Arizona Cardinals futures outlook not the worst, but still near the bottom of SB Nation Future Power Rankings

The Arizona Cardinals are in a bad spot. After finishing as the worst team in the NFL in 2018, they fired their first year coach, and brought in a coach that many wondered why he was getting a chance after struggling as a college head coach.

So, even though Arizona Cardinals fans are excited about the Kliff Kingsbury era, as they should be, it does little to adjust the national perception.

SB Nation did a Futures Power Rankings, looking at how likely teams are to compete in 2019 and 2020 and actually did not have the Cardinals in last.

In fact, they were not even bottom three, however, they still found themselves low

29. Arizona Cardinals

Top 100 draft picks: 1st, 33rd, 65th, 96th

Cap space: $48.5 million

Goodness gracious, the Cardinals were horrific on offense this season.

That doesn’t leave much room for hope, but there were several very good defensive players — Chandler Jones, Patrick Peterson, and Budda Baker to name a few — who were wasted by a Cardinals offense that could never give the defense a lead. They’ll probably add Nick Bosa with the No. 1 overall pick to bolster that group. It’s just up to offensive guru Kliff Kingsbury to help an offense that has a 2018 first-round pick at quarterback in Josh Rosen, and David Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, and Christian Kirk at the skill positions. That’s a lot of pieces already in place in Arizona.

Ultimately, the issue becomes who the Cardinals have on their roster as of now, that makes it hard to see them as a viable contender in 2019 or even 2020.

The reality is, they could be instant contenders in 2020 with the Josh Rosen year three rookie contract if Rosen takes a step in 2019 and they do a good job in free agency and the draft.

However, Steve Keim has not put together an offseason where he has done a good job in both free agency and the draft since... maybe 2015?

The Cardinals go up to five or six wins this season, show promise and hit on some long term free agents, Robert Alford and an offensive lineman or two, then get two or three starters in the draft, when SB Nation revisits this next offseason they could be around the top half of the league.

For posterity:

NFC West Futures:

3. Los Angeles Rams
15. Seattle Seahawks
28. San Francisco 49ers

So, it’s not like the Cardinals are in the AFC North or AFC South where multiple teams are in the top ten.

The Cardinals can turn things around quick, but I am not sure you can blame the national media for not having much faith in the team at this juncture.