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Winning has been elusive for Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride, dating back to his college years at Colorado State University. During his four seasons with the Rams, the team posted an 11-29 record, and McBride never had the opportunity to play in a bowl game. Since being selected by former Cardinals general manager Steve Keim ahead of the 2022 NFL season, the situation has not improved; Arizona has gone 20-53 with McBride on the roster.
Given McBride's talent and his four-year, $76 million contract, it would be understandable if he sought an exit from an organization that frequently finds itself at the bottom of the NFL standings. The losses undoubtedly weigh on him, as they do on other players, coaches, and fans. However, the 27-year-old is not looking for a way out. Instead, he wants to be part of the arduous journey back to competitiveness.
Commitment to the Cardinals' Turnaround
McBride's individual accolades have not diminished despite the team's poor records. In fact, without his contributions, the Cardinals might have won even fewer games. The tight end works hard for his production, but that doesn't make the losing any easier. "It sucks, man," McBride said. "We sucked in college. We didn't win a lot of games. For four years, it was hard. We didn't go to a bowl game. Every year before I got to college, they were good, and they went to a bowl game, and then I got there, and it just didn't happen. And we haven't been very successful [in Arizona]."
Yet McBride welcomes the challenge. He wants to persevere through the brutal losing seasons and help build a winning culture for success-starved Cardinals fans. "The tide's gonna turn," McBride said. "And it's fun because I want to be part of the dog days. I want to be part of the times where we weren't good, and then, it's like, we turned it around, and we're good now. This is a team that drafted me, this is a team that believed in me from the get-go. Why not do everything I can for them? They believed in me, and I have full confidence in this coaching staff, this organization, everything about it. They believe in me, and I'm just gonna give everything I can back to them. And I know we're right there, and I'm just excited to see the fruit of that."
Fans may be weary of hearing that the Cardinals are close, as that mantra has been repeated during these lean years and has frustrated many supporters. But McBride genuinely believes it. "We're close, we're gonna turn this thing around, we're right there," he said. "It's a team game; it takes 11 guys. Even the individual success, it's hard to do without everybody on my team. So just control what you can control. Get better each and every week, and the wins are coming. I know how good we can be. We've seen it in spurts, and I know how good we're gonna be. But we can't just keep saying we're gonna get better. We have to prove it. We have to show it. We have to do it every single week."
On-Field Performance and Optimism
McBride is on pace for another quality season, even within an offense that has struggled with consistency under head coach Mike LaFleur and quarterback Jacoby Brissett. In a dismal 3-14 season in 2025, McBride set records with 162 receptions, 1,239 yards, and 11 touchdowns. Through five weeks of the 2026 season, he has accumulated 308 yards and three scores.
While some may view McBride's optimism as blind or misguided, his belief in the organization is exactly the mindset a fanbase should want from its franchise star. When that faith wavers, a player's effort can decline, and younger players looking up to a star like McBride may mirror that behavior. McBride believes and plays hard, which is a positive for Arizona's locker room.
Despite the obvious differences in player, team situation, and career trajectory, McBride's mindset is reminiscent of the legendary Larry Fitzgerald, who spent 17 mostly unsuccessful seasons with the Cardinals. Fitzgerald was no stranger to losing; despite some outlier years with Kurt Warner, Carson Palmer, and Bruce Arians, the Cardinals posted a 126-144 record during his tenure. That winning percentage (.467) is better than McBride's current pace of .377, but it came with plenty of hardship. Fitzgerald caught passes from quarterbacks who had little business playing in the NFL, under multiple coaching staffs that lacked success. Yet he never made a public spectacle of the franchise, never fought over contracts, and never demanded a trade to a contender. He famously said that winning elsewhere would not have been as special as winning with the Cardinals. It is a tragedy that he, while enshrined in the Hall of Fame, does not have a ring to accompany his gold jacket. But he wouldn't have had it any other way.
The Path Forward
If McBride is truly on a similar path for the long haul, the Cardinals must do everything in their power to avoid seeing another potential Hall of Famer live in the shadow of the franchise's futility. That means changes have to come, and soon. McBride may embrace the dog days, but one day they simply have to end. Health, faith, and production may not last another 12 seasons for McBride. He may never be the same player Fitzgerald was, but that doesn't matter. The franchise's current brightest light has earned the right to play with a high-caliber quarterback. McBride's team is lacking for strong management, deep personnel, and holistic coaching success. He deserves a chance to depart this franchise—whenever that may be—having left it in better shape than when he arrived.
And yet, McBride still believes success is one game away. "I feel like we just need one to go our way, and this is a week that it could turn," he said. "It's like a domino effect. One turns into two, and two turns into three, and who knows? We're right there, we're fighting, we're close, and the tide's gonna change." The dog days aren't over yet, though.
Originally reported by yahoo.