Arizona
CBS: Cardinals Have Under-The-Radar Star
For the Arizona Cardinals to get over the playoff hump in 2025 after narrowly missing the postseason a year ago, the team is going to need several of their guys to step up.
When I say they need guys to step up, I’m not referring to their current stars.
We know guys like Trey McBride, James Conner, and Budda Baker will hold up their end of the bargain. Free agent additions like Calais Campbell and Josh Sweat should also be exempt. We should have less than zero questions there.
Players being asked to step up also does not include the young players like Marvin Harrison Jr. or Walter Nolen III.
No, the players who should be asked to step up are those who are in positions to start, make significant contributions, and potentially alter games.
The Cardinals have several players who fit that billing.
I could name a slew of players that make sense to hold that label, but one player who stands out to me the most is third-year man Michael Wilson.
Apparently, I’m not the only one, either.
CBS Sports’ Garrett Podell constructed a list of three “under-the-radar” stars for every NFC team this upcoming season and highlighted the Stanford product for Arizona.
Podell started off with this to say:
“Pro Bowl tight end Trey McBride and 2024 fourth overall pick wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. get the spotlight with the Arizona Cardinals, but 2023 third-round pick wide receiver Michael Wilson could be on the verge of a breakout in 2025. He was third on the team in targets (71), catches (47) and receiving yards (548) in 2024…”
Wilson has been an important contributor to the Cardinals passing game in his first two professional seasons. He was a pseudo-WR1 of sorts with an up-and-down season from Marquise Brown in his rookie season in 2023 before flourishing in a no.2 role last here behind Harrison.
We saw most of his stats improve across the board after his rookie season output of 38 receptions on 58 targets for 565 yards and three scores.
By all accounts it was a successful season, placing fourth on the team in both receptions and targets, third yards, and tied for second in touchdowns with McBride.
The hope was Wilson would take a step forward in year two with Harrison opposite him to help draw attention away from him. It did seem that way at times, but a poor passing game entirely didn’t lead to the massive results the team had hoped for.
Still, no one is quitting on Wilson yet and he’s still earned playing time for the offense. A correction in the passing game should give him an uptick in production. Kyler Murray certainly believes that he’s more than capable of eclipsing the all-mighty 1,000 yard barrier.
Podell notes a quote from Murray in his article:
“…quarterback Kyler Murray thinks Wilson has the ability to be a 1,000-yard receiver.
“‘Mike [Wilson] is a 1,000-yard receiver. I truly believe Mike can have 1,000 yards and be very comparable to the guys we see doing it year in and year out,’ Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray said on April 9, via PHNX Cardinals podcast. ‘It’s all about opportunities, staying healthy and the connection we have on the field, but … he’s got it. He can play receiver.””
It’s always a good thing when your quarterback vouches for you, and Podell agrees with the sentiment:
“Given that kind of belief from his quarterback, Wilson could make a huge leap in the coming season.”
It would obviously be a welcome addition to the offense and really open things up for the team to not be so constrained. That was an issue last season that led to the team’s second-half collapse. That wasn’t remotely a Wilson problem, but he can certainly help prevent that from happening twice.
Entering 2025, the Cardinals would like Wilson’s production to improve, but they may need it plain and simple. Last year’s passing attack was OK. McBride went over 1k on the season with big time volume, and MHJ was close to 900 yards as a rookie who wasn’t used properly.
That can hopefully continue to be the case for years to come, of course with the latter becoming a perennial 1,000 yard receiver.
And although it shouldn’t be asked of Wilson to also become a 1,000 yard receiver — honestly, that’s not fair to ask of any third option in any offense given its rarity — the team will need him to step up this season.
The Cardinals offense was stagnant at times last year and a big reason why was its inconsistent passing game. If Harrison wasn’t getting it done out wide then Arizona was forced into underneath passing. That can’t continue to be the case if the Cardinals want to go back to late-January football.
Harrison will be the biggest factor in changing those fortunes, but Wilson could find a way to also become a component to that change.
Plus, it also gives him a chance to break out some big time numbers right before he heads into a contract season; even more incentive to do such than there already was.
I’m not asking for 1,000 yards out of Wilson, but it is time to get past 600 yards for the first time in his career. I would set the bar at a medium height and look to get 700-800 yards and at least five scores from him this season.
As a third option in a team’s passing game that is no easy task, but I wouldn’t just assign this to a player if I didn’t believe they were capable of doing so.
I firmly believe that Wilson is capable of posting some rock-solid numbers in 2025.
A season output of let’s say 65 receptions, 750 yards, five touchdowns may not feel like a “breakout” to many, but it would be exactly that for the Cardinals. A season like that, if paired with good-to-great seasons from McBride and Harrison, could also be the final key to this offense holding its own.
