We’re past the season’s halfway point, which means it’s a good time to take stock of the team and reassess things a bit. Last week, we handed out midseason grades for each unit and the team as a whole.

This week, we’ll check in with each member of the Cardinals 2019 rookie class—their contributions, their progress, and their play relative to preseason expectations. We’ll start with Mr. Irrelevant and work our way up to the future of the franchise himself.

TE Caleb Wilson (Round 7, #254, UCLA)

Preseason Expectations: Low

Wilson has more than lived up to his billing as Mr. Irrelevant—he’s been on the practice squad all season. That wasn’t really surprising given his 7^th-round status and the Cardinals’ depth at TE (even though Ricky Seals-Jones was cut at the end of the preseason). But with Maxx Williams and Charles Clay both on 1-year deals, there might be opportunity for Wilson in 2020.

Missed, Met, or Exceeded Expectations: Met

DE Michael Dogbe (Round 7, #249, Temple)

Preseason Expectations: Low

It was somewhat unexpected that Dogbe made the regular season roster, but depth was needed on the D-line after Darius Philon’s release. However, he has made almost no impact, playing just 13 total snaps (5 on defense, 8 on special teams) and not recording any official statistics. It looks like it will take an injury for Dogbe to see the field much this season—that’s typical for such a late pick though. He’ll be someone to keep an eye on next training camp/preseason.

Missed, Met, or Exceeded Expectations: Met

OT Joshua Miles (Round 7, #248, Morgan State)

Preseason Expectations: Low

Miles has bounced back and forth between the active roster and the practice squad all season but hasn’t really seen the field—just 3 offensive snaps (in addition to 20 on special teams). He was raw coming out of college and wasn’t expected to contribute in 2019, so it’s a small victory he has even seen the field. We’ll have to see if he can develop in the offseason like the rest of these 7^th-rounders.

Missed, Met, or Exceeded Expectations: Met

C Lamont Gaillard (Round 6, #179, Georgia)

Preseason Expectations: Low

Gaillard got a lot of pub in the preseason and made the regular-season roster as expected. However, he has yet to see the field at either guard or center. It’s hard to read that as an indictment on the Georgia product—the guys ahead of him have been competent and healthy. But it’s a minor disappointment that Gaillard hasn’t yet been able to capitalize on the buzz he generated in the offseason. It’s most likely on to 2020 for this late-round pick as well.

Missed, Met, or Exceeded Expectations: Missed

WR KeeSean Johnson (Round 6, #174, Fresno State)

Preseason Expectations: Medium

Speaking of buzzy preseason players, Johnson had the most unexpectedly strong preseason of any Cardinals rookie, easily surpassing his earlier-drafted WR brethren on the depth chart. However, he’s been an inconsistent contributor in the regular season (19/173/1 TD) as the team’s WR3/4. His lack of elite physical traits—size, speed, athleticism—have really hurt against NFL DBs. It’s fair to wonder at this point if he’ll ever be more than a depth chart guy at WR—a Jaron Brown, an Early Doucet—than a true top-3 weapon—a Steve Breaston, a Bryant Johnson. He can probably carve out a decent career even if it’s the former, but preseason expectations had us hoping for the latter.

Missed, Met, or Exceeded Expectations: Missed

S Deionte Thompson (Round 5, #139, Alabama)

S Jalen Thompson (2020 Round 5, Washington State)

Preseason Expectations: Low

We’ll lump both Thompson Twins together here, as their stories so far are largely the same. Neither was necessarily expected to contribute much outside of special teams in 2019 with Budda Baker and D.J. Swearinger entrenched as the starting safeties. Well, Swearinger was unceremoniously cut after Week 4 and the Thompsons have seen the field quite a bit since then. They haven’t produced a ton, with no turnovers and just 36 combined tackles (21 for Jalen, 15 for Deionte), and while they have certainly made a few mistakes here and there, they also haven’t fallen flat on their faces. I like the odds of at least one of these two developing into an above-average starting safety. Wouldn’t it be nice if it were both?

