To Stay or To Go? Arizona Cardinals Edition
To Stay or To Go? Arizona Cardinals Edition
The Arizona Cardinals are coming off of an incredible season packed with ups and downs. That begs the question for some Cardinals fans, what do the Cardinals do with all of their players? Now, part of me can see the Cardinals trading away a lot of their veterans and starting fresh in hopes that one day the 49ers and Seahawks will not be as prominent. Highly unlikely. I see Steve Keim keeping a lot of key free agents and keeping the majority of this team in tact.
Here is a list of the free agents (from Sportrac with my take added):
| Player | POS | Status | 2013 Cap Hit | My Take |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alameda Ta’amu | DT | ERFA | $480,000 | Stay |
| Alfonso Smith | RB | RFA | $555,000 | Stay |
| Andre Roberts | WR | UFA | $1,504,000 | Undecided |
| Andrew Rich | CB | RFA | Gone | |
| Antoine Cason | CB | UFA | $1,500,000 | Stay |
| Bryan McCann | CB | UFA | $222,353 | Gone |
| Dave Zastudil | P | UFA | $1,575,000 | Stay |
| Eric Winston | RT, T | UFA | $2,000,000 | Stay |
| Everrette Thompson | DT | ERFA | $288,000 | Gone |
| Frostee Rucker | DT | UFA | $620,000 | Gone |
| Jake Ballard | TE | RFA | $296,470 | Stay |
| Javier Arenas | CB | RFA | $645,000 | Gone |
| Jay Feely | K | UFA | $2,050,000 | Gone |
| Jeff King | TE | UFA | $1,883,334 | Gone |
| Jim Dray | TE | UFA | $642,250 | Stay |
| Karlos Dansby | ILB, LB | UFA | $2,250,000 | Stay |
| Kory Sperry | TE | UFA | $715,000 | Gone |
| Marcus Benard | OLB, LB | RFA | $481,765 | Gone |
| Matt Shaughnessy | OLB, LB | UFA | $1,000,000 | Stay |
| Mike Gibson | C | UFA | $715,000 | Gone |
| Rashard Mendenhall | RB | UFA | $2,500,000 | Stay |
| Ronald Talley | DE | RFA | $555,000 | Stay |
| Yeremiah Bell | S | UFA | $620,000 | Stay |
Andre Roberts I am unsure of. I could see him staying or going, depending on the cap situation. He just hasn’t put up good enough numbers to justify keeping him. Also very sad to say that Jay is most likely done as a Cardinal. Missed some simple shots this year that cost him big time. I do think they keep Mendenhall, unlike others, simply because of his red zone efficiency. One other player I see leaving is Rob Housler, he just couldn’t come up with crucial “chunk plays” for Bruce Arians.
This year has been a great barometer for what type of team that the Cardinals can be, expect Steve Keim to pull off another fantastic year in putting together a team for 2014.