The Republic’s Theo Mackie and Greg Moore on the Cardinals’ offseason
Republic columnist Greg Moore and Arizona Cardinals reporter Theo Mackie sit down to go over the Cardinals’ offseason and preview Super Bowl 2025.
The NFL Players Association released its annual report cards Wednesday. As is often the case, the Arizona Cardinals ranked at or near the bottom in several key areas, but perhaps the most important position for an NFL team’s on-field performance is near the top.
Also noteworthy is the team’s $100 million plan for facility improvements.
The NFLPA surveyed 1,695 players for this year’s study. Each year, the report grades organizations in 11 categories.
The Cardinals’ worst marks were related to their facilities and owner Michael Bidwill. They received an F- for their locker room (tied for 31st), an F for their weight room (tied for 31st), a D- for their food/dining area (tied for 30th), a D- for their training room (32nd) and a D- for ownership (tied for 30th).
Not surprisingly, given those numbers, the Cardinals ranked last (No. 32) overall.
After the results of the survey were made public, the Cardinals announced that they recently revealed plans for practice facility improvements to players. The facility, built in 1990, underwent a $15 million renovation in 2015.
“Our goal is to provide the best possible environment, facilities and resources and to give our team the greatest opportunity to succeed,” the Cardinals said in a statement to The Arizona Republic. “We are working hard to achieve that. Last season, we shared with our players the plans for a new training facility at the existing Tempe location with a targeted completion date of 2027.
“We have hired Rossetti, a leading architecture firm that has worked with a number of NFL teams on their new facilities, and the design process is underway. We will continue to explore all the other ways — large and small — that we can get better in every single area of our operation.”
The only area of the NFLPA survey in which the Cardinals ranked inside the top 10 was head coach, where Jonathan Gannon tied for seventh in his second season. Gannon earned an A- last season.
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The report added that “many players praise head coach Jonathan Gannon for fostering a strong team culture.”
In contrast to the glowing review for Gannon, the Cardinals’ locker rooms at both State Farm Stadium and especially their Tempe training facility have become dated in recent years. They lack the lounge areas of many modern facilities and do not have enough lockers. During training camp at State Farm Stadium, rookies are placed in an auxiliary locker room. The same is true of practice squad players at the Tempe facility. It remains unclear which areas the Cardinals aim to improve in potential renovations.
Bidwill, meanwhile, has repeatedly found himself at the center of controversy for both lack of investment and treatment of people in his orbit.
Beyond facilities and ownership, the report noted that common refrains from players included requests for “an upgraded food program with more variety and higher quality offerings” and pregame sideline passes for family members.
The Cardinals’ full grades were as follows:
- Treatment of families: D+
- Food/dining area: D-
- Nutritionist/dietician: B
- Locker room: F-
- Training room: D-
- Training staff: C
- Weight room: F
- Strength coaches: C+
- Team travel: B
- Head coach: A
- Ownership: D-
The Cardinals’ most notable improvements from last year’s survey were with their nutritionist/dietician (C to B) and team travel (C+ to B). They regressed in training room (C- to D-), training staff (B to C), weight room (C- to F) and ownership (D- to F).
(This story has been updated to add new information.)
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