Arizona Cardinals - 2018 Offseason Objectives

As the NFL offseason is in full swing, it’s a perfect opportunity to evaluate where each team was in 2017, and where they plan to go in the New Year. Let’s begin the review of the Arizona Cardinals.

2017 Season Recap:

The Cardinals season had so much promise that never materialized mostly due to uncontrollable forces. Losing David Johnson in Week 1 to a broken forearm was the beginning of the end for the 2017 season as losing one of their offensive stars would be extremely difficult to overcome. Determined to replace Johnson, the running back role was filled with a committee approach that was uninspiring at best. With a rotation of Chris Johnson (CJ2K), acquired Adrian Peterson, Kerwynn Williams, and Andre Ellington, teams were able to stifle any sort of run game simply by staking the box and forcing the Cardinals to become one dimensional daring Carson Palmer to beat them. Going into Week 7 – Arizona had a record of 3-3 and the uncontrollable forces struck again. Carson Palmer started the contest but was unable to finish as he too went down with a broken arm. Down the stretch post the Palmer season ending injury, the Cardinals gave it a valiant effort finishing the year with a 5-4 record behind Blaine Gabbert and Drew Stanton.

Offensively, Arizona had enough weapons with a receiving core that could do damage given the opportunity. Larry Fitzgerald still led the way at the age of 34, showing his ability to still play at a high level. JJ Nelson when given the chance proved he was up for the challenge and produced on the regular. The core was rounded out with Jaron and John Brown who in their own right had flashes but never generated sustainable success. The tight end position in the Bruce Arians tenure always left something to be desired. The lack of production could be attributed to the amount of time they spent blocking to support a sub-par offensive line. It’s easy to envision what successes the Cardinals could’ve had if injuries to key talent didn’t occur. Finishing the year, Arizona housed bottom feeder statistics ranking 25^th in points scored (18.4 PPG), 22^nd in total yards (314.1 YPG), 15^th in passing (227.5 YPG), and 30^th in rushing (86.6 YPG). 

Defensively, the Cardinals still have a unit that rivals some of the best in the league. Behind all stars like Chandler Jones, Tyrann Mathieu, and Patrick Peterson, the defense was able to keep Arizona in most games. The strengths of the Cardinals defense has been the defensive front and that continued in 2017. Chandler Jones led the NFL in sacks this season piling up 17 take-downs 2.5 more than the next best. The Cardinals were very good against the run as they finished the year 6^th overall (89.6 YPG). It became clear to most teams when dialing up the game film, the weakness in this defensive unit was in coverage at the line backer spot. As sound as they were stopping the run, they began to leak oil in the latter parts of games in coverage. Giving up big plays became a major issue for this squad as they finished 19^th best in points allowed, (22.6 PPG). Adding to the offensive issues, the defense was forced to pick up the slack and couldn’t handle the added pressure/playing time.

     

2018 Offseason Workbook:

The Cardinals offseason started with a bang as tenured Coach Bruce Arians chose to call it quits leaving the NFL to enjoy the twilight of his life. Simultaneously, the Cardinals starting Quarterback Carson Palmer decided to follow his Coach and call it a career after 15 seasons in the league. Once again Arizona found themselves in a situation where they not only had to find a new answer for the most important position in football, but also trying to replace their leader in Bruce Arians. As impactful as those announcements were for the franchise, the aftermath began more speculation. Future first ballot Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald once again finds himself at a crossroads trying to decide whether or not to continue his fantastic career under yet another Head Coach and Quarterback. Larry the class act that he is solidified his stance that the Cardinals will be the only team he will ever play for as he waits patiently for the brain trust to fill the holes left behind.

Moving quickly in their search to replace Bruce Arians, the Cardinals hired top candidate and former Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks to a four year contract. Wilks has been in the NFL since 2005 where he started his pro career with the Washington Redskins as their Defensive Backs Coach. After one season in Washington, Wilks jumped to Chicago then to San Diego manning the same position for both clubs. In 2012 the Panthers brought Steve on board and watched him climb the coaching depth chart where eventually he was promoted to Assistant Head Coach & Defensive Coordinator. Wilks helped form a fantastic attacking style defense in Carolina which caught the eye of the Cardinals management as Arizona still houses a top tier NFL defense in need of direction. With one piece of the puzzle filled, the evaluation of the roster will be Wilks top priority.

With all Quarterbacks on the roster without a contract, Arizona could go in any direction they please. With 19 players set to hit the free agent market and roughly 23 million dollars under the salary cap, expect the Cardinals to re-tinker their roster. Outside of backup Quarterback Blaine Gabbert, Wide Receiver Jaron Brown, and Defensive Back Justin Bethel, the Cardinals free agent list has aged talent and secondary depth to consider resigning. Reviewing top cut candidates on the roster, the potential to release Guard Mike Iupati and/or Right Tackle Jared Veldheer seem very appealing. Both players coincidentally take up just over six percent of the cap respectively, while holding just over three million dollars in dead money each – Arizona would save just over 13 million if both were sent packing. The Cards will have to get creative in how they manage the books if they intend on getting into the Kirk Cousins sweepstakes once the league year opens. As appealing as Cousins would look for the Cardinals offense, they might just be priced out of the market. The situation is very interesting; Larry Fitzgerald is the highest paid player on the team hauling in nearly 17 million while his decision could be swayed depending on the signal caller they bring in with little cap room. Arizona does have quite a few unfriendly contracts they will have to contend with if they decide to remain in win now mode.

As player contracts dictate how the offseason will transpire, building through the draft is essential to gaining success long term. Under Bruce Arians, Arizona continued their win now mentality thus leaving them thin going into the 2018 NFL Draft. Currently the Cards hold only five picks missing their fourth and sixth selections that were given away in past trades. With little capital to move up in the draft to select a replacement for the retired Carson Palmer, it could be a gamble waiting and hoping they get their man at pick 15. If the Cardinals indeed decide to attempt a draft day move up, high priced – high talent players like Patrick Peterson would more than likely need to be involved. With an aging roster, limited cap space, and a plethora of holes to fill, General Manager Steve Keim definitely has his work cut out for him in 2018.       

From the overall perspective as the offseason tasks are just beginning to get underway, this Cardinals team has a lot of work to do. Obviously getting star Running Back David Johnson back to full health will rejuvenate one of the NFL’s worst rushing attacks, which is a great positive. However, if they can’t solve their Quarterback situation, Johnson will see stacked eight and nine man boxes for majority of the season making it difficult for him to have the impact we have been accustomed to. Unfortunately for Cardinals fans, this team with their high talent may not fully extract the potential as mismanagement of contracts and draft picks while the roster continues to age, is a recipe for disaster for any new Head Coach taking over the reins. The greatest hope for the 2018 season is to sign Kirk Cousins and shoot for the Super Bowl as the window will be closing on this unit with a rebuild coming in the near future.