Few NFL franchises backslid their way through the 2022-23 NFL regular season the way that the Arizona Cardinals did under former coach Kliff Kingsbury.
Between the club’s seven-win drop-off (from 11-6 to 4-13) and the 192-point decline in point differential (from +83 to -109), there’s no shortage of data points to illustrate how far the club fell year-over-year in the Valley across Arizona betting apps.
One such way is stacking up how Arizona’s offensive line fared versus their brethren in the trenches, with the folks at Pro Football Focus ranking Arizona’s unit 24th in the league.
To get a sense of where the Cardinals’ line ranked versus their NFL peers, BetArizona.com utilized Pro-Football-Reference.com to gather the total amount of sacks allowed by team. The team with the least sacks allowed were awarded 32 points, down to 1 point for the team with the most sacks allowed. We then gathered the approximate value of each offensive line unit (only 10 offensive line members with most games played) via Pro-Football-Reference.com. Once again, we awarded 32 points for the team with most approximate value to 1 point for least approximate value.
Once getting a total points for each team, we divided the Spotrac.com’s cap hit from 2022-23 season for the total 10 offensive line members over the total points for the two above categories. We were then given the amount of salary paid per points given to arrive at our NFL offensive line units ranked 1st to 32nd based on value.
Curious how this season will shape up for the Cardinals under new coach Jonathan Gannon? BetMGM Sportsbook Arizona has the team at +8000 to advance to the Super Bowl.
NFL’s Most Overvalued Offensive Lines
Cardinals O-Line Among NFL’s Worst In 2022-23
The Cardinals finished last year with the sixth highest dollar per point total ($2,081,361) in the league a season ago, sandwiched between the New York Jets ($2,316,809) and Washington Commanders ($1,993,168).
The team’s trench specialists did have the fourth highest point total (20) of the league’s bottom 10 units (behind the Baltimore Ravens’ 35 points, the New York Giants’ 23 and the Houston Texans’ 21), but the relative lack of production given the unit’s $41,627,217 salary cap hit ultimately doomed them to the cellar.
In terms of dollars spent, the Cardinals finished with the second highest cap hit along the line, behind the Jets’ total of $41,702,565.
Still, no one in the Valley will be content with another sub-.500 season, with the men that are expected to protect Kyler Murray’s backside getting the lion’s share of the blame should the franchise fall on their faces again this fall.
Arizona sports betting sites list the Cardinals around +2500 to win the NFC West ahead of the preseason.
