The New Orleans Saints announced a series of roster moves following Tuesday’s training camp practice. With their roster at its full 90-man capacity, players must now be waived or designated to reserve lists in order for new additions to join up. Most of the new signings were expected, but the team also brought in a veteran offensive lineman following free agent tryouts over the weekend. Here’s what you need to know:
Multiple free agent tryouts were reported by the New Orleans Saints on Saturday’s update to the daily NFL transactions wire, and some of them may have a lot to offer. You just need to look past initial positions of need and consider the wider scope of the roster as it currently stands. Let’s dig in:
A look at the performance of every lineman who got any playing time at guard or center last season.
The Arizona Cardinals went through many ups and downs last season, and at their peak looked like one of the most formidable teams in the league. To get to where they were this season just two years removed from having the worst record in the NFL, they had to go through a lot of roster turnover.
In the sixth part of this series, we will be looking back at each interior offensive lineman who recorded a snap for Arizona this season and grade their performance.
Will Sweezy come back for a third season with the Cardinals?
One of the Arizona Cardinals’ many unrestricted free agents this offseason is offensive lineman J.R. Sweezy. Will he be back in 2021?
Sweezy was the Cardinals’ starter at right guard for nearly two seasons, but 2020 was not great for him. While he was a key addition in 2019 and adds a little nasty to the line, he did not play as well in 2020.
He got hurt and missed three games in the middle of the season, giving Justin Murray the opportunity to play.
By the end of the year, Sweezy was benched in favor of Murray, suggesting his time in Arizona was coming to a close. Murray’s contract was extended and Sweezy’s was not.
He only had three penalties all season but one was a critical hold in the end zone in Seattle leading to safety.
He will be 32 years old this coming season. He probably still has a place in the league and is a capable interior lineman, but the Cardinals have moved on.
Whether it is Murray or another free agent they sign to start at guard, Arizona has moved on.
Murray got the start on Sunday and the change is noted in the team’s Week 15 depth chart.
For the first time since he was a rookie in 2012, offensive lineman J.R. Sweezy appeared in a game in which he did not start. On Sunday in Week 14 against the New York Giants, Justin Murray started at right guard.
Sweezy was healthy and ended up playing 43 snaps at right guard but Murray was the guy in the lineup to start the game.
In the Cardinals’ new depth chart for Week 15, Murray is listed as the starter with Sweezy as his backup.
Prior to Sunday’s game, he had not come off the bench since Week 15 of 2012. While he has missed games due to injury, he had started 102 straight appearances.
Sweezy is set to be a free agent after the season and has graded out the lowest of the team’s starting offensive linemen this season.
Murray started three games while Sweezy missed time with an elbow injury and then rotated in for series in Week 13.
He was signed to a two-year contract extension earlier this season and appeared to be on track to be a starter next year. He is ahead of schedule.
On Sunday, after the 27-6 win over the New York Giants, head coach Kliff Kingsbury said Murray “did a nice job stepping in” but would not say whether having him in the lineup as the starter would continue. “We’ll kind of see where that goes,” he said after the game.
When asked about it on Monday, he also did not say whether Murray would remain the starter.
He did have high praise for him, though, citing the time he had in 2019 as their starting right tackle.
“With Justin, when he came here, we asked him to start at tackle for 12 games, so he’s been a starter for us at another position,” he told reporters on Monday. ‘We always felt he could slide in there and start at a high level whether it was tackle or guard, regardless. He’s a guy that was on, I think, six or seven teams previous to us, works his tail off. The guys in the room love him. They know what he’s been through, so to see him get his opportunities and continue to take advantage of them, as a coach, it’s really great to see.”
The Cardinals are 3-1 when Murray starts this season.
Depending on the status of Justin Pugh this week, Murray might be in the lineup at left guard. When Pugh left the game, Murray moved over to the left side and Sweezy played right guard.
With three games remaining in the regular season, the Cardinals have the opportunity to see whether or not they need to go out and spend big money at guard in free agency in the offseason, or whether things will be held down nicely by Murray moving forward.
