Arizona Cardinals 2022 NFL Season Betting Preview (Can Kliff Kingsbury, Kyler Murray Duo Create a Contender?)

Will the real Arizona Cardinals please stand up?

The Cardinals were the last unbeaten team in the NFL in 2021, starting 7-0, before finishing 4-6. As a Wild Card team they were overwhelmed by the eventual Super Bowl Champions Los Angeles Rams. However, the team put their support behind talented quarterback Kyler Murray in the offseason, inking him to a massive contract extension which makes him the second highest paid quarterback in all of football.

Will Murray live up to his contract? He comes into 2022 without their star receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who is serving a PED suspension for six games.

Here are the odds for the Cardinals this season as well as my projections for the team moving forward.

Don't forget to check out the full list of team previews here. We'll be releasing one each day until all 32 NFL teams are covered.

Arizona Cardinals 2022 Offseason Moves and Signings

• Extended Kyler Murray to a five-year, $230.5 million dollar contact extension ($160 million guaranteed).
• Extended head coach Kliff Kingsbury and Steve Keim
• Traded for Marquise 'Hollywood' Brown at the 2022 NFL Draft
• Re-signed James Conner and Zach Ertz
• Deandre Hopkins suspended first six games of 2022

Arizona Cardinals 2022 Schedule

The Cardinals are in arguably the toughest division in the NFL, the NFC West, and open their season against the Kansas City Chiefs at home.

They don't have their bye week until Week 13 and are on prime time four times: home in Week 7 against the New Orleans Saints, Week 14 against the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 16. They do have a neutral site game that counts as a home game in Mexico City against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 11.

Arizona Cardinals 2022 Win Total Prediction

• OVER 8.5 (-110)
• UNDER 8.5 (-110)

I wasn't sold on the Cardinals last season during their hot start and I was vindicated with their poor finish. Now, oddsmakers are asking us if the Cardinals will go over or under .500, and I'm inclined to go under.

The Cardinals may have traded for Hollywood Brown to reconnect with his Oklahoma teammate Murray, but the team will be devoid of weapons in the passing game with Hopkins set to miss the first chunk of the season. While Rondale Moore may be in line for a year two breakout, I'm not that bullish the Cardinals offense can find the early 2021 success they had.

Meanwhile on the defensive side of the ball, the Cards benefitted from the fourth highest turnover differential in the league last season, +12, and traded away star pass rusher Chandler Jones. J.J. Watt is not the same player he once was and this defense can take a significant step back if they aren't generating an unsustainable rate of turnovers.

LEAN: UNDER 8.5 Wins (-110)

Arizona Cardinals 2022 Odds to Win NFC West, NFC, and Super Bowl

• Make Playoffs: +118
• Odds to Win NFC West: +350
• Odds to Win NFC: +1400
• Odds to Win Super Bowl: +3000

As I alluded to above, I don't see a high ceiling for this Cardinals team. While Murray is a special talent, Kingsbury has proven he is incapable of keeping a team at a high level over the course of a 17 game schedule and into the postseason.

The NFC is down this year, which makes it more plausible that a team like Arizona makes the postseason, but given the fact that the team plays in the hardest division in the conference, I'm not buying into them making the top seven.

Arizona's defense was smoke and mirrors last season and the offense will be behind the eight ball without Hopkins for the first six games.

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