When the Cardinals re-signed edge rusher Markus Golden to a two-year, $9 million deal, here was my immediate response:
Absolute larceny. https://t.co/8NVXrM1fgF
— Doug Farrar (@NFL_DougFarrar) March 15, 2021
Last June, I named Golden as the Giants’ most underrated player, saying this about him:
This is a bit of a cheat, as Golden isn’t currently on the Giants’ roster — they placed a UFA tender on the veteran that gives him until July 22 to find another team, or he’ll be back with Big Blue. If that’s the case, Patrick Graham’s defense will certainly benefit, because Golden has been one of the NFL’s sneaky-good pass-rushers for a while now. Last season, he led the team with 64 total pressures on a defense that was otherwise bereft of true pass-rushing talent, and when he’s given starters’ snaps as he was last year and with the Cardinals in 2015 and 2016, he’s able to use everything from speed moves to a bull rush to beat blockers to the quarterback.
Golden did play seven games for the Giants in 2020 before the team traded him back to the Cardinals in October for a 2020 sixth-round pick. It turned out best for Golden, who was free in Vance Joseph’s blitz-heavy concepts to get after the quarterback with authority. Golden had 41 total pressures with Arizona in nine games and just 14 with Big Blue in seven.
Not that Golden needs a blitz to get pressure, as he showed in this Week 17 rep against the Rams, where he just burned right tackle Rob Havenstein around the edge to come down with quarterback John Wolford. At 6-foot-3 and 260 pounds, he’s got a great combination of speed, power, and speed to power.
Golden has been a consistently underrated pressure machine for a while now, and with his return to the team, the Cardinals can plant him outside with bookend Chandler Jones, allowing defensive coordinator Vance Joseph to move J.J. Watt around in multiple blitz packages. Arizona desperately needs defensive backs, but their front seven just got that much more dangerous.