3 Arizona Cardinals who won’t be back next season after Rams loss

After a season-ending playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams, these three players won’t be back with the Arizona Cardinals next season.

For the second straight season, the Arizona Cardinals faded late and ended their season short of their goals. A 7-0 start and a 10-2 mark after that this season faded to an 11-6 regular season (and second place in the NFC West), followed by Monday night’s 34-11 Wild Card Round loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

Head coach Kliff Kingsbury is back close to (if not on) the hot seat, and J.J Watt put a wrap on the Cardinals’ season after Monday night’s loss.

“It was a massive failure, from what we were capable of doing, to what we showed we can do, to today. There is no other way to describe it.”

With a long list of pending free agents and without a lot of cap space to use ($16.6 million right now, according to Over The Cap), the Cardinals will lose some key pieces this offseason and they’ll have to make some decisions on who to keep.

But who will not be back in the fold next season?

3 Arizona Cardinals who won’t be back next season

3. CB Robert Alford

After missing the 2019 and 2020 seasons with injuries, the Cardinals released and brought Alford back on a cheaper salary for 2021. He played 13 games, and played well (56.1 percent completion rate and a 80.3 passer rating allowed. But the injury bug bit again, as he suffered a pectoral injury in Week 14 and missed the rest of the season.

Alford can probably be brought back again on a short and cheap deal. But it’s more likely he’ll be plying his trade elsewhere next season.