Category: Arizona Cardinals offseason

Chandler Jones is sole Cardinals player to make PFF top 101 players

He comes in at No. 47 overall and No. 11 among edge defenders.

With the offseason now in full swing, the lists of top players, top prospects and top free agents are coming. One such list is from Pro Football Focus, who gives their top 101 players for the previous season.

In this year’s edition, only one Arizona Cardinals player makes the cut.

It is outside linebacker Chandler Jones, who comes in at No. 47 overall.

Many people will see Chandler Jones’ sack total and expect him to be higher on this list, but while he was second in the league in sacks, he was only eighth in total pressures over the regular season and didn’t get a chance to add to that with a postseason run like some others. Jones’ pass-rushing was excellent overall, and it was certainly the strength of his season for the Cardinals. He earned a PFF pass-rushing grade of 90.0, fifth-best among edge defenders, but his run-defense grade of 71.0 ranked just 34th. However, there is little doubt that Jones was an impact playmaker for Arizona’s defense, which is a fact that can also be highlighted by his eight forced fumbles on the year.

Jones had fewer tackles for loss than his incredibly impactful 2017, but he was special in 2019. He was a true bright spot on a defense that wasn’t that good.

However, getting ranked 11th among edge defenders, it feels like another slight for the pass rusher. At this point, though, that seems to be par for the course for Jones.

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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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The Cardinals are No. 1 in NFC West in this number

They have the most salary cap of any of the teams in the NFC West.

The Arizona Cardinals finished in last place in the NFC West in 2019, going 5-10-1. They hope to improve that in 2020, surrounding quarterback Kyler Murray with offensive weapons and rebuilding a defense that was one of the worst in the NFL last season.

They plan on using free agency to add talent to the team.

As of the end of the first week of February, the Cardinals have the most salary cap space for 2020 in the division, according to Over the Cap and ranked on sister site Touchdown Wire.

The Cardinals have the 10th-most salary cap space in the league with $53.7 million.

No. 2 in the division are the Seattle Seahawks, who have $50.8 million available and are ranked 11th in the league.

The San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams do not have much cap space to work with.

The Rams have only $14.7 million available, the ninth-lowest total in the league.

San Francisco, coming off a Super Bowl loss, has the least amount of space to work with. They have the seventh-lowest total available with $13.1 million.

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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 worked out Chris Streveler at QB, WR; signed him as QB

He believes the Cardinals are a great fit for his skills offensively.

Because it is early in the offseason and free agency doesn’t come for more than a month, there has been a lot of attention on the recent signing by the Arizona Cardinals of former Canadian Football League quarterback Chris Streveler. He officially joined the Cardinals this week.

We know a little about him from his career in college and in the CFL, but we learn a little bit about his workout and signing with the Cardinals in an interview he did with Christian Shanafelt on his podcast recently.

How did things go with the Cardinals?

“I ran some routes and threw,” Streveler told Shanafelt. “I did basically a full workout at quarterback and then a full workout at receiver.”

In his other workouts with other teams, it was much of the same. He said he did some work at quarterback, at running back, at receiver and on special teams with the Miami Dolphins, while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers only had him throw the ball.

Streveler had a few workouts lined up in December, but because of a foot fracture he played through during the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ championship run, he had to push them back to the end of January.

Some see Streveler as a player like New Orleans Saints quarterback Taysom Hill, who plays multiple positions.

Streveler is willing to play anywhere.

“My mindset, anytime I get into a team or an organization is just whatever I have to do to help the team and give myself the best chance to help an organization and take advantage of those opportunities,” he said. “Whatever you guys think is best for me, I’m going to do it.”

As for signing with the Cardinals, he likes the fit.

“They wanted me as a quarterback and I think it’s a great fit with what they do offensively with the skill that I bring,” he said. “I’m super excited about the opportunity.”

He said the base concepts head coach Kliff Kingsbury has in his offense are similar to those he ran in college at South Dakota, where he excelled.

Streveler plans on moving to Arizona in March and then the Cardinals will begin their offseason program in April.

At that point, we will begin to find out what the Cardinals envision for him. Will he compete for the No. 2 QB spot behind Kyler Murray? Will he become a gadget player? Will he simply compete to be a third quarterback on the team, either on the roster or on the practice squad?

His skills, his career path and his personality suggest he might just become quite popular among fans.

Listen to the full interview here on YouTube:

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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’ Budda Baker hopes to see Antonio Brown back in NFL

“Hopefully he can get back into the league because the league is definitely better with A.B.,” he told TMZ.

Wide receiver Antonio Brown has burned a few bridges in the league in terms of teams with his antics over the last year with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots and off the field, but it would appear he still has support around the league from players.

One such player who would like to see Brown back in the NFL is Arizona Cardinals Pro Bowl safety Budda Baker.

“A lot of teams could use Antonio Brown. He’s a great player,” he said, according to TMZ Sports. “Hopefully he can get back into the league because the league is definitely better with A.B.”

That is what anyone should expect another player to say. Players support fellow players. He even said the Cardinals would “of course” welcome Brown into the locker room on their team.

The question is whether or not the organization would go for it. It almost certainly would not.

When asked if he could imagine Kyler Murray throwing to Brown and Larry Fitzgerald, Baker simply said, “that would be crazy.”

We can take that more than one way. It would be crazy cool or it could be just regular crazy to add him to the team.

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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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History shows Kyler Murray’s Rookie of the Year award is great and sad

Both other winners of the award in Cardinals history are all-time greats but also were traded and won a title elsewhere.

