Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
The Cardinals have a pair of former Steelers, including RB James Conner. The Steelers have four former Cardinals.
The Arizona Cardinals’ Week 13 opponents are the Pittsburgh Steelers, whom they face on the road this weekend.
Unlike in recent weeks, there are a number of player connections on both rosters.
Who are the Cardinals who are former Steelers and who are the Steelers who are former Cardinals?
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
It is slim pickings, but there are some potential offensive tackle upgrades out there.
The season is not lost for the Cleveland Browns. While the past two weeks have been a rough roller coaster ride to sit through with the looming injury to the shoulder of quarterback Deshaun Watson, they still have eight of their last 12 games against AFC opponents, including three against their division rivals. If they want to shove another chip into the middle of the table to make a run, however, the Browns need to take a deep look at upgrading their left tackle situation as Jedrick Wills has failed to take a step in year four.
According to The OBR’s Brad Stainbrook, this is a move the Browns are already expected to look into as well. The problem? There are not a plethora of good offensive tackles just hanging out on the market. The Browns will likely have to pursue a current starting veteran on another team, and that will cost them valuable assets to do.
Sifting through who could be on their shortlist was a task as well, as the list is already short. Regardless, here are five names pulled that fit the bill from a financial and logical perspective if the Browns are looking to go out and find an upgrade to their current left tackle in Wills.
All financial figures were pulled from Over the Cap
We look at OL Kelvin Beachum and where he stands in terms of the roster and the lineup as the Cardinals start training camp.
The Arizona Cardinals open training camp at the end of this month, so we will do a roster review, highlighting each player currently on the roster, going over last season, their salary and cap number, questions they face and what their expected roster status will be.
Next up is OL Kelvin Beachum.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
There are likely going to be two new starting right tackles in the division in 2023.
On the offensive line, left tackles get the most attention. However, right tackles are equally as important in the NFL now with many teams having a pair of good edge rushers and because good pass rushers often switch sides.
We looked at the right tackles in the division already. In 2023, the San Francisco 49ers will have a new starter as Mike McGlinchey signed with the Denver Broncos, and the Cardinals have a battle for the starting right tackle job.
How do the right tackles in the division stack up?
Previous NFC West rankings:
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
First-round pick Paris Johnson seems to be on track to replace Beachum in the starting lineup.
After three seasons with the Cardinals as their starting right tackle, Kelvin Beachum re-signed with the team as a free agent, inking a two-year contract.
He was set to be the Cardinals’ starting right tackle again.
However, since then, they selected Paris Johnson with the sixth overall pick in the 2023 draft.
Johnson has practiced at right tackle (as well as left guard) thus far.
Johnson was the player quarterback Kyler Murray hoped the Cardinals would draft in the first round.
Beachum also made comments in the offseason, saying Murray needed to grow up. While the comments were not meant to malign Murray, at least one teammate was upset at what was said.
Arizona has only six players in their 30s on the team. Beachum is one of them.
They are making a youth movement.
Beachum’s salary is fully guaranteed for 2023 so he isn’t really at risk of being cut, but, with his ability to play both left and right tackle, he would make a nice backup swing tackle.
The Cardinals did not draft Johnson not to play him.
While other rookies could end up starting, they are at positions where there is not a clearly established veteran as the starter.
Beachum isn’t really in danger of losing his spot on the roster, but he is the most likely to lose his spot in the starting lineup.
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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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“There was never a doubt in my mind that I was going to continue playing,” he said on the Ross Tucker Football Podcast this week.
After the 2022 season concluded, some wondered if Arizona Cardinals offensive lineman Kelvin Beachum would retire. He was finishing his 11th NFL season and is 33 years old. He played and started in all 17 games last season for Arizona.
That speculation never came from him. He never considered retiring.
“There was never a doubt in my mind that I was going to continue playing,” he said on the Ross Tucker Football Podcast this week. “There are still some things I need to prove, still some goals and aspirations that I want to be able to accomplish and I haven’t been able to do those things yet.”
Beachum is proud of the fact that, as a former seventh-round pick and the last offensive lineman selected in the 2012 draft, he has played as long as he has.
