Cardinals Betting Preview 2023: Futures Picks & Predictions for Arizona

The Arizona Cardinals are doing everything they can to get the No. 1 overall pick in 2024. But do they still offer betting value? Let's dive in with our Arizona Cardinals betting preview featuring the top odds from our best sports betting apps.

Expectations for the Arizona Cardinals are below the basement in 2023. We've gone beyond that and are careening toward the very core of our planet.

It's difficult to maintain any shred of optimism when the franchise quarterback might not surface until midseason, and DeAndre Hopkins is now with the Tennessee Titans. A weak offensive line remains too, as does a running back in James Conner who's plodded along during his career while posting 4.2 yards per carry.

The Cardinals' main goal in 2023 is seemingly to look past the season and make sure they're holding the top pick during the 2024 NFL Draft. In the process, there are still plenty of avenues to cash in from a betting perspective on their failure, and the few offensive weapons they possess doing garbage-time damage.

Check out our 2023 Arizona Cardinals betting preview based on the odds from our best NFL betting sites as part of our 2023 NFL betting guide (pick confidence is based on a 1-to-5-star scale). 

Cardinals betting preview 2023

Cardinals to win Under 4.5 games (-120 via BetMGM) ⭐⭐⭐

Editor's note: The Cardinals' win total market shifted dramatically once it was announced quarterback Kyler Murray would miss at least the first four games of the regular season, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. The team also cut Colt McCoy, leaving rookie Clayton Tune as a possible Week 1 starter. Several of our best live betting sites shifted to a total of 3.5 games, and the Under on 4.5 is now heavily juiced. The best price on 4.5 belongs to FanDuel at -142.

There's a very real scenario in which we don't see Kyler Murray take a competitive snap until late in the season at best. And if that happens, it's because the Cardinals were already well on their way to cratering without him.

Murray suffered a torn ACL in early December 2022. He resumed workouts earlier in the spring, and the team is pleased with his progress, according to Josh Weinfuss of ESPN. But a timeline to be cleared for contact is still uncertain. It's possible Murray misses a significant period to begin the season, and then the Cardinals will face a decision that might not be difficult as losses mount.

Say what you will about his contract and play, but in 2022 Murray was signed to a five-year extension worth $230.5 million, $103 million of which was guaranteed at signing. You don't push an asset like that back from a crippling injury to get pummeled again amid a wayward season.

So he'll likely be held back for longer, leaving some combination of Colt McCoy, Jeff Driskel, and rookie Clayton Tune to make starts under center for the Cardinals in 2023, and McCoy is nursing an injury of his own. They'll do it behind an offensive line that ranked 23rd in sacks allowed during the 2022 season, and with few reliable weapons beyond Marquise Brown.

Moving the ball for the inevitable comebacks required to win will be a daunting challenge. The Cardinals ranked dead last while averaging six yards per attempt in 2022, and that was with Murray healthy for 11 games.

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Cardinals to finish with the worst record (+220 via Caesars) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Cardinals are easily the favorite to finish the season with the most offensive odor. They're the only team getting NFL worst record odds at +300 or below at our best sports betting sites. The Texans are the next closest club, and they've listed as long as +1000. The Cardinals are also the runaway favorite in the lowest-scoring team odds while featured at +650, and again the second team by the odds at +1000.

McCoy is a perfectly acceptable short-term injury replacement. He's made a career out of that role, but asking a journeyman passer who will turn 37-years-old soon for much more than that is an automatic recipe for offensive doom. McCoy averaged a paltry 5.9 yards per attempt over his four starts for the Cardinals in 2022.

There's optimism around Tune's potential, but relying on a fifth-round rookie to carry an offense is also inviting a fast demise. However, as our own Shane Jackson noted, he's an intriguing long-shot pick to be the rookie passing yards leader due to the Cardinals' likely repeated positive game scripts for passing.

Meanwhile, little was done to significantly upgrade a defense that finished second-last while allowing 26.4 points per game in 2022.

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Cardinals to be the last winless team (+400 via DraftKings) ⭐⭐⭐

It takes creativity and a whole lot of squinting to find wins anywhere on the Cardinals' schedule, and that's particularly the case early in the season.

The wayward Cardinals face the improved Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Cincinnati Bengals, Seattle Seahawks, and Baltimore Ravens over the first two months of the campaign. The only early areas with even a touch of softness are a Week 2 home game against the New York Giants, and going on the road in Week 6 to clash with the Los Angeles Rams.

But the Giants are still much more talented, and the Rams are plenty capable of doing enough to keep the Cardinals behind them in the division.

James Conner Over 5.5 rushing touchdowns (-130 via Caesars) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Cardinals will actually score touchdowns sometimes. And just as they have in the recent past, they'll lean heavily on their short-yardage bruiser.

Conner is far from a straight-line speedster who can create his own space. But the 6-foot-1 and 235-pound running back is rather skilled when it comes to moving bodies backward over a short distance.

He scored seven times in 2022 over only 13 games, and he's one season removed from notching 15 touchdowns to finish tied for second despite a pedestrian rushing season overall (752 yards on an awful 3.7 per carry). Conner received 50.9% of the team's carries inside the 10-yard line in 2021 and 44.1% in 2022.

Marquise Brown Over 800.5 receiving yards (-110 via DraftKings) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This one is almost purely rooted in garbage-time shenanigans.

Brown finished not far below this mark in 2023 even while missing lots of time, recording 709 yards over 10 games. Yes, the Cardinals' quarterback situation will likely make you want to wash your eyes while watching. But that won't matter as much against soft defenses giving up chunk yardage underneath with the opposition ahead multiple scores late.

Hollywood Brown is perfectly comfortable and at home while compiling yardage in that short-to-intermediate role. He racked up 1,008 yards on 91 catches during the 2021 season with the Baltimore Ravens, an average of just 11.1 yards per grab.

NFL betting preview

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• DraftKings Promo Code | Read our DraftKings Review

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