Tag: Arizona Cardinals

Cardinals add former Bengals LB Markus Bailey

Bailey has been a core special teams player for the Bengals.

The Arizona Cardinals entered the week with two vacancies on the offseason roster. They filled one on Tuesday with a veteran, announcing they signed former Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Markus Bailey.

He spent the last four years with Cincinnati after being selected by the Bengals in the seventh round of the 202 NFL draft out of Purdue.

In four seasons, he appeared in 60 games and has 73 to tackles, 20 of which have come on special teams.

He has played a total of 387 defensive snaps in his career but 256 of those came in 2021. Last season, he logged only 29 defensive snaps. He logged 309 on special teams in 2023 and has played 950 over his four seasons.

It would appear he is an early candidate to fill the role vacated by Zeke Turner, who signed with the San Francisco 49ers in the offseason after six seasons with the Cardinals.

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

 

Cardinals meeting with free agent WR Zay Jones

Jones, cut by the Jaguars after the draft, is in Arizona to meet with the Cardinals on Tuesday.

The Arizona Cardinals, after drafting a pair of receivers last month, could be adding a veteran to the room. According to Jordan Schultz, receiver Zay Jones is meeting with the team on Tuesday.

Jones was cut by the Jacksonville Jaguars after the draft and has met with the Tennessee Titans.

Jones is 29 years old and 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds.

He was originally a second-round pick of the Buffalo Bills in 2017. He spent the last two seasons with the Jaguars. Last season, playing in only nine games, he had 34 receptions for 321 yards and two touchdowns. The previous year, he had 82 catches for 823 yards and five touchdowns, setting career-highs in both receptions and yards.

The Cardinals, who needed to remake their receiver room this offseason, saw Marquise Brown leave in free agency and traded Rondale Moore to the Atlanta Falcons. As of right now, their projected top four receivers on the depth chart would be rookie Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson, Greg Dortch and free agent addition Chris Moore.

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

 

Expected role in 2024 for WR Marvin Harrison Jr.

Harrison, the fourth overall pick in the draft, should be an impact player for Arizona and the NFL.

The Arizona Cardinals made receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. the fourth overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft. He is the most exciting selection of the draft for the Cardinals and many believe he is the best player in the entire draft class.

What role should he play as a rookie?

This one is actually pretty easy.

He is one of the favorites to win Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Harrison immediately becomes the most talented receiver on the team. Before he was drafted, the top three on the depth chart were Michael Wilson, drafted in the third round in 2023, Greg Dortch and free agent signing Chris Moore. None has even reached 600 yards in a season.

Harrison should be the Cardinals’ starting ‘X’ receiver and probably will be the team’s leading receiver, at least among the receivers.

Because of tight end Trey McBride, it is possible that Harrison won’t lead the entire team in receptions, receiving yards or touchdowns, but he should be the top producer among the receivers.

Anything short of a 1,100-yard season would probably be a disappointment.

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

 

Report: Former Jaguars WR Zay Jones taking second free agent visit

Report: Former Jaguars WR Zay Jones taking second free agent visit

Zay Jones’ free agency tour continues as the former Jacksonville wide receiver intends to meet with Arizona on Tuesday, according to Jordan Schultz of Bleacher Report.

Jones reportedly met with Jacksonville’s AFC South rival, Tennessee, on Monday.

The Jaguars released Jones on April 30 following two seasons with the team, following their first-round selection of wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. in the 2024 NFL draft. Jones signed a three-year contract worth $24 million, including $14 million guaranteed, with Jacksonville before the 2022 season.

Over that span, Jones compiled 116 receptions, 1,144 yards and seven touchdowns in 25 games and 22 starts. In his seven-year NFL career, Jones has totaled 287 receptions for 3,028 yards and 18 touchdowns.

“Beyond grateful for every memory, truly. Every teammate, every coach, every staff member, every fan I’ve encountered or felt inspired by,” Jones said via social media on Wednesday after his release from the Jaguars.

“The support of a strong community does so much for us athletes. Thank you more, Duval and Jags fans overseas.”

Arizona made Marvin Harrison Jr. the first wide receiver taken in the 2024 NFL draft at No. 4 overall. The Cardinals also chose receiver Tehjaun Palmer in the sixth round.

6th-round WR named Cardinals’ potential sleeper pick from 2024 draft

Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar believe WR Tejhaun Palmer could be a sleeper pick in the Cardinals’ 2024 draft.

Following the NFL draft each season, the natural thing to do is to try and predict and project the roles of the newly selected players on each team. Who will start? Who will contribute? Who will surprise?

Something fun is to try and figure out who the underrated players from each draft class is. Who are sleeper picks that could outperform their draft status?

Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar picked the sleeper of every team’s draft class. For the Arizona Cardinals, he believes it will be receiver Tejhaun Palmer, the Cardinals’ sixth-round pick out of UAB.

