Arizona Cardinals Hidden Gems: 3 Secret Superstars on the 2025 roster

The Cardinals have been stuck in a franchise malaise for too long. Here are three Secret Superstars who might be able to reverse that issue.

It’s a nebulous but fair question at this point in time: What exactly are the Arizona Cardinals?

Since Bruce Arians’ retirement after the 2017 season (a retirement that obviously didn’t last too long), the team has struggled to find the identity needed for championship-caliber performance. There was the Steve Wilks/Josh Rosen disaster in 2018, a bit of an upswing for a while in the beginning of the Kliff Kingsbury/Kyler Murray era, and then, matching 4-13 seasons at the end of Kingsbury’s time with the Cardinals in 2022, and new head coach Jonathan Gannon’s start in 2023.

Gannon’s second season went a bit better with a healthy Kyler Murray, and a 6-4 start to the season that had people thinking that this may be the start of something big. Then, there was the Week 11 bye, and the 2-5 end to the season which had those same optimists realizing that the ancient Romans were right about the aquaducts — water always finds its own level over time.

From Week 1 through Week 10, Murray completed 191 of 276 passes (69.2%) for 2,058 yards (7.5 YPA), 12 touchdowns, three interceptions, and a passer rating of 100.8, which ranked ninth among NFL starting quarterbacks.

Then, in Weeks 11-17, Murray completed 156 of 230 passes (67.8%) for 1,551 yards (6.7 YPA), five touchdowns, eight interceptions, and a passer rating of 79.5, which ranked 26th.

Finally, in Week 18, Murray beat the hell out of the San Francisco 49ers in a 47-24 win in which he completed 25 of 35 passes for 242 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 128.5.

Murray wasn’t the only reason for the 2024 Cardinals’ utter lack of consistency, but he did personify it to a great degree. Coming into his seventh NFL season, we know about as much about what Kyler Murray can be as we know about what the Cardinals are — which is to say, not a lot.

If these Cardinals of Jonathan Gannon and general manager Monti Ossenfort are to transcend their recent fallbacks, they’ll obviously need everybody on the roster doing their best. In the continuation of our “Hidden Gems” series, we look at three underrated players currently on this roster — one veteran, one free-agent signing, and one draft pick.

Underrated Veteran: RB James Conner

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The Cardinals signed former Pittsburgh Steelers running back James Conner to a one-year, $1.75 million deal in 2021, which proved to be one of the year’s best bargains after Conner gained 1.127 yards on 239 touches and made the second Pro Bowl of his career. That led to a well-deserved three-year, $21 million re-up with $13.5 million guaranteed, and Conner’s been earning that money ever since — which is why the team gave him a two-year, $19 million contract extension with $8.25 million guaranteed in 2024.

Whether it’s been Kliff Kingsbury or Drew Petzing running Arizona’s offense, Conner has been the stalwart performer as a back who can make productive plays in all kinds of ways. If you need someone to blast through gap-scheme stuff to power up for a first down, he’s got that skill set. If you need a guy who can bounce outside for an explosive play in outside zone, no problem. And if you need a guy who can take a simple rail route to the house, Conner’s been doing that for years.

Since 2021, Conner ranks 12th in the NFL with 4,922 yards from scrimmage, and while the general public doesn’t talk about him as they do the guys at the top of the list like Derrick Henry, Josh Jacobs, Saquon Barkley, and Jonathan Taylor, the people in the Cardinals’ building know exactly how valuable Conner is to whatever offensive scheme they prefer to run at any given time.

2024 may have been Conner’s best season to date — he gained 1,094 yards and scored eight rushing touchdowns on 236 carries, added 414 yards and two touchdowns on 47 catches, forced 68 missed tackles, averaged 3.30 yards after contact per rushing attempt, and had 16 runs of 15 or more yards.

You may look at Conner’s 6’1, 233-pound frame and think that he’s your basic big headbanger, but there’s more to his game than that.

“You guys kind of know we have some different variety in the run game, and he can really do it all,” Gannon said of Conner last December 22, after Conner riddled the Carolina Panthers’ defense for 117 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries, adding four catches on four targets for 49 yards to the equation. “He can run wide zone, he can run inside zone, he can run gap schemes, and he can do it from gun, from under, from pistol. He’s got a skillset that warrants [us] to be able to call those certain runs. All of the different ones. He doesn’t do any of those bad. Then, obviously, his style of running. He’s a premier player. He hits it, he’s got good vision, he’s got good balance, he’s hard to bring down, he’s got juice. He’s doing a good job.”

