Arizona Cardinals ceiling and floor for 2023

A disappointing 2022 season ended with the Cardinals overhauling their front office and coaching staff. Arizona has a new general manager (Monti Ossenfort) and head coach (Jonathan Gannon) whom Cardinals fans hope can turn around a team that has had one winning season since 2015.

Here is our best guess at the best- and worst-case scenarios for the 2023 Cardinals.  

Ceiling: 7-10

The best-case scenario includes a speedy return by starting quarterback Kyler Murray, who's recovering from a knee injury. His regression in 2022 (12 interceptions, 48 sacks) was a big problem for the Cardinals as they stumbled to a 4-13 record. 

Murray has the potential to be better, but he's inconsistent. The Cardinals gave him aid on the offensive line by adding left tackle Paris Johnson Jr., the former Ohio State star, with their top pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. They could add another potential star in next season's draft as Arizona acquired an additional first-round pick in 2023 in a swap of first-round picks. That selection could be a top-five pick given Houston's roster. 

A bounce-back year from wide receiver Marquise Brown would also be significant. He caught just 67 passes for 709 yards (only 10.6 yards per catch) after being acquired from the Baltimore Ravens. 

But even if Johnson is an immediate star at tackle and Murray comes back healthy and plays well, there is not a lot of talent on the roster for the Cardinals to do much in the NFC West. The 49ers should dominate and the Rams and Seahawks could be playoff teams, too.

Floor: 3-14

This has the potential to be an absolutely brutal season for the Cardinals. The roster is thin, Murray may not be ready to open the season and the schedule is among the most difficult in the NFL. The worst part of it comes in Weeks 2-8, when the Cardinals face Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, Cincinnati and Baltimore (complete schedule analysis here). 

Murray may be out of the lineup for most of that stretch or still not quite 100 percent as he works his way back from a torn ACL. If the Cardinals flop in that stretch, the season will go off the rails quickly. 

The offense is far from the only concern. The Cardinals also had one of the NFL's worst defenses in 2022, finishing 31st in the league in points allowed (26.4 PPG) and were only 23rd in takeaways. They also lost a couple of significant pass-rushers with the retirement of J.J. Watt and departure of Markus Golden in free agency. The departure of wideout DeAndre Hopkins hurts, too.

The silver lining: If Murray fizzles, Arizona should have the draft capital to land its franchise quarterback next year. Hello, USC's QB Caleb Williams.