The Cardinals came into the 2024 draft with very little to speak of at receiver, and general manager Monti Ossenfort did his level best to solve that issue with the selection of Marvin Harrison Jr. at forth overall. Harrison reminds me of Larry Fitzgerald, another highly-drafted Cardinals receiver, so what’s not to like?

And then, with the 191st overall pick in the sixth round, Ossenfort and his staff pulled off a deep cut with the addition of UAB’s Tejhaun Palmer. Now, Roddy White came out of UAB, so NFL success at the position is not unusual, and Palmer has some serious size/speed stuff to deal with. At 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, Palmer caught eight passes of 20 or more air yards on 14 targets for 264 yards and two touchdowns. Palmer may still be putting the finer points of his game together, but his tape yells pretty loudly.

“The guy has got upside, he’s got size and he’s got speed,” Cardinals Assistant GM Dave Sears said of Palmer. “We feel like we can develop his routes. The kid’s a tough kid, loves ball — those kinds of things. We definitely feel like there’s some upside we can develop with him. Our coaches, he was down at the East-West Game with them and they saw that first-hand down there too.”

He will have the opportunity to earn playing time. After Harrison, the depth chart includes second-year pro Michael Wilson, Greg Dortch, Zach Pascal and Chris Moore. Only Pascal has reached 600 yards in a season in his career and he has had a combined 19 receptions the last two seasons.

Palmer gives them size and speed. We will see if he can make the adjustment to the pros and produce in an offense that was in the top 10 in many metrics down the stretch despite having almost no one producing at receiver,

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

 

Kyler Murray ranked only 15th among quarterbacks

New offseason quarterback rankings by Touchdown Wire put him only 15th, which is kind of fair.

The Arizona Cardinals are excited about the upcoming season, especially because quarterback Kyler Murray is healthy and will have a full offseason of reps.

They believe he can and will play at a high level moving forward.

However, in new offseason quarterback rankings by Touchdown Wire’s Jarrett Bailey, that optimism isn’t shared.

Murray is ranked only 15th.

Murray being healthy for a full season throwing to Marvin Harrison Jr.? I don’t know what their record will be, but I know they won’t be boring.

It is understandable. He only played half a season and, for the first five games he was back, his numbers were fairly pedestrian. However, the way he played over the final three games, he probably should be ranked higher.

Over the final three games, he completed 71.7% of his passes for 724 yards, six touchdowns and one interception, which is a passer rating of 108.3.

He led one fourth-quarter comeback and had one game-winning drive. He would have had a second game-winning drive had Matt Prater made a 51-yard field goal in the finale as time expired.

They were a missed kick from finishing the season 4-4 in Murray’s starts when he was surrounding by a roster that lacked talent and had one of the worst defenses in the league.

Basing rankings on all he did last season in the eight starts, I don’t know if there is a quarterback he should move ahead of, and perhaps that is a testament to the play at the position for about half the league.

But with how he finished last year, with a reloaded defense that should not be bottom-of-the-league and with Harrison catching passes from him, he should be a top-10 player this season and, with a little consistency, he can push into the top five.

It would be timely to have him put together a full season of what he have seen from him in the past over stretches and half seasons.

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

 

Cardinals not projected to get any compensatory picks in 2025

The Cardinals were active in adding free agents this offseason.

The Arizona Cardinals were active in free agency this offseason. Their own free agents were not highly sought after.

As such, according to Over the Cap’s Nick Korte, they will not have any compensatory picks in the 2025 NFL draft.

This is no surprise.

Compensatory picks are awarded based on qualifying free agents signing with other teams and the ones a team signs from other teams.

The Cardinals added defensive linemen Justin Jones and Bilal Nichols, cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting, linebacker Mack Wilson, receiver Chris Moore, running back DeeJay Dallas and offensive lineman Evan Brown.

They lost receiver Marquise Brown, linebacker Zeke Turner and defensive lineman Leki Fotu to other teams.

It is beyond the compensatory period in free agency so any players lost or signed now will not matter moving forward.

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

 

Which All-Pro cornerback did Brian Baldinger just compare Rutgers’ Max Melton to?

NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger made a Pro Bowl comparison for Max Melton.

NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger has hesitation in comparing Max Melton to one of the NFL’s top cornerbacks in Darius Slay. Melton, a former defensive back at Rutgers, landed in a spot with the Cardinals in the NFL draft where he projects to get a lot of snaps.

The Cardinals selected Melton in the second round of April’s NFL draft, taking him No. 43 overall. At Rutgers, Melton was a multi-year starter who was an All-Big Ten selection at defensive back.

Baldinger, an analyst with the NFL Network who spent 12 years in the NFL as a standout offensive lineman, believes that Melton is a good fit with the Cardinals.

And he likened Melton to Slay, an All-Pro cornerback with the Philadelphia Eagles who has been a Pro Bowl selection six times in his NFL career.

“I mean, he just loves to compete. And honestly, when I watch him, he reminds me of a very young Darius Slay – they are almost identical in all their measurements,” Baldinger told Rutgers Wire in an interview last week.

