With three weeks to go in the 2022 NFL regular season, it’s a busy time for league owners and front office personnel as they weight over their 2023 plans.
For some teams, the main priority is making a decision on their current head coach. If they plan to make a change, teams need to move quickly to line up coaching candidates and secure their new HC as soon as possible.
One team that could make a change is the Arizona Cardinals, who are in the midst of a miserable 4-10 season just one year after going 11-6. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury is in his fourth season on the job, but according to a new report from Jeremy Fowler and Josh Weinfus of ESPN, the 43-year-old may simply voluntarily leave the Cardinals at the end of the season:
“The weight of the past few seasons — especially this one — has taken its toll on the 43-year-old Kingsbury to the point that multiple people close to him have openly wondered whether he would walk away after the season.
There is also a very real possibility that Kingsbury, with a 28-34-1 head-coaching record in the NFL and without a playoff win during his tenure, will be fired by owner Michael Bidwill, though multiple team sources see a path where Bidwill gives Kingsbury another year, due in part to injuries ravaging the roster and a personnel department in flux.”
The report from Fowler and Weinfus noted that Kingsbury’s relationship with owner Michael Bidwill, GM Steve Keim and quarterback Kyler Murray “have soured to varying degrees the past two years.”
Indeed, the injury bug has hit the team hard this year. Arizona lost Murray for the year after he suffered a torn ACL in Week 14 against the New England Patriots. Tight end Zach Ertz is also done for the year after suffering an ACL and MCL tear. Star wideout DeAndre Hopkins missed six games serving a suspension, and offseason acquisition Marquise ‘Hollywood’ Brown has missed five games this year.
But only time will tell if the Cardinals and Kingsbury decide to give it another go in 2023. Kingsbury signed a long-term extension through 2027 in the offseason.
