The Arizona Cardinals spent a weekend that mixed disappointment with celebration. They dropped Mike LaFleur’s first game as an NFL head coach when the clock ran out, then shifted into Hall of Fame mode with this year’s class - a group that included former Cardinals star Larry Fitzgerald.
That backdrop naturally raised a bigger question: who on this current roster has the kind of résumé that could one day land him in Canton? A few names stand out more than others.
Budda Baker sits near the top of that conversation.
The safety came out of Washington as an All-American and two-time All-Pac-12 selection before Arizona took him in the second round of the 2017 NFL draft. Like Fitzgerald, he has spent his entire NFL career with the Cardinals.
Nine seasons in, Baker has piled up eight Pro Bowls, made the NFL All-Rookie Team, and earned First Team All-Pro honors twice and Second Team All-Pro honors twice. Even one All-Pro nod is a major badge of honor; Baker has stacked up four.
His production has been relentless. In 2024, he finished with 164 total tackles, only nine shy of the league lead.
Back in his second season, he led the NFL with 147 tackles. He has topped 100 tackles in six seasons and has 947 career total tackles, an average of 105.2 per year.
Baker has also appeared in 138 games with 128 starts, and at 30 years old, he still looks like the kind of player who keeps the defense organized and moving.
The numbers keep going. Baker has 51 tackles for loss, 8 interceptions, 44 batted passes, and 48 pressures. He has become a coach on the field for Arizona’s safety group, and in Nick Rallis’ defense, that kind of physicality and scheme awareness matters.
Trey McBride is another player who belongs in the long-term conversation.
Great tight ends are often found outside the first round, and the league’s history backs that up. Travis Kelce and Jason Witten went in the third round.
Rob Gronkowski was a second-round pick. Antonio Gates went undrafted, Shannon Sharpe went in Round 7, Jackie Smith in Round 10, and George Kittle, the league’s highest-paid tight end, was a fifth-round selection.
McBride fits that kind of profile better than the usual first-round hype machine.
Arizona picked him in the second round in 2022, and at 26 years old, he’s in the middle of his prime. He was a basketball and baseball standout in high school and still owns several school records.
He also stood out as the only Mackey Award winner among the tight ends listed in that group of greats. Right now, the case can be made that he’s the best tight end in the league.
His last two seasons have been loaded. McBride went for 1,146 yards and then 1,239 yards, and his target totals in his first four years were 39, 106, 147, and 169.
He finished second in receptions last season with 126 and second in touchdowns with 11, while also ranking third in targets. In 2024, he was fourth in receptions with 111 and eighth in targets with 147.
Arizona’s new offense should only push that production higher. It is built around a heavy dose of short and intermediate throws to multiple tight ends, which means McBride could end up with even bigger numbers than he’s already posted.
Jeremiyah Love is the wild card in the group.
The Cardinals’ first-round pick has the kind of traits that make people think big. If the offensive line holds up and he can stay upright through most of his career, he has a chance to become a real name in franchise history. Running backs can disappear fast when injuries pile up, so the path matters as much as the talent.
Love brings a lot to the table: vision as a runner, strong hands as a receiver, and willingness as a blocker. Those traits fit what Arizona wants to do on offense.
For him, the early markers are clear. He’ll need to get past 1,000 yards in his rookie season, earn NFL All-Rookie Team recognition, and then top 1,200 yards in year two.
Nobody is handing him Barry Sanders, Eric Dickerson, or Emmitt Smith comparisons, but the names attached to him already say plenty. Bijan Robinson, DeMarco Murray, and Jamaal Charles have all come up because of the smooth movement and home-run speed. Five years from now, the Cardinals will know whether Love has become one of the great ones or just another back who couldn’t make the jump.
In Other News...
James Conner Suddenly Sits At Center Of A Cardinals Roster Crunch
With cutdown day looming on Aug. 30, James Conner has found himself in the kind of late-summer conversation running backs usually want to avoid. The veteran is one of several notable names mentioned as teams sort through a shrinking roster picture, and for Arizona the discussion is especially pointed because the backfield is suddenly tied to a broader set of decisions about experience, depth and how much room there really is for established players once the 53-man roster is set.
The speculation around Conner is part of a larger wave of veteran uncertainty across the league, with familiar names surfacing as possible release or trade candidates before final cuts. For the Cardinals, the issue is less about what Conner has already meant to the offense and more about how quickly the numbers game can change in late August, when injuries, contract considerations and roster shuffling can turn a seemingly stable spot into one of the most watched decisions on the team. [Read more 🡒]
Rondale Moore Is Giving Cardinals Fans A Reason To Reconsider Him
Rondale Moore has spent much of his Cardinals tenure trying to show he can be more than just a promising name with untapped upside, and his latest training camp comments fit right into that conversation. After two uneven NFL seasons, the wide receiver said he has kept a positive attitude through the challenges and feels good about the work he has put in this summer, giving Arizona at least a reason to look again at a player who has not always had the easiest path to proving himself.
The encouraging part for the Cardinals is not just that Moore sounds refreshed, but that he believes the camp has been productive in a way that matters for the offense. He has also talked about staying focused on his process rather than getting caught up in outside noise, which is the sort of steady mindset teams hope to see when a player is trying to carve out a bigger role. For Arizona, the question now is whether that approach turns into something more meaningful once the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Face A Jeremiyah Love Debate Fans Wont Ignore
Jeremiyah Love gave the Cardinals plenty to think about in the first half of their preseason game, handling 14 touches before the conversation shifted from usage to durability. Arizona has been trying to balance getting its rookie running back enough work to settle in with not overdoing it in a game environment that often features backup defenders and uneven protection.
Loves workload was already drawing attention when the ankle issue surfaced late in his final offensive snap, and now the bigger question is how much time he may miss as the regular season approaches. The Cardinals want him ready by Week 1, but the episode has turned a routine preseason evaluation into a test of patience, caution and how much risk the team is willing to take with one of its most closely watched young players. [Read more 🡒]