The following is an excerpt from Warren Sharp's 2026 Football Preview. In addition to Warren's deep, detailed write-up on all 32 NFL teams, each chapter features page after page of full-color charts, stats, and heatmaps, as well as penalty analysis from Joe Gibbs. Click here for a full FREE chapter from the 2026 Football Preview.
Penalties are an under-discussed aspect of NFL success and failure. Average teams can become playoff contenders with good discipline, and good teams can become great simply by winning the penalty battle.
Let's look at how the Arizona Cardinals performed from a penalty perspective in 2025 and where they can improve in 2026.
Arizona Cardinals 2026 Penalty Outlook: Discipline, Flags & Hidden Edges
The Good
- A below-average 17.5% of Cardinals penalties occurred on third-down plays, compared to the league average of 23.8% last season.
The Bad
- Arizona ranked as the No. 1 most penalized home team in 2025. That looms as an issue this season if form holds, with nine home games scheduled for the Cardinals.
- The offense accounted for 53% of the team's penalties. The league average was 47.7%.
- A big reason for the elevated offensive numbers in 2025 was that Arizona ranked as the No. 1 most penalized offense on first-down plays.
- The Cardinals were a top-five penalized team for offensive holding. Arizona was significantly worse when playing at home in this category, ranking second overall in per-game average at home.
- Expanding on the above points, the Cardinals led the NFL in offensive holding penalties per game on first-down plays.
- The Cardinals were in rare territory in 2025, recording a net negative penalty per quarter disadvantage versus opponents in all four quarters.
- The Cardinals recorded a net negative disadvantage versus opponents on beneficial automatic first downs via penalty.
Grade: D
Arizona enters 2026 with an organizational reset built around new head coach Mike LaFleur, a shaky quarterback room, and a young roster.
Winning games won't come easily for the players and coaches this season, with a brutal schedule in arguably the toughest division in the NFL.
The positive is the Cardinals do possess high-level talent at multiple skill positions.
However, players like Trey McBride and Marvin Harrison Jr. are dependent on superior quarterback play, and Arizona is lacking in that department.
It all adds up to another single-digit win season in the desert, with an eye towards a potential franchise quarterback awaiting them in the 2027 NFL Draft.
This analysis continues in the 2026 Football Preview
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- Penalty analysis for all 32 NFL teams