Their two penalties give the Seahawks six points. The Cardinals were in range for a field goal that could have won the game.
The Arizona Cardinals lost their Week 11 matchup to the Seattle Seahawks 28-21 on Thursday night. It was a game in which they made far too many mistakes. They were penalized 10 times for 115 yards.
There were false starts in an empty stadium. There were pass interference calls.
However, two egregious penalties cost the Cardinals the game.
The biggest mistake of the night was by cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick. The Cardinals had just gotten a third-down stop to force what would have been a field goal. But Kirkpatrick and Seattle receiver DK Metcalf got in a scuffle. Kirkpatrick was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, which gave the Seahawks a first down. Two plays later, Carlos Hyde scores a touchdown.
That was at least a four-point penalty by Kirkpatrick.
That play alone was enough to keep the Cardinals from forcing overtime. If nothing changes after that, when the Cardinals are on their final drive, they would have been able to kick a field goal to tie the game and force overtime instead of getting sacked on fourth down.
The Cardinals would have been kicking for a win at the end of the game, though, if guard J.R. Sweezy does not hold in the end zone, which gave Seattle a safety. Sweezy was beat by L.J. Collier from the snap. He was holding Collier immediately. While one might say perhaps Murray gets sacked in the end zone for a safety anyway, Sweezy can’t get beaten that badly that quickly.
Two penalties directly gave the Seahawks six points. The Cardinals lost by seven and were on the 27-yard line at the end of the game.
Take away Kirkpatrick’s penalty alone, Zane Gonzalez comes on for a 45-yard field goal to tie the game 24-24. Take away Kirkpatrick’s infraction and Sweezy’s mistake, and the Cardinals trail 22-21 on the final drive and Gonzalez could come in for a game-winning 45-yard field goal.
The Cardinals made too many mistakes, but those two were the back-breakers. They never should have happened.
The Cardinals should be 7-3 right now and in first place in the division. Now Seattle is 7-3 and appears to have fixed the issues they have had.
Leki Fotu lands on injured reserve and Trevon Coley is signed to the roster.
The Arizona Cardinals made a few roster moves on Saturday, a day ahead of their Week 10 home game against the Buffalo Bills. They get a starter back from injured reserve, place a player on IR and bring three players up from the practice squad.
The Arizona Cardinals, wrapping up their week of practice in Week 6, have announced a couple of moves with injured players. They announced that starting right guard J.R. Sweezy and rookie defensive lineman Rashard Lawrence have been placed on injured reserve.
Sweezy suffered an elbow injury last week and did not practice all week. Lawrence also got hurt in Week 5, suffering a calf injury.
That will free up two roster spots. One will likely be taken by safety Jalen Thompson, who has been designated to return from injured reserve after missing the last four games.
Sweezy and Lawrence will be out a minimum of three weeks, but could potentially return after their bye week.
Sweezy will likely be replaced in the starting lineup by Justin Murray.
Sweezy believes opponents will find it very difficult to defend the Cardinals with all their weapons.
How good can the Arizona Cardinals offense and quarterback Kyler Murray be in 2020? They could be one of the more exciting teams to watch this coming season.
After all, Murray enters his second season, a year where young quarterbacks often see a big jump in production. We have seen it in Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, Mitchell Trubisky, Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson in recent years.
J.R. Sweezy, the Cardinals’ starting right guard, has nothing but hyperbole to say about his quarterback.
“He’s taken a huge step,” he told reporters this week. “He was great last year. This year, he’s going to be elite.”
Those are big expectations.
Offensively, Sweezy sees the Cardinals as being very difficult to handle.
“We’re going to be able to do some special things as an offense,” he said. “I think we’re going to be dynamic.”
He noted they will use every weapon they have. They have one of the best receivers in the game today in DeAndre Hopkins, one of the greatest ever in Larry Fitzgerald, a running back who was dynamic for the second half of the season in Kenyan Drake and other players who will be productive.
“People are going to have a really tough time finding a way to stop that,” he said.
