Category: Arizona Cardinals offseason

Watch: Larry Fitzgerald raps for a cause

He teams up with other NFL players to support Super Coral Play.

As if we didn’t need to add anything else to the resume of Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald, he now adds rapper and champion of the environment.

He teamed up with Cleveland Browns receiver Jarvis Landry and former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez in a video for Super Coral Play. He, as the kids would say, spits a few bars.

Check it out.

Once again, he is actively championing something to try and make the world better.

We shouldn’t be surprised by now.

If anything else, we get to see yet another version of Fitzgerald, other than the guy who catches a lot of passes.

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 257

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Ep. 256

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Cardinals still hope David Johnson can reach 2016 levels of production

Chairman and team president Michael Bidwill would not speculate as to what might happen with Johnson this offseason.

One of the biggest questions for the Arizona Cardinals this offseason is how they will handle running back David Johnson and his contract. Due to make a fully-guaranteed $10.2 million, it is largely believed the team will at least attempt to trade him after gaining only 715 total yards from scrimmage and getting benched the second half of the season.

However, as long as he is on the roster, the hope is he can get back to being as good as he was a few seasons.

“My expectations are obviously go back to the 2016 season and his rookie year,” said Cardinals team president and chairman Michael Bidwill in a radio interview on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM on Wednesday. ‘He was such a productive player on the field. Those are his, too. He had some real challenges this year getting back to those levels on the field.”

Bidwill, though, would not speculate as to what the team would do with Johnson.

“He’s a member of the organization just like anybody else that’s under contract and that’s where it is,” he said.

Bidwill praised Johnson for his community work, noting why Johnson was the team’s selection for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award.

He also said that any move made with Johnson would be done by general manager Steve Keim and not him.

Free agency begins next month and no trades can happen until then, although they can be agreed upon before then.

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 257

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Ep. 256

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Michael Bidwill: ‘Lots of moving parts’ in re-signing RB Kenyan Drake

“It takes two people to make a deal,” the team president and chairman said on the radio.

When pending free agent running back Kenyan Drake changed his Twitter profile picture, many fans got excited at the speculation of what it meant. Arizona Cardinals team president Michael Bidwill doesn’t read too much into it but does see it as a positive.

“It’s a positive that he had his Cardinals uniform on and I think that’s the only conclusion you can draw,” he said on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM on Wednesday.

It was clear that Bidwill wouldn’t mind having him back and he believes Drake likes it in Arizona.

“We know that we loved him and it was a great selection,” he continued. “(General manager) Steve Keim and the personnel group did a great job here in acquiring Kenyan. It was an aggressive move and it really paid off. I think Kenyan really enjoyed his time here.”

Actually getting Drake under contract could be tricky.

“As we go forward, he’s obviously a free agent,” Bidwill said. “It takes two people to make a deal. There are a lot of moving parts.”

Part of that will be his salary demands. Part of that is probably the money already committed to David Johnson.

But getting back to the profile photo, Bidwill appeared to be pleased it wasn’t the alternative — wiping his profile of anything Cardinals-related.

“It’s just great that he had a Cardinals uniform and we get to talk to him about rejoining us next year.”

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 257

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Ep. 256

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Offensive and defensive lineup details for Cardinals in 2019

A look at the number of starting lineups and unique lineups they used in 2019.

With it being the offseason and still a month away from even the beginning of free agency, it is the perfect time to look back at stats and data from the previous season.

We have looked at things like the offensive attack, how opposing offenses attacked the Cardinals and even offensive personnel groups.

Today we look at lineup data, as found on NFL Game Stats & Information Systems.

Offensive lineup data

On offense, they had 13 different starting lineups. That was one of the lower totals in the league, although the high was 16 the low was nine and all but one team used at least 12 different starting lineups.

They had 281 different lineups on offense in 2019. That was ranked 17th in the league. They used their most common lineup on offense 5.19% of the time. That ranked 16th.

Defensive lineup data

On defense, Arizona had 13 different starting lineups. They used 320 unique lineups during the season. That was the 21st-most, even with the number of injuries they sustained on defense. Their most common defensive lineup was used 3.52% of the time. That was the 19th-highest rate.

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 257

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Ep. 256

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Look: Kyler Murray receives interesting chess set

He gets a Chipotle-inspired chess set.

Kyler Murray is a football phenom and is the future of the Arizona Cardinals at quarterback, but football wasn’t his only talent growing up. As we learned from an ESPN story back from last October, Murray also was a very good chess player growing up.

He is also apparently a big fan of the restaurant Chipotle.

He received a celebrity Chipotle card and also a chess set, but the chess set doesn’t have the typical pieces. This one has a burrito for the king, an avocado for the queen, chipotle peppers as the pawns, drinks for the rooks, footballs for the bishops and bags of chips for the knights.

Check out the photos below.

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 257

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Ep. 256

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5 free agent outside linebackers for Cardinals to consider

One big way to help improve Arizona’s defense? Get Chandler Jones some help.

It isn’t a position that gets discussed nearly as much as the offensive line, defensive line or wide receiver, but the Arizona Cardinals need to address the outside linebacker position opposite Chandler Jones this offseason.

Terrell Suggs was cut late in the season and Cassius Marsh will be a free agent. That leaves the Cardinals with Haason Reddick and young players.