What are some of his goals? He wants to play in a Super Bowl. He wants to continue to compete and start.
The Super Bowl goal is interesting because he chose to re-sign with the Cardinals, who are projected to win the fewest games in the league in 2023 right now.
He knows “those things take time.”
When Beachum appeared on my podcast, he told me he was thinking about playing four of five more years.
“More than anything, I’m in love with the process,” he said.
Players know it is time to move on when they don’t feel the desire to put in the work it requires to play at the highest level. That is not the issue for Beachum.
“I enjoy the process of getting ready to play football,” he said.
Playing on Sundays is “icing on the cake.”
Beachum is projected to start at right tackle for the Cardinals for a fourth straight season in 2023.
Maybe he can play long enough to see this team get to where he would like to play — in the big game.
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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Everybody wants to talk about the big-name signings, but here are the best bargains of the 2023 free agent class so far.
There are people in the NFL — especially people who have endured one or more instances of top-heavy free-agency spending — who will tell you that if you want to contend for a Super Bowl, the bottom third of your roster will be just as important as the top third at some point in time. Yes, you want optimal performances from the best and brightest, and if you get it, that’s great. But one of your star players will probably miss time with an injury. Another star might be involved in a contract dispute. And it’s entirely possible that the big-ticket free agent your team brought in for the gross national product of Estonia is actually a bad fit for what his new coaches would like him to do.
It happens all the time. To counter all of these little nightmares, it’s wise to find the best bargains in any free-agent cycle — those players who may not be marquee names, but whose performances on the field makes them important to you.
Especially when things go wrong up top.
There are still quite a few talented players on the open market, so we’ll be adding to this list as we go… but for now, here are the free agents either re-signing in their old homes or going to new locations who will impact their rosters much more than you may think.
The Cardinals bring back right tackle Kelvin Beachum for two seasons. Tell us what you think of the move.
The Arizona Cardinals’ first move in free agency was to bring back right tackle Kelvin Beachum. He gets a two-year deal worth a little more than $5 million.
He will make the veteran minimum salary both seasons but has a signing bonus of more than $2 million and has playing time incentives of more than $1 million in 2024.
He is in line to start at right tackle for the fourth straight season for the Cardinals and the price is reasonable if he is a backup.
He played and started every game in 2023, the only offensive player to do so.
What do you think of the move?
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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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The Cardinals get their starting right tackle back on a bargain of a contract.
The one move in free agency the Arizona Cardinals have made thus far is agree to a new two-year deal with right tackle Kelvin Beachum.
That deal is quite reasonable for a starting tackle.
The contract is two years and worth $5.15 million.
Reporter Aaron Wilson has the details of Beachum’s deal.
He gets a $2.095 signing bonus and will make a fully guaranteed $1.165 million in salary. It is the league minimum. That gives him $3.26 million in total guarantees this year.
His 2024 salary will be the minimum as well, at $1.21 million. It is not guaranteed. He can also make another $1.24 million in playing time incentives in 2024.
He will make $20,000 in per-game roster bonuses.
His cap hit, assuming there are no voiding years on the back end of the contract, will be a little more than $2.2 million this year.
Assuming he is the starter this year again, it is a bargain.
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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The 12-year veteran gets a two-year deal. He was the only offensive player for Arizona to start all 17 games last season.
It took until Monday evening, but the Arizona Cardinals have made a move in free agency, although it isn’t what fans would consider a significant move.
According to The Score’s Jordan Schultz, right tackle Kelvin Beachum is re-signing with the team on a two-year contract.
Beachum enters his 12th NFL season and 2023 will be his fourth with the Cardinals.
He was the only offensive player last season to start all 17 games.
Beachum, a guest on the podcast recently, was looking for a multi-year deal, to play on natural grass and get market value. He gets at least two of the three, as the numbers for his contract have not been reported as of the time of publication.
Beachum’s return gives the Cardinals a steady leadership voice in the locker room and secure the right tackle job.
The Cardinals will have D.J. Humphries at left tackle Beachum back at right tackle. What is left to determine is who will play interior positions.
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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