NFL Coaching Matters: 2022 Arizona Cardinals Offense and Coaching Staff Preview

Eli Grabanski breaks down the 2022 Arizona Cardinals' coaching staff in search of buy-lows, fantasy football sleepers, and risers based on play-calling and historical data.

After every NFL season, NFL teams take the time to evaluate not only the players but also the coaching staff and front office as well. While many teams choose to retain the same head coach, offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator, a few other teams opt to go in a new direction with their coaching staff.

One team that managed to maintain its core coaching staff this offseason was the Arizona Cardinals, with head coach Kliff Kingsbury and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph returning for the 2022-23 season.

This article will look at the potential impact this coaching staff will have on the players and try to pinpoint the Cardinals players' fantasy values in it.

The Baseline

To get a better understanding of the value the Cardinals coaches bring to this team, we can look at the NFL league averages in each of the past two years in a variety of statistical categories and then compare them to the averages achieved by the Cardinals' coaches. Below are 'The Baseline' NFL league averages over the past couple of years.

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

Defense Impact

2022 Offense

2022 Head Coach: Kliff Kingsbury

Kliff Kingsbury has been the Arizona Cardinals head coach since 2019. Before joining the Cardinals, Kingsbury spent his entire coaching career at the collegiate level, most notably as the head coach at Texas Tech (2013-2018). Given Kingsbury's offensive background in coaching and his role as the team's offensive play-caller, let's take a look at what his offenses have done in the past at the NFL level to get a better understanding of how the Cardinals' offense might look in 2022.

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

*Kliff Kingsbury missed the game against the Cleveland Browns in 2021 due to COVID-19 protocols

Kliff Kingsbury Takeaways & Expectations

Kliff Kingsbury still hasn't officially hired an offensive coordinator in his time with the Arizona Cardinals, so he's clearly going to be the primary offensive play-caller of the team as long as he's the head coach.

Throughout Kliff Kingsbury's 48-game NFL career as an offensive play-caller, his offenses have averaged 35.21 passing attempts per game – which is right around league average. In addition, throughout his career as a play-caller, Kingsbury's quarterback room has averaged 7.08 carries per game.

The quarterback rushing usage (primarily by Kyler Murray) under Kliff Kingsbury has been phenomenal and is one of the better marks in the league among active offensive-minded head coaches and offensive coordinators. Based on all this information, under Kingsbury, we can expect the Cardinals quarterbacks to get an average number of passing opportunities and an above-average number of rushing attempts in 2022. This makes Kyler Murray a strong bet to finish as a top-tier fantasy quarterback in 2022 and he should be one of the first five quarterbacks off the board in your fantasy leagues.

Moving onto running backs, Kliff Kingsbury's running back rooms throughout his career has been a bit of a mixed bag. Throughout the 48 games that Kingsbury has been the Arizona Cardinals' play-caller, his running back room has averaged 19.90 carries, 84.60 rushing yards, and 0.90 rushing touchdowns per game.

Over the course, Kliff Kingsbury has been one of the worst offensive-minded coaches in terms of providing his running backs with carries overall. On the flip side, the number of rushing touchdowns per game from Kingsbury's running back room has been above average throughout his three seasons as the Cardinals' head coach, which is nice to see if you roster the primary goal-line back (James Conner).

Besides looking at the statistics from the running back room as a whole, we also need to look at the distribution of carries: is Kingsbury typically feeding one back on the ground or rolling with the running back by committee approach?

Looking at the graph above, since this data is based on season carries the 2019 data may be a little skewed since Kenyan Drake was not on the team until midseason and only played in the last eight games (had 123 carries). When you take this into account, it appears that Kliff Kingsbury typically prefers the bell-cow approach on a week-to-week basis, as he featured Kenyan Drake frequently on the ground in 2020 and leaned towards James Conner leading the backfield on the ground in 2021 over Chase Edmonds.

The final aspect we should look at regarding Kingsbury's running backs is how much he has traditionally utilized them as pass-catchers. Throughout his career, Kingsbury's running back room has averaged 6.29 targets per game.

Comparing Kingsbury's averages with the league averages for the past couple of years, it's clear that Kingsbury is mediocre in providing his backs work through the air. The Cardinals running back room is going to be pretty reliant on rushing touchdowns with Kliff Kingsbury calling the plays since Kingsbury provides a low number of carries to the position and average amount of passing opportunities (targets). James Conner should be a solid RB2 in 2022.

Looking to the wide receiver position, in his 48-game career as the Cardinals head coach Kingsbury has seen his wide receiver room average 15.21 receptions on 22.75 targets for 175.56 receiving yards and 0.92 receiving touchdowns per game.

Clearly, Kingsbury's been one of the better coaches in the league at featuring his wide receivers. Based on this information, the Arizona Cardinals wide receivers should be a pretty safe investment in your fantasy leagues. Marquise Brown should be a great target at his current ADP, DeAndre Hopkins should bring back solid value once he gets back from his suspension, and Rondale Moore could be worth a dart throw late in drafts.

Lastly, Kliff Kingsbury's historical usage of his tight ends in the passing game has been a little disappointing throughout his career. In his 48-game career, Kingsbury's tight end room has averaged just 3.42 receptions on 4.58 targets for 38.65 receiving yards and 0.27 receiving touchdowns per game.

While it is encouraging to see his tight-end usage increase each year, Kingbury's career average is still one of the lower marks among active offensive play-callers. In this offense, Zach Ertz probably not returning to his previous elite levels and should be viewed as more of a low-end TE1/high-end TE2 for the 2022 season.

