Category: Cardinals preseason

Kliff Kingsbury unsure whether Marco Wilson, Zaven Collins will play in preseason finale

The Cardinals will decide Friday whether their young expected starters will play against the Titans.

Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury has held out almost all his starters from preseason games, but two expected starters have gotten playing time.

Second-year linebacker Zaven Collins and second-year cornerback Marco Wilson have gotten early playing time in both preseason games.

The plan was to give them lots of training camp reps and more game experience.

That might change in the preseason finale. Kingsbury was not sure on Thursday whether they will play.

“It will be a game-time decision,” he told reporters after their walkthrough. “We’ll see how that goes, but we won’t know till tomorrow.”

It sounded like he was leaning toward playing them.

“(I) just want to continue to get those young players playing,” he said. “The more football they can play, the better. We’ll talk about it.”

The Cardinals and Titans kick off Saturday at 4 p.m. Arizona time.

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New OL Cody Ford to play in Cardinals’ preseason finale

The Cardinals want to get Ford comfortable and reps in a game setting.

The Arizona Cardinals have one final preseason game this weekend as they take on the Tennessee Titans on the road Saturday evening. As they have this preseason, they do not plan on playing their starters, except for a select few young players.

That also includes a new addition.

The Cardinals acquired offensive lineman Cody Ford from the Buffalo Bills in exchange for a 2023 fifth-round draft pick and it is because they have depth issues on the offensive line.

He lined up at left guard with the first-team offensive in place of Justin Pugh, who has a neck injury, for the team’s joint practice with the Titans on Wednesday.

Because he is new to the team, he is expected to play in the game on Saturday.

“We want to get him a comfort level playing in our system and just how we operate and the tempo of things,” head coach Kliff Kingsbury told reporters Thursday. “So I expect him to play a little bit.”

It is how they have handled Will Hernandez, new to the team. As he was new to the system, coming in as a free agent this offseason, he got all the training camp reps and played in the first preseason game for a lot of snaps. He got hurt so he missed the game last weekend.

There appears to be a possibility that Ford will be a starter in Week 1. If that is the case, it will be good to get Ford as many snaps as they can.

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

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Potential trade candidates for Cardinals before final cuts

As final cuts come next week, the Cardinals could move these players and get compensation.

The Arizona Cardinals have one final preseason game this weekend on Saturday against the Tennessee Titans and then must make final cuts by Tuesday afternoon. They must get the roster down to 53 players.

While most of the roster moves they will make will be cuts, a few players who won’t make the roster could be traded.

A few players have some trade value, even if it ends up being just a Day 3 draft pick next year. Who are those guys? below we name a few.

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Cardinals make plays in joint practice with Titans

The Cardinals had players stand out in joint practice against Titans.

The Arizona Cardinals and Tennessee Titans held a joint practice Wednesday in Nashville, changing things up from the day-to-day monotony of practicing against their own teammates.

The two teams face one another Saturday night in their final preseason game and did some competitive one-on-one work and some 11-on-11 in a two-minute drill.

There were a few big plays made by the Cardinals in the practice.

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PODCAST: 53-man roster projections, Cardinals-Ravens review, Cody Ford trade

Listen to the latest episode of the podcast as we make roster projections.

With final roster cuts coming next week for the Arizona Cardinals and a preseason game to review, Revenge of the Birds’ Seth Cox and I got together for a new podcast episode.

In this edition of the show, we go over player performances against the Ravens last weekend, talk about the surprise trade for offensive lineman Cody Ford, the most recent cuts they made and we also give our projections for the 53-man roster.

Enjoy the show!

Enjoy the show with the embedded player above or by subscribing to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform, so you never miss a show. Make sure as well to give it a five-star rating!

Here are the timestamps for the different topics of the show:

(1:00) Takeaways from loss to Ravens, individual player performances

(27:17) The Cody Ford trade

(34:45) Discussing the most recent player cuts and trade candidates

(1:00:16) 53-man roster projections

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53-man Cardinals roster projections after 2 preseason games

The Cardinals have only one preseason game left and less than a week to make final roster decisions.

