Arizona Cardinals make slight move up in ESPN QB Confidence Rankings after offseason

When ESPN released their initial quarterback confidence index in 2018, the Arizona Cardinals, not shockingly, were ranked dead last.

That was an easy concept to understand:

32. Arizona Cardinals

QBs under contract: None

Yeah, that means nobody. Not a guy whose last name is “None.” The Cardinals’ quarterback depth chart has no names on it right now, with Carson Palmer having retired and Drew Stanton, Matt Barkley and Blaine Gabbert all headed for free agency. Moreover, the Cardinals feel farther from contention than some of the teams (Minnesota, Denver, Buffalo) in similar situations. And they don’t pick until No. 15. Arizona will have somebody, but do you have any confidence in who it will be?

Now, after an offseason that has revamped not only the quarterback room but the offense as a whole, the Cardinals find themselves moving up the rankings index, but not by a whole lot:

30. Arizona Cardinals

When we did this three months ago, the Cardinals had literally no quarterbacks on their roster. They ranked last on the list. And you can argue that the addition of Sam Bradford in free agency alone should move them higher up this list. I could argue in return that Bradford’s health history gives me pause, that backup Mike Glennon was a mess as a starter for the Bears last year and that No. 10 overall pick Josh Rosen is at this point an unknown from an NFL standpoint. If Bradford is healthy or Rosen advances quickly this summer, no issue moving the Cardinals up ahead of some of the questionable situations above them. But we’ll need to see at least one of those things to warrant that move.

This isn’t a shock either. We have talked quite a bit about the fact that there is little confidence between Sam Bradford and Mike Glennon from the national media.

Bradford hasn’t been healthy enough and Glennon hasn’t been good enough to warrant much in the way of respect.

If you look at the rankings though, the Cardinals are getting the benefit of the doubt in the same way Cleveland (29), Kansas City (27) and Chicago (26), are in their young quarterback Josh Rosen.

Rosen inspires more confidence than Sam Darnold for the Jets (31) and of course Josh Allen for the Bills (32), and quite frankly, Tyrod Taylor offers a healthy option that Bradford doesn’t.

What do you think?

How much will this ranking change between now and the season?

My guess, when the season starts, the Cardinals are in the top 25, likely around 23-24.