With cap space available, who are some players the Cardinals could target when free agency begins next month?

Dante Fowler Jr. 

Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

Fowler has actually been linked to the Cardinals by some, but in reality, coming from Wade Phillips defense in L.A., he makes a lot of sense if his price tag is not too high.

With Chandler Jones attracting much of the attention on the opposite side, Fowler could put up similar numbers to last year’s 12 sacks, when he was aided by having Aaron Donald on the inside.

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Report: Cardinals adding Mike Bercovici to coaching staff

The offensive graduate assistant will reportedly join Kliff Kingsbury’s offensive staff. He spent about a month on the Cardinals’ practice squad in 2017.

The Arizona Cardinals announced a few additions to their coaching staff recently. There will be another reported addition.

According to Devils Digest, insiders to the Arizona State Sun Devils program, the Cardinals are adding Mike Bercovici to their coaching staff. Bercovici was an offensive graduate assistant at ASU as part of Herm Edwards’ coaching staff.

Bercovici played collegiately at Arizona State and spent about a month on the Cardinals’ practice squad in 2017.

There did not appear to be any vacancies on the Cardinals’ offensive staff. The Cardinals have not announced the change.

It is possible he has received the Bill Bidwill Coaching Fellowship, as that opened up with Don Shumpert getting promoted from the fellowship to a spot on the staff as an offensive assistant.

Bercovici likely would work with the quarterbacks. Tom Clements is currently the team’s passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Bercovici worked with Sun Devils quarterback Jayden Daniels, who was a standout freshman in 2019. Daniels has a similar skill set to Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray.

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 257

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Ep. 256

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Way-too-early power rankings optimistic for Cardinals

They rank 15th in Touchdown Wire’s initial 2020 rankings.

The offseason has just begun and free agency is still a month away and the NFL draft another month after that, but that doesn’t keep us from speculating for the 2020 season and where we anticipate teams being in terms of competitiveness.

The Arizona Cardinals are coming off a five-win season after a three-win 2018 but things appear to be looking up for 2020 and that shows in Doug Farrar’s brand new offseason power rankings for sister site Touchdown Wire.

The Cardinals make the top half of the league, coming in at No. 15 overall.

If 2018 was the Year of Mahomes and 2019 was the Year of Lamar … well, it’s quite possible that 2020 could be the season in which Kyler Murray ascends to the top group of the quarterback pantheon. In his rookie season, Murray put up two games with passer ratings over 100 against a fierce 49ers defense, and he didn’t look overwhelmed against any defense. There’s a lot to build on there, especially since Murray looks like a natural fit in Kliff Kingsbury’s offense. Questions surround the legitimacy of Murray’s weapons, with David Johnson’s possible upcoming release and the lack of a No. 1 receiver outside of 36-year-old Larry Fitzgerald, and the defense is in need of retooling aside from a few key pieces. But in what should be a murderously competitive NFC West, at least the Cardinals have the game’s most important position sewn up.

This is something to give Cardinals fans hope. The expectation is to see improvement and this would certainly mean that others outside Arizona see that as a real possibility.

Ranking them 15th suggests they will be competitive but probably out of the posteason. If the Cardinals can hang around the .500 mark, this coming season should be seen as a successful one.

Murray had a great rookie season. There is optimism he can become a star in 2020. That is also what the Cardinals are banking on moving forward as they build the team around him.

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 257

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Ep. 256

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Cardinals offseason positional outlook: The offensive line

A look at the offensive line, the questions and what lies ahead in the offseason.

We continue to look at different position groups for the Arizona Cardinals this offseason, looking back at the 2019 season and considering the questions they face.

Next up is the offensive line.

2019 review

(AP Photo/Jim Mone)

The offensive line was a mixed bag if you look at the numbers.

The first thing that sticks out is how they were healthy. After years of playing as many as five different players at different positions because of injuries, four of the five starters started every game. Right tackle was the only position that dealt with injuries, as Marcus Gilbert was lost for the season before Week 1, Jordan Mill went down a couple of games later and Justin Murray, one of the biggest surprises of the season, missed a couple of games.

D.J. Humphries, Justin Pugh, A.Q. Shipley and J.R. Sweezy all played more than 95 percent of the team’s offensive snaps. Late in the season, Mason Cole was given some snaps to give him playing time. The four starters only missed a handful of snaps all season because of injury.

That said, the allowed 50 sacks. That stands out, although many sacks could be credited to quarterback Kyler Murray, who took many sacks he shouldn’t have after holding on to the ball too long. At the same time, Murray also evaded some pressure that perhaps would have resulted in sacks for other less mobile quarterbacks.

The line produced in the running game. The Cardinals were ninth in the league in rushing and second in yards per rush. The offensive line was a big part of that.

Overall, they were available, they were very good in the running game and not bad in pass protection despite the number of sacks allowed.

So now what?

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7 free agent defensive line fits for the Cardinals

Arizona has a need along the defensive line – the good news is that there are quite a few good free agents that seem to be good fits.

With free agency around the corner, let’s go take a look at a huge position of need for Arizona – the defensive line. And there are quite a few good fits in what appears to be a somewhat deep group of free agents:

Chris Jones, Kansas City Chiefs

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

It’s obvious what Jones would possibly mean to Arizona, but it goes without saying he would be a great fit as a 3-4 DE and would add instant star power to the Cards defensive line.

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