“Max….is not as tall but every bit as fast.  I mean all the measurables are very, very consistent and when I watched Darius as a young player in Detroit, I remember how aggressive. He wasn’t the tackler that Max is but he would challenge any receiver. If he was scrimmaging Pittsburgh he wanted Antonio Brown every play. So that’s kind of what it reminds me of Max = he wants their number one receiver inside, outside, wherever you are. And I think that’s what Arizona was getting. I think that’s what they liked about him.”

This past season, Rutgers had a halftime lead over Ohio State before falling 35-16. One of the reasons why Rutgers very nearly upset the third-best team in the nation at the time was Melton’s performance against [autotag]Marvin Harrison Jr[/autotag].

Harrison, ironically a first round pick of the Cardinals, won the Fred Biletnikoff Award last year last year as college football’s best wide receiver.

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Melton held Harrison to four catches for 25 receiving yards. It was the Ohio State standout’s second-lowest receiving tally of the season.

Baldinger thinks Melton landed in the NFL draft in a spot where he can be developed and compete for playing time.

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“I thought he went to a good spot, number one, Arizona has built this thing piece by piece. I thought it was pretty interesting – he went at No. 43,” Baldinger said.

“Cooper DeJean, who a lot of people thought was a top three corner – he went 40. So it looks like (Melton) is in the top five. I mean, I thought he was a good player. I mean, obviously, he’s very, very aggressive. He’s a very good tackler. He refuses to be blocked on the perimeter. But I think his ball skills are as good as anybody in this whole business. And you know, he really challenges receiver – Marvin Harrison right up in his grill. He looks like he’s got the mindset to be a very good corner in this business.”

What some NFL execs said about the Cardinals’ 2024 draft

The talk around the league is how the Cardinals set themselves up well last year for this year.

The plaudits have been continuous for the Arizona Cardinals since the conclusion of the 2024 NFL draft more than a week ago. Of course, the reality is that should be the case for any team that had two first-round picks with one that was fourth overall, seven of the first 90 players and selected a total of 12 on the three days of the draft.

The real breaking news would have been if the draft had been universally panned despite that many additions to the roster.

Having said that, it was intriguing to hear from people associated with teams about the Cardinals’ draft and not from a long list of media members.

Mike Sando of The Athletic reached out to his contacts, and one of them noted wisely how much of what the Cardinals accomplished was linked to the original 2023 draft-day trade with the Houston Texans.

That deal, which led to some subsequent trades, yielded these selections for the Cardinals:

  • Tackle Paris Johnson Jr. (first round 2023)
  • Edge rusher BJ Ojulari (second round 2023)
  • Cornerback Garrett Williams (third round 2023)
  • Defensive lineman Darius Robinson (first round 2024)
  • Guard Isaiah Adams (third round 2024)
  • Cornerback Elijah Jones (third round 2024)

While some naysayers have said the Cardinals should have stuck and stayed last year and selected the eventual NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, defensive end Will Anderson Jr., one league executive told Sando, “I’d rather have Will Anderson, but you have to know your team, too. They might have wasted four years of Will Anderson while constructing their roster.”

Noting that the Cardinals were the first team since the 1991 Dallas Cowboys to have seven of the first 90 choices, another league executive said, “That is well-played because they need as many NFL-quality players as they can get.”

Finally, one more executive addressed the decision the Cardinals made not to trade the fourth overall choice for more selections and settling for a receiver different than Marvin Harrison Jr.

Saying that would have been risky, he told Sando, “If (Harrison) turns out to be less than what you hoped, no one is going to say you tried to outsmart yourself. If you bust going away from the consensus best player at a position, people will say, ‘You (expletive), everyone knew Marvin Harrison was going to be great.’”

Needless to say, all of us can see that the Cardinals personnel staff, led by general manager Monti Ossenfort, aren’t that!

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

 

CB Jaden Davis in 7th round was puzzling selection

The Cardinals’ final selection was the lowest-graded one.

The Arizona Cardinals’ final selection of the 2024 NFL draft was taken with the 226th overall pick. They selected cornerback Jaden Davis, who spent four seasons at Oklahoma and one at Miami.

He was selected with the same number pick as Pat Tillman was drafted by the Cardinals in 1998, which is kind of cool. They were able to honor Tillman with two Tillman Scholars announcing the pick.

Now, as for the pick, Davis was a puzzling pick.

He is undersized at 5-foot-9. He has good enough speed (4.44-second 40) and a very good 10-yard split (1.49 seconds), but some of his other athletic tests were below average (7.46 three-cone).

He was Dan Brugler’s No. 60 cornerback. He was an expected rookie free agent.

His strength is versatility. He played outside, inside and even a full game at safety last season.

He had only one career interception, in his freshman year, and he had only 14 ass breakups in five seasons.

It feels like this was the sort of pick they made because they didn’t want to trade away the Tillman pick and they had finished off their board. Davis would have been a priority free agent the Cardinals would have targeted.

He will have a rough time making the roster but might have some upside on special teams later on.

This pick doesn’t deserve much more than a C.

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