The Arizona Cardinals have played two preseason games and are less than a week away from having to cut their roster down to 53 players. They have a number of difficult decisions to make at several positions and injuries will impact things.

If they have a player who they want to place on injured reserve but have him eligible to return in as early as after missing four games, they will have to make the initial 53-man roster. Eight players can be designated for return this year.

Below are my latest 53-man roster predictions for the Cardinals, with explanations at each position.

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

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QB: 3

RB: 4

WR: 5

TE: 3

OL: 5 Jones, Harlow, Ford, hayes, smith

DL: Watt, Allen, Lawrence, Fotu, Dogbe, Ledbetter

OLB: Golden, Kennard, Gardeck, Sanders, Thomas, Dimukeje

ILB: Collins, Simmons, Vigil, Vallejo, Turner

CB: Murphy, Hamitlon, Wilson, Matthew

S: Budda, JT, Wiggins, Washington

CB Antonio Hamilton out dealing with undisclosed issue

Hamilton missed practice Tuesday and Wednesday after having a doctor’s appointment. Kliff Kingsbury refused to elaborate.

The Arizona Cardinals are seemingly thin at cornerback and are a little thinner at the position. Cornerback Antonio Hamilton, recently revealed as being in the lead for the No. 2 cornerback job behind Byron Murphy, was not at practice Tuesday or Wednesday.

Head coach Kliff Kingsbury would not say exactly what the issue is.

On Tuesday, he told reporters Hamilton had a doctor’s appointment.

On Wednesday in Tennessee, Hamilton was also absent from practice. When asked about his absence, Kingsbury again would not elaborate.

“He’s still being evaluated,” he said, according to AZCardinals.com’s Darren Urban. “We’ll let you know Week 1 when we have to (on the injury report).”

Kingsbury was not concerned about the absence.

The Cardinals have two more full weeks after this week before their season opener.

It is concerning to have another cornerback unavailable, but if he doesn’t end up missing practice time in Week 1, it won’t matter much.

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Cardinals defensive snap counts and observations from game vs. Ravens

Check out how the Cardinals’ 57 defensive snaps were split up last weekend against the Ravens.

The Arizona Cardinals, in their 24-17 preseason to the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday night, played 57 defensive snaps. How was that playing time divided up?

Below, we go over the individual snap counts for each player on defense for the Cardinals, broken down by position group.

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Cardinals offensive snap counts and observations for 2nd preseason game

Check out how the 68 offensive snaps were divided up in the Cardinals’ 24-17 preseason loss to the Ravens.

In their second preseason game, a 24-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens Sunday night, the Arizona Cardinals played 68 offensive snaps. Only one player on the team — tackle Josh Miles — played every snap.

How was the playing time divided up in the second preseason contest?

Below are the individual snap counts for each player on offense in each position group and any observations we can take away from the numbers.

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

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Cardinals make 2nd round of roster cuts

They released four players and waived a fifth with an injury designation.

The Arizona Cardinals had to make roster moves for five players to get to the 80-man limit that took effect at 1 p.m. Arizona time on Tuesday. They announced those moves.

They announced four releases and one injured release.

They cut running back T.J. Pledger, tight end Josh Hokit, punter Nolan Cooney and cornerback Cortez Davis.

They also waived cornerback Darrell Baker Jr. with an injury designation.

Davis and Hokit were recent additions to the offseason roster. Cooney was signed early in the offseason and Pledger and Baker signed as undrafted rookies. Baker had $10,000 in guaranteed salary due this season. If he is not claimed off waivers, he will revert to injured reserve.

The also previously released receiver Marcell Ateman when the trade for offensive lineman Cody Ford was announced Monday.

The Cardinals now have 81 players on their roster, as they have an exemption for international tight end Benhard Seikovits.

They must cut the roster down to 53 players next week before Tuesday at 1 p.m. Arizona time.

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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 Spotify.

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