Cardinals open training camp Wednesday as arguably NFL's most depressing team

Arizona Cardinals HC Mike LaFleur joins Colin Cowherd to discuss his first season coaching the Arizona Cardinals, and drafting Jeremiyah Love.

The Arizona Cardinals will report to training camp on Wednesday, and this annual rite of summer signals the first step toward a looming NFL season. For the 2026 Cardinals, it signals pain.

There will be a lot of it for this club and its fans in the coming season.

We know this.

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Most club observers believe this. Soon, when the team is actually asked to perform, the entire NFL will understand this.

Arizona Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur speaks during a press conference after the first round of the NFL Draft at the team's facility in Tempe, Arizona, on April 23, 2026. (Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

The Cardinals are poised to embark on perhaps one of their worst seasons — and that's saying a lot because, only last season, they suffered through a 3-14 campaign.

So, the season ahead has the potential to make 2025 feel like the good old days.

But why all the doom and gloom? The Cardinals, after all, have a new head coach in 39-year-old Mike LaFleur and he comes from a football family that includes older brother and Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur. He also worked under coach Sean McVay as the Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator the past three seasons and last year that team led the league in yards and points.

The problem for LaFleur and the Cardinals is McVay's team plays in the same division. And the Rams, in the NFC Championship game last season, had a great offseason and could have the NFL's best roster.

The Rams lost to the Seattle Seahawks in