Six bold predictions for the rest of the Arizona Cardinals season

Ten games into the 2024 season, the Arizona Cardinals are 6-4 in full control of their playoff destiny, leading the NFC West with a perfect 3-0 record. Two of the last three division games are also at home.

Outside of those three games, the Cardinals have a very winnable schedule with only one non-division team owning a winning record. On a four-game winning streak, anything feels possible for the Cardinals.

With seven games to go, we’re here to make some bold predictions for how this season will end. We’ll wrap up this piece with the remaining games, but we’re here to highlight some plausible scenarios we can see for some of the stars on the Cardinals.

Let’s take a look.

Murray has the sixth best odds to win the NFL MVP award according to FanDuel behind Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts and Brock Purdy. This shouldn’t be a surprise given the Cardinals’ stellar season, and much of that success can be traced back to Murray.

It’s not a season that will be insane statistically, as Murray is on pace for just under 3,500 passing yards with 20 touchdowns against just five interceptions. The yards and touchdowns would be career-lows in seasons where he played 14 or more games. Unlike those seasons, however, Murray has been responsible for big plays every week and is taking care of the ball better than he ever has.

You could also argue that Murray has upped his guns this season. At worst, he maximizes them.

With all of this in mind, Murray will make a serious push for the MVP, but I think he will fall short. Murray far outranks Mahomes and Purdy, which in theory means he should pass them. After that, you just need to produce one more guy to go top three, and there’s an excellent chance to do that.

Despite the ups and downs we’ve seen from Harrison this season, he certainly knows how to find the end zone with six scores in 10 games. For the inconsistencies we’ve seen from the rookie, we haven’t seen him struggle in the red zone.

At his current pace, MHJ is projected to finish the season with 10 touchdowns. That mark would pass the franchise rookie record set by both Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald, who each posted eight touchdowns as rookies.

That’s a nice cushion of a lead, but I say he does more than that.

With a bye week to help get him on the same page with Murray and the rest of the offense, I predict Harrison will continue his stock in the end zone and 10 feels like a floor.

Seven games to go and I say he gets six more goals. MHJ finishes the season with 12 touchdowns to make up for what some would consider a “disappointing season”, but that’s quite the performance in year one.

One of the best and most overlooked players on the Cardinals’ defense this year has been the second-year defensive tackle and former sixth-round pick. After AZ invested capital to beef up the trenches in the offseason with Bilal Nichols and Justin Jones, it felt like the team only saw Stills as a backup.

However, Nichols and Jones are on IR, and Stills has more than stepped up in their place. Stills had a quietly productive rookie season with 3.5 sacks over 15 games, and he’s already matched that total in nine games. It also leads the defence.

The Cardinals are counting on freshman defensive lineman Darius Robinson to return soon after missing the first half of the year with injuries, which could and should help the running back; hopefully in dramatic fashion. The first-round draft pick has the versatility to play inside or outside, and that will help generate a much more consistent pass rush.

But even with Robinson sidelined, Still has been a stud. I can see him continuing to produce with or without Robinson, but if the rookie’s impact really lives up to the hype, then I expect a great finish to the season.

Six sacks in a worst-case scenario… but he could be closer to eight if all goes well.

Baker has been the subject of trade talks for the Cardinals for a minute now, but he still hasn’t been touched. Fans are happy that their fan-favorite safety isn’t gone, and the coaching staff and team are even happier.

At no point in his career has Baker been a box score warrior when it comes to turnovers, but he is an elite tackler and one of the best in the league. He does it again this season with a flat 100 tackles, 64 solo, in the bye week.

The six-time Pro Bowler is having one of the most productive seasons of his entire career through 10 games and is on pace to finish the season with 170 total tackles, including a ridiculous 109 solo tackles.

Both of those numbers would be career highs, and the total tackles would shatter his current career best of 147.

Baker isn’t slowing down even as he approaches 30 years old, and he’s been a superstar this season. He is due for a new contract this offseason and I doubt Arizona will let him go.

As the sitting president of the Chad Ryland Fan Club, I feel justified in continuing to bang the drum as loudly and obnoxiously as possible for who has legitimately been a top-10 kicker this season; maybe better.

Ryland has kicked in six games this year in relief of Matt Prater, who has been beat up this season. Rylan has converted 11 of 12 field goals for an outstanding 91.7% success rate. In addition to the big conversion rate, Ryland is 2-2 over 50 yards including a 57-yarder, and has two game-winning kicks this season. He has been sensational to say the least.

The season is coming to an end and Ryland is kicking as well as anyone right now from accuracy to his clutch factor. There’s a chance he ends the season as one of the best kickers in the league, and I’d go as far as to say he leads all kickers in accuracy.

At his pace, Ryland will attempt 34 field goals and will hit 31 of them compared to his current percentage.

By the end of the season, if he maintains his current pace, Ryland’s 91.7 would be among the best in the league. Of kickers with at least 12 attempts, Ryland is in tenth place. I highly doubt nine guys will keep their current pace and slow down, and Ryland might as well…

But I’m holding on to my husband. 90+ percent is a lock and I say it’s even better than that.

The Cardinals are 2-2 on the road this season with good wins over the 49ers and Dolphins, a disappointing loss to the Bills and a blowout loss to the Packers. It’s a pretty tough schedule, so splitting these games up is a win

The back half of the schedule is very forgiving on the road and I’m not sure if there is a guaranteed loss as road warriors. Between the Seahawks, Vikings, Panthers and Rams, Arizona has a chance to sweep their road games. It’s not as easy as pie, but it can be done.

Meanwhile, their home slate includes two NFC West divisional matchups with the 49ers and Seahawks. As cool as it would be to see the Cardinals sweep the division 6-0, I don’t see that happening.

Regardless, a 4-2 conference record is really good and could be enough to win the division. With the only other game being the Patriots, we could see the Cardinals finish 11-6… just like we all predicted.