ESPN has the Arizona Cardinals last in the NFC West, but improved in 2020

While improvement seems to be agreed upon by all for the 2020 Arizona Cardinals, the question inevitably is by how much?

ESPN has done a project where they’ve simulated the 2020 season 20,000 times as a way of attempting to determine their preseason favorites for the upcoming year. The Arizona Cardinals find themselves low in the rankings and last in the NFC West.

Yet, ESPN gives them a +2 win improvement and a shot to make the playoffs.

From ESPN:

22. Arizona Cardinals

Projected wins: 7.3

Chance to reach playoffs: 25%

The 7.3 wins falls in line with what most prognosticators feel. The Cardinals are a 7 to 9 win team in 2020.

That’s what gives them a 25% chance to make the playoffs.

Well, that and the additional seven seed that now gets in.

I think the biggest burden for the Cardinals is the NFC West, where all three teams fall in the top 11 teams in the NFL.

Los Angeles is put at the 11th overall team and the Rams have a 45% chance to make the playoffs.

The Seattle Seahawks sit as the 7th overall team with a 58% chance to make the playoffs.

Finally, the San Francisco 49ers are the third team overall and top team in the NFC per ESPN FPI, with an 81% chance to make the playoffs.

The Cardinals need one of those teams to fall off for them to jump ahead, but it is good to see improvement is expected by almost everyone for the Cardinals in 2020.