Who will be the Cleveland Browns of 2020? Part 2 Arizona Cardinals
What constitutes being the Cleveland Browns of 2020
Last year the Browns were underwhelming, to say the least. Baker Mayfield’s Sophmore slump, Odell was disappointing, the Myles Garrett incident and Freddie Kitchens being fired after 1 season. In the 2019 Preseason, the Browns were dubbed to win the AFC North, potentially the AFC and possibly the Superbowl. Will the Cardinals be that team this year? In this series, I’m going to look at 5 teams who have the potential to be the all style no substance team this year? Will it be the Cards?
King Kyler
For clarification, all these stats are of Baker and Kyler’s rookie seasons
- Kyler won the Heisman. Baker won the Heisman.
- Kyler went to Oklahoma. Baker went to Oklahoma.
- Kyler was picked first. Baker was picked first.
- Kyler had a 64% completion percentage in his rookie year. Baker had a 64% completion percentage in his rookie year.
- Kyler threw 2 more picks than Baker and 7 fewer Touchdowns.
- Both players had an interception percentage of hovering above 2%.
- Both guys had a similar Passer rating of around 90.
- Kyler had three times as many rushing yards as Baker did in his rookie seasons.
But that’s enough stats talk.
Baker in his first season was elite. He went 6–7 in his 13 starts but last year he won as many games in 16 starts. There are glaring similarities between the two teams offseasons. Last offseason the Browns traded for a superstar receiver in Odell Beckham Jr. and this offseason the Cardinals traded for DeAndre Hopkins who is a superstar receiver. The 2020 Cards and 2019 Browns are oddly similar. Although this reasoning is quite petty it looks scarily like destiny to me.
Kyler Murray is a good quarterback and great prospect for the future but a sophomore slump is a common thing among Rookie of the Year winning Quarterbacks. Dak Prescott had 4 times more interceptions in his second year than his first, Cam Newton, Matt Ryan and Ben Roethlisberger had sophomore slumps too after winning rookie of the year.
They are going all-in
Trading for DeAndre Hopkins was an all-in move. DeAndre is on $12.5 million base salaries. This will significantly impact the Card’s moves in the future. I like the move as he is the best in the league and they gave up so little for him. Hopkins doesn’t really fit the timeline of the rebuild Kliff Kingsbury and the Arizona front office are doing. Kyler, Christian Kirk, Isaiah Simmons, Byron Murphy, Andy Isabella, Budda Baker and Haason Reddick are all 25 and under. So Hopkins doesn’t fit the timeline of the Cardinals.
DeAndre Hopkins had an average year last year by his standards. No career highs in his stats and no increase in performance.
- Hopkins caught 7 TD passes
- For 1165 yards
- 11.2 yards per reception.
I would have expected them to wait however they did not spend a ridiculous amount to get him so that is understandable. However, David Johnson would have been good to keep around to mentor Kenyan Drake or Eno Benjamin. The last team to be successful with this strategy was the ’07 Patriots. The 2007 Patriots went 16–0 in the regular season and lost to Eli Manning’s Giants in the SuperBowl (remember the helmet catch?) Recent Examples include the Rams who have been left in Salary cap trouble and have had to ship out Todd Gurley. The Browns have sort of done it now by trading for OBJ and signing players like Kareem Hunt.
The Defence is really solid to be fair
The defensive line is the weak spot on this defence. There is no one guy who you can guarantee 10 sacks and 10 TFLs from (assuming Chandler Jones counts as a linebacker). The pass rush is lacking outside of Jones who was half a sack away from the league leader in Shaq Barrett who you can find mentioned in Part 1 of this series.
When people look back at this draft class in years to come, they will wonder how teams like the Lions and Panthers passed on Isaiah Simmons. If the Cards can use this guy properly he will be a Ray Lewis and Troy Polamalu mash-up. I was scratching my head when the Panthers took Derrick Brown meanwhile Kliff Kingsbury was jumping for joy. Simmons’ versatility is a real asset to Arizona’s defence. The Cardinals linebacking core is the best in the league in my opinion. Chandler Jones had 19 sacks last year and is a top 5 pass rusher in the league. Veteran Jordan Hicks will be a good mentor for Simmons and a good leader on the defence.
The Cardinals have a top 10 secondary in the league. Patrick Peterson is an experienced veteran who will lead this defence along with Chandler Jones. Byron Murphy is one of the best young corners in the league. Budda Baker is one of the top safeties in the league and Jalen Thompson is a decent starter if he can develop well.
Why the Cardinals could flop
Kyler is inexperienced and the pressure of having a superstar receiver and knowing the world is watching could have a detrimental effect much as it did to Baker Mayfield. Hopkins could fall off, they could misuse Simmons, Peterson could be average. Let's just say a lot could go wrong. This is a relatively new and young team and in a tough division like the NFC West. All 4 teams could win the division. Some more likely than others. I think the Cards could fall victim to NFC champs 49ers and Russell Wilson’s Seahawks. I think its a bit of an outside shot but if one thing goes wrong the whole thing comes crumbling to the ground.
Look out for the next installment of this series tomorrow at https://medium.com/chewing-the-pig-skin.
