The 2024 NFL season is that much closer thanks to the release of the Arizona Cardinals’ schedule on Wednesday.
As Cardinals fans start marking their calendars and planning their upcoming road trips, here are the highlights from this year’s Arizona history:
Kliff Kingsbury returns to Arizona in Week 4
The easy ones are here first, at Sports in Arizonaand you won’t find one that ranks higher than the Cardinals’ Week 4 matchup against the Washington Commanders thanks to the return of former head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
The offensive coordinator, now based in Washington, returns to the league after being fired in 2022 after his fourth season with Arizona. The former coach was 28-37-1 and made one postseason appearance (Wild Card) as the Cardinals’ starting quarterback.
Taking a break from football – and reportedly the country – in 2023, he joined USC as a senior offensive analyst and worked with eventual No. 1 overall pick in 2024, Caleb Williams, before embarking on his current endeavor.
But wait, there’s more!
In addition to Kingsbury’s return, Arizona State Sun Devils fans will have the opportunity to see former signal-caller Jayden Daniels lead the charge for Washington.
The No. 2 overall pick sharpened his skills at ASU from 2019-21 before transferring to LSU and winning the Heisman Trophy last season.
In three seasons at ASU, Daniels completed 62.4% of his throws for 6,025 yards, 32 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
Jim Harbaugh and the Bolts in Week 7
You know who else knows a thing or two about the famous NFC West division?
Former San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh, who took over the Los Angeles Chargers in the offseason.
Harbaugh has a proven track record in both the NFL and colleges, going 44-19-1 in four seasons with the 49ers, reaching Super Bowl XLVII in 2012 and most recently winning a national championship at Michigan.
But since he hasn’t coached at the NFL level since 2014, how much of an experience will it be for the Chargers’ head coach?
This is also not the same Chargers squad as years ago, with Keenan Allen, Mike Williams and Austin Ekeler being some of the biggest offseason signings to Los Angeles.
Add to that the fact that this week’s 7 tilt will take place on Monday Night Football and things get a lot more interesting.
The young guns were scattered throughout the schedule
Speaking of Daniels, Arizona has quite a few rookies on its 2024 roster.
In addition to the Commanders signal-caller, the Cardinals expect to face Chicago’s Caleb Williams (No. 1 overall), New England’s Drake Maye (No. 3) and Minnesota’s JJ McCarthy (No. 10), all of whom went in the first round of the draft NFL 2024 in April this year.
Who will be this year’s CJ Stroud and Bryce Young? There are certainly more than enough options to consider.
Arizona will face Daniels in Week 4 and Williams in Week 9, followed by McCarthy in Week 13 and Maye in Week 15.
Litmus tests
Looking at Arizona’s 2024 opponent list, it’s not hard to eliminate the 49ers (Weeks 5 and 18) and the Detroit Lions (Week 3).
The 49ers and Lions, a pair of juggernauts that met in last year’s NFC Championship Game, present a tough challenge and a real test to see how exactly the Cardinals stack up against some of the league’s best.
We saw the Cardinals run all over the 49ers in their final game against each other last year. Will they be able to give it their all and make some noise in the league?
Can Arizona prove it’s on the upward trajectory seen in Detroit in recent seasons?
Sample size or not, the results of these two games will say a lot about this version of the Cardinals.
One last ride?
Opposite the young guns you’ll find Aaron Rodgers, who is entering his 20th NFL season after recording just one snap as a New York Jet before tearing his Achilles in 2023.
He and the Jets face the Cardinals in Week 10.
The question centers on whether Rodgers is now healthy and whether he will still be able to perform at a high level, maintain focus on the pitch and surpass Father Time for another year.
Because if he can do that, New York will be a terrible team to watch given the pieces around Rodgers offensively and defensively.
As for the signal-caller record against Arizona, Rodgers is just 3-2 for 1,021 yards and nine touchdowns to two interceptions on 60.2% passing.
He’ll get one last chance to improve on that mark when the Cardinals and Jets face each other.