting him with really unlocking his NFL potential.
Javon Hargrave was still a Jonathan Gannon fan in San Francisco
When Gannon was coaching football on the opposite side of the country, it was easy for Gargrave to still sign his old defensive coordinator, but even in San Francisco, where the two sides were supposed to be fierce rivals, Hargrave couldn’t help but remain fans, how noticed before theirs first match between themselves in September 2023.
“He gave me a lot of freedom and talked to me during the week about what I liked and some plays he would call if we liked them. He’s one of those players’ coaches who listens a lot to the players to get the best out of them,” Hargrave said, via The Press Democrat. “I needed him, he needed me,” Hargrave said. “I told him thank you for everything he did, and he said the same to me.”
In San Francisco, Hargrave was still a pretty good player, but there was a certain je ne sais quoi that was missing on the court, even when he was theoretically supposed to thrive alongside Nick Bosa. After making the Pro Bowl in 2023, Hargrave appeared in just three games in 2024 and was ultimately released to save money, even if the 49ers would welcome him back.
Unfortunately for Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch and company, the Cardinals have $71.7 million in cap spaceaccording to Over The Cap , and they may look to add a veteran block rusher to their front seven who can play a big role in ushering in the next generation of Cardinals pass rushers regardless of who ends up heading to Glendale in April’s draft.
2025-01-19 12:16:00