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray was named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press last week, becoming only the third player in Cardinals history to receive the honor.

His season was fantastic. He set all sorts of team rookie records and did things rarely done at his position as a rookie.

He was only the second rookie in NFL history to pass for at least 3,500 yards and rush for at least 500 more.

He joins receiver Anquan Boldin (2003) and running back Ottis Anderson (1979) as the only players in franchise history to win it.

And if history is any predictor of future success, the future looks bright for the Cardinals and Murray.

Anderson, who rushed for 1,605 yards as a rookie, is the team’s all-time record holder for rushing yards with 7,999. He holds the four best single-season rushing totals in franchise history and five of the top seven.

Boldin, as a rookie, tied the franchise single-season record for receptions with 101. He is second all-time in franchise history in receptions and fourth in receiving yards. He was the heart and soul of the Cardinals offense.

Both Boldin and Anderson are all-time franchise greats.

That suggests that Murray should be able to become one as well. He is well on his way, as his rookie season was the eighth-best single-season passing total in team history.

However, there is one thing in the history of these players that could be concerning.

Both Boldin and Anderson were traded away and won championships with other teams.

Anderson was traded to the New York Giants in 1986, the season when they won it all. He was the Super Bowl MVP in 1990.

Boldin won the Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens after he was traded in 2010.

So history suggests Murray will be great, but might get traded away and win a title with another team.

Let’s hope that part doesn’t repeat itself.

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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 announce coaching additions, promotions

They announce four additions to the staff.

The Arizona Cardinals announced new additions to their coaching staff and changes in jobs for others on the staff on Wednesday with a press release. Five coaches left the team after the season. Four were added.

The five coaches no longer on the staff are defensive line coach Chris Achuff, defensive assistant Chris Wilson, assistant receivers coach Peter Badovinac, assistant special teams coach Randall McCray and assistant strength and conditioning coach Vernon Stephens. Achuff and McCray were reportedly fired.

The new additions?

There some shifts on the staff.

  • Spencer Whipple, previously the team’s offensive quality control coach, replaces Badovinac as assistant receivers coach. Whipple coaches receivers for a bit at Massachusetts while Andy Isabella played there.
  • Charlie Bullen, who was assistant linebackers coach, now is the assistant outside linebackers coach. The team labeled it a promotion.
  • Don Shumpert, who was on the staff as part of the Bill Bidwill Coaching Fellowship, was given a coaching position as an offensive assistant.

To read their bios as provided by the team in the press release, continue on to the next pages.

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5 things to know about new Cardinals QB Chris Streveler

Check out some of his stats and career.

The Arizona Cardinals announced officially the addition of former Canadian Football League quarterback Chris Streveler to the roster on a futures deal for 2020. The signing was reported already, so it was expected.

What should you know about the 6-foot-1, 216-pound quarterback?

He is a champion

Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

Playing in the CFL, he played two seasons for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. They won the Grey Cup in 2019. He was not the starter, but he is a champion.

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WATCH: Kliff Kingsbury is part of Patrick Mahomes’ Adidas ads

He is a part of Mahomes’ lore.

Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury was Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ head coach in college at Texas Tech. Mahomes, the recently crowned Super Bowl MVP, is perhaps the hottest name in the NFL and Adidas is using that fact in a new ad campaign.

Kingsbury is part of it. He has a couple of lines in a couple of ads.

He doesn’t say much.

In the first ad, he describes Mahomes as “expectation crashing.” In the second, he tells how Mahomes threw five touchdown passes in his first scrimmage and also speaks to his competitiveness. “He would kill you to win a checkers match,” he said.

The lore of Mahomes has begun.

Kingsbury is connected to it.

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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, rest of NFL do not have post-June 1 designation this year for cap relief

Because it is the final year of the collective bargaining agreement, teams can’t spread and dead money beyond this season.

With the NFL offseason in full swing, there will be plenty of talk of the salary cap, cap relief, dead money and more. One way teams can alleviate some of the dead money that counts against the salary cap is with a June 1 designation, which will spread out the dead money caused by a release or trade over two seasons if the player’s contract goes beyond the current year.

Players cut or traded after June 1 or when a team cuts or trades a player and designates it as a post-June 1 move, affect the salary cap less.

That is not available this year. Barring a new collective bargaining agreement is put in place, there is no post-June 1 designation.

Per the current CBA, in its final year (2020), any cut or trade at any time this year will accelerate all prorated bonus money (dead money) to the current year.

This affects all NFL teams equally, so even with an increased salary cap, the increase is mitigated by bigger dead money hits later in the year, assuming that nothing changes with the CBA 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

[protected-iframe id=”74c89baf5df8861f45d142d0fbf6fc3c-112738498-106269283″ info=”https://api.spreaker.com/v2/episodes/22400501/download.mp3″ ]

Ep. 256

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5 possible free agent RBs for the Cardinals

Arizona has a lot of interesting decisions to make in free agency – one of which is what happens if they can’t re-sign Kenyan Drake?

With free agency less than two months away now, Arizona Cardinals fan are eagerly anticipating what the team will do to shore up the team for the second year of Kyler Murray.

One of the positions that is most in flux at the moment is the running back (as discussed here). With the unknown of what will happen with David Johnson and Kenyan Drake, here are five options for Arizona in 2020, starting with the most obvious:

Kenyan Drake

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

The obvious choice, should they find a way to deal away David Johnson and should he not cost an excessive amount of money, would be Drake. 643 yards rushing and 171 receiving in eight games would be tricky to replace, but not impossible should someone outbid the Cardinals. If that is the case, they could look to four other names.

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