Missed, Met, or Exceeded Expectations: Exceeded

WR Hakeem Butler (Round 4, #103, Iowa State)

Preseason Expectations: Medium

I almost went “High” for Butler’s expectations—I know many of us (myself absolutely included) were drooling over his tape and obvious physical attributes. But WR was considered “deep” in the preseason and it wasn’t clear which—if any—rookie would be afforded significant playing time. But it turns out none of that mattered in Butler’s case, as he was put on the IR with a finger injury in the preseason. He’s a complete wild card now with a lost year of development time—he might never play a down in the league or he might come back in 2020 with a vengeance. Here’s hoping it’s the latter.

Missed, Met, or Exceeded Expectations: Missed

DE Zach Allen (Round 3, #65, Boston College)

Preseason Expectations: Medium

Allen is another guy who you might be able to argue had high expectations going into the season, especially after he was handed a starting gig when Philon was released. But how high can expectations really be for a 3^rd-round 3-4 DE? Either way, he has fallen short of any kind of expectations largely due to neck/shoulder injuries—he’s only played in 4 games. However, he only had 8 tackles and no sacks in those 4 games, so he wasn’t exactly a force before he got hurt. Still, it’s far too early to give up on such a productive college player. Let’s hope for a strong (and healthy) second half.

Missed, Met, or Exceeded Expectations: Missed

WR Andy Isabella (Round 2, #62, Massachusetts)

Preseason Expectations: High

I feel it’s fair to go “High” for Isabella’s expectations, given what we gave up to get him and all the breathless fawning over his speed during and after the draft. But apparently it has taken him a while to acclimate to Kliff Kingsbury’s offense—he has only 3 catches to his name through Week 9. Of course, one of those catches was a scintillating 88-yard touchdown in prime time against the 49ers—a touchdown that nearly helped us upset our undefeated division rival. Still, as incredible as that play was, he has easily underperformed versus expectations thus far. But as he showed last Thursday, he has the speed to be an impact player—and to eventually meet those high expectations.

Missed, Met, or Exceeded Expectations: Missed

CB Byron Murphy (Round 2, #33, Washington)

Preseason Expectations: Medium

Murphy wasn’t supposed to see the field this much as the CB3/4 during his rookie season. Well, one Patrick Peterson suspension and Robert Alford Injury later and Murphy has actually been our CB1 for most of the season. He’s missed only 4 defensive snaps all year and is fourth on the team in tackles (47) and first in passes defended (5). He’s been burned a few times, sure, and has a middling PFF grade (52.3), but his struggles are typical rookie struggles. He’s acquitted himself well after being thrown into the fire and has as a brighter future than any Cardinals rookie besides the next guy on this list.

Missed, Met, or Exceeded Expectations: Met

QB Kyler Murray (Round 1, #1, Oklahoma)

Preseason Expectations: High

Kyler was massively hyped during the offseason on this site and just about every other, both before and after the draft—the Heisman, the MLB draft, the concerns about his height, going #1 overall, the Josh Rosen trade. And you know what? He has met those expectations head-on and proven that he’s an NFL quarterback. Is he an elite one? That remains to be seen. But he’s shown himself to be a dynamic and exciting playmaker capable of putting up big numbers and performing well in the clutch. He’ll need to lead a more prolific scoring offense in order to exceed those expectations, but that’s not all on him—he’s in a clearly below-average offense, talent-wise, and there have been injuries and coaching gaffes to deal with as well. But the Cardinals and their fans have to be more than satisfied with what they’ve seen from the future of the franchise so far.

Missed, Met, or Exceeded Expectations: Met

Final Thoughts

After going through this exercise—two things are clear: 1) I’m so happy we have Kyler, and 2) man, we really overhyped the rest of this rookie class, didn’t we? Let’s keep that latter point in mind over the rest of the season and, especially, going into the 2020 draft, shall we?

In the meantime, weigh in with your own thoughts on the rookie class through the first half of their first season. Has the class as a whole met your expectations—or not? Let’s talk rookies in the comments.