{"id":143335,"date":"2025-06-19T22:24:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T22:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/143335\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T22:24:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T22:24:10","slug":"a-guess-at-the-cardinals-starting-defensive-lineup-for-the-2025-season-opener-against-the-saints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/143335\/","title":{"rendered":"A guess at the Cardinals’ starting defensive lineup for the 2025 season-opener against the Saints"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each year, before I head out for some time off — and as the offseason work comes to a close — I make the effort to predict the starting lineup for Week 1. Offensively, the Cardinals didn’t have a lot of change this offseason. The defense? There is a lot more room for debate there with the amount of talent brought in. So here’s my belief right now for that game Sept. 7 against the Saints in New Orleans.<\/p>\n

Thursday I posted my thoughts on the offense<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Defensive end \u2013 Darius Robinson. I am picturing the Robinson that looked so good in training camp last year making an impact immediately after his calf-derailed rookie year.<\/p>\n

Nose tackle \u2013 Dalvin Tomlinson. This is why you sign a vet like Tomlinson, to anchor the middle from the beginning.<\/p>\n

Defensive end \u2013 Calais Campbell. Honestly, so many choices here. Could be Justin Jones. Could be Walter Nolen III, but I still think he gets worked in slowly. Campbell should only play about 30 to 35 snaps a game, but putting the vet on the field to start the game makes a lot of sense on multiple levels. We’ll see if he stays there as Nolen develops, but in Year 18, Campbell can still do the job.<\/p>\n

Outside linebacker \u2013 Zaven Collins. The versatile Collins is a favorite of the coaching staff, with the ability to do so much for Nick Rallis’ defense.<\/p>\n

Inside linebacker \u2013 Mack Wilson Sr. It’ll be interesting to see if Wilson ultimately ends up with the green dot as defensive playcaller. In this starting lineup, the Cardinals begin in nickel. My guess as to a second ILB in base would be Akeem Davis-Gaither for now.<\/p>\n

Outside linebacker \u2013 Josh Sweat. The Cardinals got their first true difference-making edge since Chandler Jones left.<\/p>\n

Nickel \u2013 Garrett Williams. He proved himself as one of the best nickel corners in the league. Will be interesting to see if the Cardinals slide him outside in base.<\/p>\n

Cornerback \u2013 Will Johnson. Comes into the NFL with many plaudits. It won’t be simple for him to win the starting job, but I’m thinking he finds a way to edge out Starling Thomas V.<\/p>\n

Cornerback \u2013 Max Melton. A second-round pick needs to make the push into the lineup in his second season.<\/p>\n

Safety \u2013 Jalen Thompson. Thompson goes into his contract year not only motivated to take the defense to the next level but also to hold off Rabbit Taylor-Demerson and set himself up for the future.<\/p>\n

Safety \u2013 Budda Baker. What’s crazy is that Baker, going into his ninth season, is still only 29. There’s a reason the Cardinals were good in giving him an extension, making sure their defensive heart and soul remains just that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Each year, before I head out for some time off — and as the offseason work comes to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[1054,2874,1051,7,1052,896,55,2572,2571,6,397],"class_list":{"0":"post-143335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-saints","8":"tag-darren-urban","9":"tag-darrens-blog-v2","10":"tag-featured-articles","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-mega-feed","13":"tag-new-orleans","14":"tag-new-orleans-saints","15":"tag-neworleans","16":"tag-neworleanssaints","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-saints"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114712377483098115","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}