In an offseason of lists and rankings, the Arizona Cardinals often find themselves omitted or ranked poorly. This list from Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar does not include any Cardinals players.
He ranked the top 11 linebackers in the league and gave honorable mention to a handful of others, but no Cardinals made the list.
One would understand why.
As of right now, we only know one of the Cardinals’ starting off-ball linebackers.
Isaiah Simmons moved to safety and Zaven Collins appears to have moved to the edge as an outside linebacker.
Kyzir White will be one of the two starting inside linebackers. He is solid, playing well each of the last two seasons, but no one would put him in the league’s best linebackers.
As for the other starter, we don’t even know. Will it be rookie Owen Pappoe, a fifth-round pick? Will it be Zeke Turner or Josh Woods, both of whom have only really had roles on special teams? Will it be Krys Barnes, a former undrafted rookie who played a couple of all-right seasons for the Packers.
The NFC West had three linebackers make the list — Seattle’s Bobby Wagner and San Francisco’s Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw.
Perhaps with a season as the Cardinals’ defensive playcaller, White can elevate his play to the next level. Unless he does, we shouldn’t expect to see a Cardinal on this list next year, either.
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