Desert Deception: Inside the NFL's Most Unpredictable Defense
Armed with a rebuilt front and the versatile Budda Baker, Jonathan Gannon's unique system of hybrid fronts and college-style coverages is finally ready to dominate.
The most interesting defensive scheme in the NFL has also been injected with talent heading into the 2025 season. Most eyes will be squarely locked onto quarterback Kyler Murray, who is in a make-or-break year for the Cardinals. Kyler has three years remaining on his contract with a dead cap hit of $57.7 million if the team cuts him after this season.
Arizona currently sits fifth in cap space with almost $38 million left in the tank. If Kyler crashes and burns, the Cardinals will most likely have to hold on to him for one more year, but they have cap room and could potentially draft a quarterback in the first round as a bridge to 2027.
But Arizona is “running it back” on offense and believes that Kyler can be successful in the run-oriented offense designed by Drew Petzing. Arizona’s offense finished eleventh in DVOA the previous season wth a run game that finished ninth in DVOA (FTN). All things are trending up in the desert heading into the 2025 season.
Kyler played relatively well last year. He’s an average passer with the above-average ability to carry the ball (when he wants to). There needs to be more consistency. Running back James Conner is coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons, which should make that three in a row if he stays healthy.
The design in Phoenix is to build a run-oriented ball-control offense that doesn’t force Kyler into playing in a high volume of dropback passing scenarios. Last year, TE Trey McBride had a breakout year with over 1,000 yards and almost 150 targets. He thrived in the play-action happy system as a volume receiver in the intermediate. Highly anticipated rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. had a great season with 62 receptions and over 800 yards, but he will need to become more dynamic in year two.
The offense is primed and ready to go. To make the playoffs and succeed as a team, the Cardinals' defense must rise into the top ten range defensively. That is where the off-season spending spree comes in.
The front line was completely reshaped with the additions of the ageless DE Calais Campbell (Dolphins), Nose Tackle Dalvin Tomlinson (Browns), and Edge Josh Sweat (Eagles) coming off a Super Bowl victory and an eight sack season. Sweat will combine with hybrid Edges Baron Browning, Zaven Collins, and 2023 second-round pick BJ Olujari to create a nice rotation on the perimeter of the box with plenty of tools for defensive coordinator Nick Rollis to create packages.
In the draft, the Cardinals selected Ole Miss interior D-lineman Walter Nolen to pair with Campbell. He will miss the first month due to an injury. In the second round, Michigan CB Will Johnson was selected.
Many viewed Johnson as a first-round talent, but injury issues made him fall in the draft. Arizona needed a CB opposite 2024 rookie Max Melton. In all, the Cardinals brought in nine new faces into their two-deep that should bolster the defense.
The scheme for the Cardinals is unique to them. Jonathan Gannon transitioned to a Fangio-adjacent system when he took over as the Eagles’ defensive coordinator in 2021. One of his key departures from Fango himself was the use of Quarters instead of the Cover 6 (Stuff)/8 system preferred by Fangio.
Gannon worked for Mike Zimmer in Minnesota and then Matt Eberflus (Cowboys DC) in Indianapolis before moving to Philadelphia. Neither one of those coaches is seen as a split-field coach.
Zimmer is multiple, but static, and is known more for his double A-gap pressure package. Eberflus is a traditional 4-3 Cover 3/Tampa coach, again, nothing even close to resembling what the Cardinals are doing now.
The past two years have been defined by the high use of Quarters while utilizing a five-man front. In 2023, the Cardinals led the league in Quarters usage at just over 30%. The defense used the extreme talents of All-Pro Safety Budda Baker, moving him around and placing him in their three-high structure as the Middle Safety. Nickel Garrett Williams' hybrid ability allowed him to morph into a box overhang or deep Safety, depending on the call.
The lack of overall talent forced the defense to be relatively vanilla in every other aspect. In 2023, the Cardinals had one of the worst pressure percentages and were in the lower third in the league in pass blitz percentages. Though they were above league average in coverage disguise, the defense couldn’t stop anybody and finished dead last in DVOA.
With additions like hybrid off-ball linebacker Mack Wilson Sr. (Patriots) and the emergence of Max Melton at CB, the Cardinals’ defense rose to 14th in DVOA in ‘24. Statistically, the Cardinals were middle of the league in almost everything last season.
Schematically, the Cardinals were still using their unique three-safety alignment, but were adding more pressure and more disguises. 2024 saw the Cardinals jump to seventh in Blitz Rate (31.8%) and fourth in coverage disguise. The defense was becoming more complex, but still lacked a solid front that could consistently hold up against the run.
Although Arizona was top ten in sacks (41), their Pass Rush Production was 24th overall (according to PFF). It’s not surprising the front office leaned heavily into rebuilding the entire front. The current trend in the NFL is to build from the front, adding premium talent on the line of scrimmage to enhance the coverage ability (or lack thereof) of the secondary.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to MatchQuarters by Cody Alexander to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.