That should continue, even as the Cardinals try to figure out the rest of their offense.

Underrated Free-Agent Signing: DL Calais Campbell

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Andy Robustelli in 1963. Doug Atkins in 1968. Coy Bacon in 1980. Chris Doleman in 1999. Jim Marshall in 1975. Ron McDole in 1977.

That is the entire list throughout pro football history (well, at least back to 1960, where we now have at least unofficial sack totals) of the players who had more quarterback takedowns than did Calais Campbell in 2024, his age-38 season with the Miami Dolphins. Overall, Campbell had those five sacks, 39 total pressures, 39 solo tackles, 37 stops, 12 tackles for loss, three pass breakups, and one forced fumble. At an age when most NFL players are well into their analyst careers, Campbell can still do a lot to throw an opposing offense in some Very Bad Places.

In addition, Campbell can do it from any gap. Last season with the Dolphins, he lined up 2% of the time as a nose tackle, 56% as a defensive tackle, and 42% as an edge defender. So, it made sense for a Cardinals defense that had the NFL’s sixth-lowest pressure rate in 2024 (19.2%) to give Campbell a one-year, $5.5 million contract with $4.5 million guaranteed. This of course is Campbell’s second go-round with the team; he was in the Cardinals’ employ from 2008-2016 after the franchise selected him with the 50th overall pick in the second round of the 2008 (!) draft out of Miami.

Campbell isn’t just a great player, he’s also a great person, and anybody who knows him will attest to that. When you have a guy who was named the Walter Payton Man of the Year in 2019, and was given the 2023 NFLPA Alan Page Community Award, it tells you a lot about how Campbell doesn’t just improve things on the field — he’s also about improving the culture.

“That’s going to be on each individual to do that,” Ossenfort said of Campbell’s ability to help first-round pick Walter Nolen, and other young defensive linemen, get the hang of the NFL. “Calais, [safety] Budda [Baker], everyone, it doesn’t stop. James Conner, [linebacker] Mack Wilson [Sr.], the entire unit — our defensive unit, our offensive unit. There’s plenty of examples. Our players do a great job of doing what we want them to do, and Walter is going to be no different. Walter is going to come in here and not miss a beat.”

That said, Campbell is back on that Cardinals line to be more than just a mentor, because the old man can still bring it.

Underrated Draft Pick: Safety Kitan Crawford

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“I don’t know that there really are hidden gems,” Ossenfort said after selecting Nevada safety Kitan Crawford with the 225th overall pick in the seventh round of the 2025 draft. “I think people just end up liking guys more or less. I had three special teams coaches that I know after we took Kitan in the seventh, text me and say, ’That guy was one of my top special teams performers’. The idea of a hidden gem, I don’t know that that really exists. I think it’s just that some teams’ boards look different, have guys a little higher, a little lower, but that diamond in the rough, that sleeper typically doesn’t happen.”

Sir, with all due respect, we beg to differ. With the tape Crawford put out in 2024, his first season with the Wolf Pack after four years in Texas’ secondary, there’s no way this guy should have fallen as far as he did. Crawford is unquestionably a hidden gem. In 2024. Crawford allowed 17 catches on 30 targets for 186 yards, 60 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, two interceptions, five pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 47.4. He also had 49 solo tackles, 17 stops, six quarterback pressures, three tackles for loss, and a forced fumble.

And what about that combine athleticism? Crawford placed in the upper percentiles in just about every drill, and yes, it does show up on tape. Whether he’s playing in the box, the slot, outside cornerback, or deep-third safety, Crawford seems like a natural fit in Gannon’s and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis’s schemes, which often have the safeties aligning all across the field in some interesting ways. He also projects as a special teams standout, which caught Ossenfort’s eye.

“I think that shows pretty easily,” the GM said. “For guys to be the first running down the field to throw their body around. Special teams isn’t always the most glorious job. Then when you find a guy who stands out on tape with his toughness, his physicality, his effort and his finish, I think that says something about a player and it’s harder to find. Typically, in college, guys tend to graduate from special teams as their roles increase, but to find guys that still continue to give that effort is pretty cool to see.”

Well, that sounds like a hidden gem to me.

(All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus and Sports Info Solutions).