Wilson isn’t the key to fixing the offense, but he can be the key if things fall into place. So, don’t place all the expectations on him to break out, but don’t be surprised if this offense takes off with a breakout season from Wilson.
Graham Rossini on Arizona State’s continued investment in track & field
Rossini said work is underway to rebuild the “track and field infrastructure” at ASU.
Arizona State is making a change at the head track and field coach position.
Dion Miller, the director of cross-country and track and field at ASU, has been let go, a school spokesperson confirmed to The Arizona Republic.
A national search is now underway to find the new coach to lead the program.
Miller was hired as director in July 2019, his second stint with the school. During his time with ASU, Miller — who primarily focused on the sprints — helped coach 36 All-Americans across the men’s and women’s programs.
ASU’s track and field team also just lost record-breaking junior sprinter Jayden Davis, a homegrown talent who recently entered the transfer portal.
Logan Stanley is a sports reporter with The Arizona Republic who primarily focuses on high school, college and Olympic sports. To suggest ideas for human-interest stories and other news, reach out to Stanley at logan.stanley@usatodayco.com or 707-293-7650. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @LSscribe.
A NASA mission to rescue its Swift Observatory from the brink has relied on Arizona, with Flagstaff’s Katalyst Aerospace supplying the spacecraft due to reach orbit and boost the telescope’s orbit.
Arizona plays a central role in a daring NASA mission: It will soon attempt to stave off the death of one of its space telescopes in danger of falling back to Earth.
The Swift Observatory has been scanning the cosmos for more than two decades while orbiting Earth. But in recent years, NASA has noticed that the crucial satellite has been unexpectedly getting lower and lower – putting it in danger of burning up in Earth’s atmosphere.
Now, the U.S. space agency is on the cusp of mounting a rescue mission later in June – the likes of which has never before been attempted – that stunningly came together in less than a year.
The daring venture has recently reached the final stages, with the spacecraft that will fly in orbit – manufactured by an Arizona aerospace company – being mated with the rocket and the aircraft that will deploy it to orbit. If all goes to plan, the mission will soon send the spacecraft on a trajectory to intercept NASA’s telescope and reverse its decaying orbit by boosting it to a higher altitude, extending the observatory’s life.
Here’s what to know about the mission, and Arizona’s integral role in ensuring everything came together to save the observatory in time.
What is the Swift Observatory?
Launched in 2004, NASA’s Swift Observatory has spent more than two decades orbiting Earth while studying a variety of cosmic phenomena. The satellite’s primary objective, though, is to observe gamma-ray bursts – events triggered by the catastrophic deaths of massive stars and considered to be the most powerful types of explosions in the universe.
The satellite is equipped with three multiwavelength telescopes that are able to collect data in visible, ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma-ray light.
Swift space telescope falls faster to Earth than expected
NASA to mount rescue mission for vital space telescope named Swift
NASA and commercial partners will launch a spacecraft in June to boost Swift Observatory’s orbit, staving off its destruction and extending its life.
The Swift Observatory is in a region of space known as low-Earth orbit nearer to the atmosphere, which is also where the International Space Station resides.
All spacecraft in that region can expect to fall to lower altitudes if they don’t have propulsion systems to counteract atmospheric drag and maintain their orbits. But the Swift Observatory has fallen faster than NASA has anticipated because of increased solar storms since fall 2024.
NASA plans mission to rescue Swift
NASA could allow the Swift Observatory to fall back to Earth, where it would harmlessly burn up as it careened into the atmosphere.
Instead, the space agency is planning a mission to rescue the telescope and extend its mission for several more years.
A successful mission would mark the first time that a commercial robotic spacecraft captured a government satellite that – unlike other spacecraft like the Hubble Space Telescope – was never meant to be serviced in space. The unprecedented venture, NASA leaders say, would also test a new capability that could be used on other missions while negating the need to spend even more money to replace the observatory.
To accomplish the risky feat, NASA will need a spacecraft designed to capture and raise the orbit of the Swift Observatory, and a rocket to launch it into space, according to the agency. In the meantime, mission teams on the ground are keeping Swift at least 185 miles above Earth, where the boost mission has the best chance of success, NASA said.
Arizona aerospace company races to develop rescue spacecraft
The spacecraft that will attempt to rescue the Swift Observatory was developed by Katalyst Space, an aerospace company based in Flagstaff, Arizona, which was awarded the $30 million contract in September 2025.
With less than a year to help NASA mount a rescue mission, Katalyst developed the LINK robotic servicing spacecraft intended to latch onto a space telescope that was never meant to be captured.
