Now that the Super Bowl has been played and free agency is approaching in early March, the Last Word On Sports NFL department will be looking at the top three needs for each team. In this article, the Arizona Cardinals are the focus.
The Cardinals had a really good 2015, finishing the regular season with a 13-3 record and winning the NFC West. Bruce Arian’s team defeated the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round of the playoffs in overtime in a game that had as wild a finish as any game. But Arizona got shellacked by the Carolina Panthers 49-15 in the NFC Championship game and missed out on going to the Super Bowl.
Even though the Cardinals looked like one of the best teams in the NFL for much of the 2015 season and made it to the NFC Championship game, there are certainly some areas they need to address this off-season.
Arizona Cardinals 2016 Off-Season: Top 3 Needs
OFFENSIVE LINE
Just like with the New England Patriots, the Cardinals need to improve their offensive line this off-season. Arizona needs to do a much better job at protecting their 36 year old quarterback because, while the Cardinals only allowed 27 sacks in 2015 (fifth fewest in the NFL), Carson Palmer was hit 103 times (10th most in the league). Palmer has played great for the most part while in Arizona, but he is getting up there in age and he’s had injury issues while with the Cardinals. The offensive line needs to do a much better job of protecting Palmer in 2016.
Left tackle Jared Veldheer is one of the better offensive tackles in the NFL, but Bobbie Massie leaves a lot to be desired. Massie allowed eight sacks last season, the most of any Cardinals player. The interior part of the Cardinals offensive line is cause for concern, except for left guard Mike Iupati. Arizona averaged 119.8 rushing yards per game (eighth) in 2015, but the Cards had 20 rushes for negative yards (most in the NFL) when running up the middle. I get that none of their running backs particularly excelled at running up the middle, but that many negative plays means the interior part of the line was not getting nearly enough of a push.
In the off-season Arizona needs to specifically improve at center, right tackle and right guard.
PASS-RUSHERS/DEFENSIVE LINE
The Cardinals defense ranked fifth in yards per game (321.7) and tied for seventh in points per game (19.6) in 2015, but they lacked a consistent pass rush and ranked 27th in the league in that area. Linebacker Markus Golden had an impressive rookie season in 2015 and 36 year old linebacker Dwight Freeney proved that age isn’t anything but a number. Last season Golden had four sacks while Freeney had eight. But even with Freeney’s impressive 2015 and the really nice rookie season of Golden, the Cardinals struggled to consistently get pressure on opposing quarterbacks in 2015.
Calais Campbell and Frostee Rucker provide a nice interior on the Cardinals defensive line, but Arizona also needs to somehow add a consistent threat and depth on the inside, even though they’ll get Corey Peters back from injury.
True, the Cardinals recently signed former CFL defensive end/outside linebacker Tristan Okpalaugo, but they still need to add a truly dominant pass-rushing on the outside, and it wouldn’t hurt to add some depth on the inside as well.
CORNERBACK/SAFETY
I know it seems weird to include a position as a “need” when a team has the likes of Tyrann Mathieu and Patrick Peterson in the defensive backfield, especially when the Cards allowed only 230.0 passing yards per game (eighth), recorded 19 interceptions (fourth) and allowed 24 touchdowns (tied for 11th) last season.
But cornerback Jerraud Powers is a free agent this off-season so the only two cornerbacks with any actual game experience on the Cardinals roster will be Peterson and Justin Bethel. Plus, safety Rashad Johnson is also a free agent this offseason and both Powers and Johnson will probably find more money on the open market, especially with Bethel having just received a contract extension and Mathieu in talks with the team to extend his contract.
When Mathieu went down with an ACL tear last season Arizona’s defense suffered. While I would bet on the Honey Badger coming back strong from the ACL tear (hence the contract extension talks), it is almost impossible to know how recoveries from that type of injury will go. The Cardinals need to add another talented cornerback and some overall depth in their defensive backfield this off-season.
