PFF has Will Hernandez as the Arizona Cardinals bounce back candidate for 2022

One of the biggest needs for the Arizona Cardinals heading into 2022 would be protecting Kyler Murray.

The only change they made to a good offensive line early in 2021 was adding Will Hernandez.

Fans are a little indifferent on the Hernandez situation and understandably.

From PFF:

PFF grade in 2021: 55.9

What went wrong: Hernandez was not alone in his struggles along the Giants‘ offensive line. It doesn’t take an NFL coach’s football knowledge to understand that New York didn’t develop offensive linemen well the past few years. It also didn’t help that, after three years at left guard, Hernandez was switched to the right side last year. — PFF

The question now becomes, why should fans be excited about Hernandez heading into 2022?

First, his performance all training camp has been excellent, he then backed it up with a completely dominant performance against the Cincinnati Bengals second and third team defenders. Which is what you expect from a good starter on a good team.

PFF agrees:

Outlook for 2022: From an offseason and a few weeks of training camp worth of work, the Cardinals seem pleased with Hernandez. They consider him one of the toughest offensive linemen they have. He is slated to start at right guard, putting him back at a position at which he’s comfortable. His physical skills can come in handy in Arizona’s up-tempo offense while he has to get outside the box to block for Kyler Murray. — Josh Weinfuss

We should see a bounce back from Hernandez in 2022 and also potentially a contract extension to keep him locked in for a couple more seasons.