It doesn't take long for pressure to start mounting in the NFL. Most teams probably feel good about their roster right now but when Week 1 is over half the league will be 0-1.
From there, the pressure is on because every loss brings compounding pressure.
As training camp starts, it's every team's objective to be as prepared for the beginning of the season as possible. For some teams, that's more difficult than others.
Teams who are adjusting to major coaching changes, a lot of roster turnover, suspensions and injuries or just have a brutal early schedule are going to have a hard time finding their footing at the beginning of the season.
With those factors in mind, these teams have some tough sledding ahead of them.
Arizona Cardinals
The 2022 Arizona Cardinals were 3-8 in games that Kyler Murray started. In other words, they were bad.
Then Murray tore his ACL and they went from bad to something worse. They went 1-5 in their final six games with a combination of Colt McCoy, Trace McSorley and David Blough starting.
The late-season collapse was enough to get Kliff Kingsbury fired. Now the Cardinals will go about rebuilding with a defensive-minded coach at the helm. Jonathan Gannon parlayed his success as the Eagles defensive coordinator into the head coaching gig.
It's going to be hard for the team to show much improvement in Gannon's first season.
Murray is still recovering from the torn ACL. Though he's reportedly chomping at the bit to get on the field, there isn't a clear timetable for his return. That leaves either Colt McCoy or rookie Clayton Tune as the likely early-season starters.
Even when he does get back, he's going to have the challenge of getting up to speed in the middle of the season while playing in a new offense. He talked about a similar challenge last season.
"Having to deal with all that stuff and trying to focus on football, and then I got Covid in camp, I hurt my wrist in camp so I missed a lot of reps, and having to play catch up in the season, starting with the Chiefs, it was kind of a compilation of (expletive)-up things going on," he said, per Darren Urban of the team's website.
It's going to be evident early on that this is a rebuilding year for the Cardinals.
