Every single year as we approach the opening kickoff of a brand new NFL season, there are one or two teams that will be mentioned by members of the media as teams that “we should look out for” or that “could be better than people think”.
One of those teams in 2024 is the Arizona Cardinals. Nobody expects them to be true contenders, but there are starting to be whispers that people believe they could be a dark horse team to make a push at the NFL Playoffs.
Unfortunately, oddsmakers aren’t buying in on that hype. Let’s take a look.
Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook
At +320 odds, FanDuel is giving the Cardinals an implied probability of 23.81% of making the NFL postseason in 2024. Those odds are the third longest in the NFC with only the New York Giants (+440) and Carolina Panthers (+470) sporting worse odds.
It shouldn’t be completely surprising to Cardinals fans. There is no doubt the team is in the midst of a rebuild. They have decided Kyler Murray is their guy at quarterback for the foreseeable future, but they still need to build a team around him. They made some solid signings on defense including Justin Jones and Sean Murphy-Bunting, but that’s not going to be enough to turn from a team that finished 4-13 in two straight seasons to a playoff team in one year.
They admittedly had a very good draft, selecting the top receiver, Marvin Harrison Jr. at No. 4 overall and then beefing up the defensive line by selecting Darius Robinson from Missouri with the No. 27 pick. Will those two players be cornerstones of this team moving forward? Absolutely. Are they going to contribute enough in 2024 to lead them to a postseason berth? I doubt it.
The future may be bright for the Cardinals, but this isn’t the season to buy stock in their hype. Let’s give it another year and see what this roster looks like before the opening kickoff of the 2025 campaign.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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