Throughout much of the 2018 campaign, the defensive line of the Arizona Cardinals looked overmatched. Putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks was not a problem. In fact, the group accounted for an impressive 35.5 of the Cards’ sacks last season.
But while taking down signal-callers was never an issue, the squad’s run defense was a whole different story. Opponents’ running backs sliced through Arizona’s front wall with relative ease for most of the year. Former coach Steve Wilks’ ill-advised 4-3 scheme certainly deserved a good bit of the blame, but a lack of effective run-stoppers were a factor as well.