Fantasy Relevant Players: Kyler Murray, Colt McCoy, Trace McSorley, James Conner, Eno Benjamin, Darrel Williams, Keaontay Ingram, DeAndre Hopkins, Marquise Brown, A.J. Green, Rondale Moore, Andy Isabella, Zach Ertz, Maxx Williams, Trey McBride

2022 Defense

2022 Defensive Coordinator: Vance Joseph

Vance Joseph has been the Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator since 2019. He's also previously worked as a defensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins (2016) and as the head coach of the Denver Broncos (2017-2018). Because of his defensive background, below are some defensive statistics from Joseph's time in a defensive coordinator or head coaching role.

Other Notable Assistants

Special Teams Coordinator: Jeff Rodgers - Jeff Rodgers has been the Arizona Cardinals special teams coordinator since 2018. He's been coaching at the college and NFL levels since 2001, notably spending team as a special teams coordinator of the Carolina Panthers (2010), Denver Broncos (2011-2014), and Chicago Bears (2015-2017) before joining the Cardinals. He also serves as the Cardinals' assistant head coach.

QB Coach: Cam Turner - Cam Turner has been the Arizona Cardinals quarterbacks coach since 2021 after previously spending the 2019 and 2020 seasons as the team's assistant quarterbacks coach. He has been coaching since 2010, previously spending time with the Minnesota Vikings (2011-2012) and Carolina Panthers (2015-2017).

RB Coach: James Saxon - James Saxon has been the Arizona Cardinals running backs coach since 2019. At the NFL level, he's previously been a running backs coach for the Buffalo Bills (2000), Kansas City Chiefs (2001-2007), Miami Dolphins (2008-2010), Minnesota Vikings (2011-2013), and Pittsburgh Steelers (2014-2018). Saxon also played fullback in the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs (1988-1991), Miami Dolphins (1992-1994), and Philadelphia Eagles (1995).

WR Coach: Shawn Jefferson - Shawn Jefferson has been the Arizona Cardinals wide receivers coach since 2021. Jefferson has been coaching at the NFL level since 2006 and has previously spent time as the wide receivers coach of the Detroit Lions (2008-2012), Tennessee Titans (2013-2015), Miami Dolphins (2016-2018), and New York Jets (2019-2020). In addition, Jefferson also played wide receiver at the NFL level for the San Diego Chargers (1991-1995), New England Patriots (1996-1999), Atlanta Falcons (2000-2002), and Detroit Lions (2003).

TE Coach: Steve Heiden - Steve Heiden has been working as a coach for the Arizona Cardinals since 2013 and has been the team's tight ends coach since 2019. Heiden also played tight end at the NFL level for the San Diego Chargers (1999-2001) and Cleveland Browns (2002-2009).

OL Coach: Sean Kugler - Sean Kugler has been the Arizona Cardinals' offensive line coach since 2019. He's been coaching since 1990 and has spent time as an offensive line coach at the NFL level for the Detroit Lions (2004-2005), Buffalo Bills (2008-2009), Pittsburgh Steelers (2010-2012), and Denver Broncos (2018). Kugler will also serve as the team's run game coordinator in 2021.

DL Coach: Matt Burke - The one major change to the coaches on the Arizona Cardinals will be at defensive line coach as the team goes from Brentson Buckner to Matt Burke. Before joining the Arizona Cardinals in 2022, Burke served as the game management coach for the New York Jets. He has also coached at the NFL level for the Tennessee Titans (2004-2008), Detroit Lions (2009-2013), Cincinnati Bengals (2014-2015), Miami Dolphins (2016-2018), and Philadelphia Eagles (2019-2020). He also has previous defensive coordinator experience for the Miami Dolphins (2017-2018).

LB Coach: Bill Davis - Bill Davis rejoined the Arizona Cardinals coaching staff in 2019 as the team's linebackers coach. Davis has been coaching since 1991 at the collegiate and NFL levels and has previously spent time as a linebackers coach for the Atlanta Falcons (2001-2003), New York Giants (2004), Arizona Cardinals (2007-2008), and Cleveland Browns (2011-2012). He's also served as a defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers (2005-2006), Arizona Cardinals (2009-2010), and Philadelphia Eagles (2013-2015).

OLB Coach: Charlie Bullen - Charlie Bullen has been with the Arizona Cardinals since 2019 and has served as the team's outside linebackers coach since 2020. He previously spent seven seasons coaching in a variety of roles for the Miami Dolphins (2012-2018).

DB Coach: Marcus Robertson - Marcus Robertson has been the Arizona Cardinals defensive backs coach since 2019. He's been coaching secondaries at the NFL level since 2007, notably spending time as the defensive backs coach of the Oakland Raiders (2015-2016) and Denver Broncos (2017-2018). Robertson also played safety at the NFL level for the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans (1991-2000) and the Seattle Seahawks (2001-2002).

Cornerbacks Coach: Greg Williams - Greg Williams has been the Cardinals' cornerbacks coach since 2019. He's been coaching since 2003 and most notably spent time as the defensive backs coach of the Indianapolis Colts (2016-2017) and Denver Broncos (2018).

Enjoy this series? Be sure to check out all of the other 'Coaching Matters' team previews!

AFC North: Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals

AFC South: Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Indianapolis Colts

AFC West: Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, Las Vegas Raiders

AFC East: Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, New York Jets

NFC North: Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings

NFC South: Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

NFC West: San Francisco 49ers

Follow Eli Grabanski on Twitter: @3li_handles

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