Because Swift has no docking ports or grappling fixtures to grab onto, Katalyst built LINK with a custom robotic capture mechanism that will attach to a feature on the satellite’s main structure. The process is meant to mitigate the chance of any sensitive instruments being damaged, Katalyst said in a press release.
Why such a quick turnaround? Because Swift is falling – and falling fast.
According to Katalyst, the satellite has a 50% chance of making an uncontrolled reentry by mid-2026 without intervention, with those odds increasing to 90% by the end of 2026.
Northrop Grumman to launch LINK spacecraft
LINK will hitch a ride to space with a rocket manufactured by Northrop Grumman, a Virginia-based aerospace and defense company. At about 55 feet tall, Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL is classified as a small-lift rocket regarded as the world’s first privately developed orbital launch vehicle.
In mid-June, LINK was securely encapsulated in a payload fairing inside the Pegasus XL rocket at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, according to Katalyst.
The Pegasus XL was also attached around the same time to the belly of Northrop Grumman’s Stargazer aircraft tasked with deploying the rocket, NASA said in a press release. The Stargazer aircraft then took off June 18 from Wallops bound for the Marshall Islands, where the mission is due to commence.
When, where is launch?
The Pegasus XL rocket is due to launch later in June from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, located in the South Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and the Philippines, according to NASA.
Rather than get the rocket off the ground vertically on a launch pad, Northrop Grumman deploys an air-launch strategy to send the Pegasus to space. The approach will require the company’s Stargazer L-1011 aircraft to take off and climb to approximately 40,000 feet over the ocean, where Pegasus will be released.
After several seconds in free-fall, the Pegasus XL will then ignite the first of its three-stage rocket motors, delivering LINK into orbit in about 10 minutes, according to Northrop Grumman.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@usatodayco.com
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Arizona is launching a statewide task force aimed at cracking down on cargo theft.
CargoNet estimates $725 million was lost in cargo thefts nationwide in 2025. Arizona is among the states where cargo theft happens most often.
Cargo thefts rise in Arizona
State Sen. Kevin Payne was the sponsor of Senate Bill 1452, which created the Cargo Theft Task Force and was signed into law by Gov. Katie Hobbs on Monday.
“There’s a lot of cargo theft going on,” Payne said.
The bill creates a statewide cargo theft task force made up of six investigators, legal staff, and any law enforcement designated by the Attorney General’s office. The task force will investigate cargo theft and track new criminal trends.
“I don’t think that people thought it was as serious as it actually is,” Payne said.
Scott Cornell, chief risk officer for SPG Cargo and Logistics and chair of the Transported Asset Protection Association, said he has investigated cargo theft for three decades and that cases have become harder to solve lately
“These large, sophisticated international crime rings have taken over cargo theft in the United States, and they pull the strings from a dozen or two dozen different countries,” Cornell said.
Cornell said addressing cargo theft directly through a specialized task force at the state level could have more impact.
“I think when you address it directly, like Arizona is with a cargo theft task force, you’re bound to have much more impact than a state that doesn’t have that specialization,” he said.
In Arizona, expensive shoes, watches and electronics are among the items stolen from semitrucks and trains in the last couple of years.
“We pay for it,” Cornell said. “The cost is absolutely going to be passed on to the consumer. There’s no question about it.”
Payne said the goal of the task force is to reduce cargo theft in Arizona.
“I sure would like to eliminate a lot of it,” Payne said. “You know, cut it down a lot. Make it to where it’s not profitable for them to do this so they’ll stop.”
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office is in charge of establishing the task force. In a statement, the AG’s office says Attorney General Kris Mayes looks forward to continuing the ongoing work to combat retail theft and cargo theft through this task force, and it will coordinate efforts with law enforcement statewide.
The task force’s first report is due to the governor, Senate president and House speaker by July 1, 2027.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2026 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
-
San Francisco, CA3 minutes agoNo tolerance for hate or crime at SF Pride this weekend, officials say
-
Dallas, TX8 minutes agoAlanna Smith injury update: Dallas Wings player in concussion protocol
-
Boston, MA18 minutes agoBoy, 13, hospitalized after being found unresponsive in swimming pool at Beverly home
-
Denver, CO23 minutes agoDenver Nuggets draft Trevon Brazile in the second round of the NBA Draft – Denver Stiffs
-
Seattle, WA30 minutes agoCouncil eyes street barricades in fight against violence, sex trafficking in north Seattle
-
San Diego, CA32 minutes agoWhat Travon Garrison brings to San Diego State’s 2027 recruiting class
-
Milwaukee, WI38 minutes agoCincinnati Reds Fall to Milwaukee Brewers, Get Swept at Home for First Time Since 2024
-
Atlanta, GA45 minutes agoGrading The Atlanta Hawks Selection of North Carolina C Henri Veesaar At Pick No. 52
