Saints open 2025 NFL season against Arizona Cardinals
Andrew Lang
The New Orleans Saints host the Arizona Cardinals at noon Sept. 7 in the Caesars Superdome with the broadcast on CBS. The Saints are tied 16-16 in all-time in home and road contests against Arizona but hold a 9-4 edge at home.
Let's take a deeper look at the Saints'Week 1opponent, the Arizona Cardinals:
2025 NFL WEEK 1: NEW ORLEANS SAINTS vs. ARIZONA CARDINALS
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Meet Your Saints Opponent: Arizona Cardinals
Coach:Jonathan Gannon
Quarterback:Kyler Murray
2024 record:8-9, third in NFC West
Most recent regular season matchup:Thursday, Oct. 20, 2022 - Cardinals 42, Saints 34
Cardinals-Saints series record:Tied 16-16 (including one postseason game)
Arizona Cardinals 2024 season recap:
With a tough early schedule that included four future playoff teams, the Cardinals faltered to a 1-3 start taking only the division contest against the Las Angeles Rams in Week 2. They would rally and win five of their next six games to take a 6-4 record and a lead in the NFC West after their bye in Week 11. The Cardinals could not hold onto first, falling in the next three contests and went 2-5 after their bye to finish the season at 8-9, third in the NFC West, missing the postseason for the third season in a row.
Deep Dive: Arizona Cardinals roster review
1. Veteran pass rusher additions
The Cardinals added two players experienced in getting to the quarterback in free agency, signing Super Bowl champion outside linebacker Josh Sweat away from the Philadelphia Eagles. Sweat finished the 2024 season with 8.0 sacks as well as adding 2.5 sacks in Super Bowl LIX. They also reunited with their former second round pick from the 2008 NFL Draft, defensive lineman Calais Campbell. Campbell rejoins the franchise he spent nine seasons with (2008-2016), bringing his 110.5 career sacks back to Arizona. He trails only Marcedes Lewis in games played among active players with 261.
2. Defensive focus in NFL Draft
The Cardinals invested big in their defense in the 2025 NFL Draft with six of their seven picks coming on that side of the ball. In the first round, Arizona added All-American defensive tackle Walter Nolen III. In the second round, Michigan cornerback Will Johnson fell to them. The trend continued with picks on defense in rounds three, four, five and seven. Cardinals General Manager Monti Ossenfort said that was just the way the draft board played out.
"Certainly, we want to increase competition, we want to increase talent level across all our positions,"Ossenfort said. "Obviously, we wanted to get better on the defensive front, there's no question about that so we had some opportunities to do that. Our needs matched up with what the supply was in free agency and then kind of continued that through the draft. Again, we want to improve everywhere across the board, it just so happens we had more opportunities to do that defensively this cycle."
3. Continuity on offense
The Cardinals banked on continuity in the offseason to help the league's 12th-best scoring offense take the next step. Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing heads into his third season with a familiar cast with quarterback Kyler Murray, running back James Connor, tight end Trey McBride and wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. all expected to reprise their roles as the top play-makers for Petzing's offense. Last season was the fifth time in franchise history the Cardinals had a 3,000-yard passer with Murray, and a rusher with Conner and receiver with McBride with more than 1,000 yards. Petzing said there is a benefit to that continuity.
"We've talked about this with the staff at times, too, that there's certain things you don't have to have a conversation about or get corrected or teach, so you can maybe step into some next level stuff in some more detail,"Petzing said
