Arizona Cardinals: Is Logan Thomas the Future?

By Vijay Singaraju | May 22, 2015

Once touted as the Arizona Cardinals’ future franchise quarterback, now Logan Thomas’s future is cloudy.

Logan Thomas, taken in the 4th round of the 2014 NFL Draft, was the personal pet project of Bruce Arians. Arians planned to groom him to be the quarterback of the future. The 6 feet 6 inch, 250 pound passer has the arm strength, and skill set that Arians loves, and Arians believes he can fix Thomas’s other drawbacks, such as his accuracy and decision making.

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In limited action his rookie year, Thomas finished the season 1 for 9, 81 yards, and 1 TD. After starting quarterback Carson Palmer, and reliable backup Drew Stanton went down in week 10 and 15 respectively Arians tabbed Logan Thomas as the starting quarterback in the season finale against the San Francisco 49ers , but subsequently changed his mind, and named Ryan Lindley for the rest of the season.

Arians’ reasoning to not thrust the rookie quarterback into action in the season finale or the playoffs was that he didn’t want the young player to fail on such a big stage, and possibly ruin his chances to stick around in the league. Arians also stated that they “drafted him for two years from now.”

Thomas, the once coddled rookie, is now being challenged to take the next steps as an NFL quarterback. The third string quarterback job was once Logan Thomas’s, and Logan Thomas’s alone. Now, Arians declared the third string quarterback job wide open. Competing with Thomas for the third string quarterback job is former Indianapolis Colts practice squad member, Chandler Harnish, and undrafted rookie Phillip Sims, from Winston-Salem.

With this in mind, is Logan Thomas actually the quarterback of the future? Though it is still too early to write him off, he still needs to show glimpses of promise, sooner rather than later. Even though he was selected to be the future. there is a strong possibility that Thomas won’t be on the roster at the end of the preseason.

Personally, I think Chandler Harnish will win the third string quarterback job, with the possibility of Thomas or Sims joining the practice squad. Harnish has been in the league since 2012, and was with Bruce Arians during his time with the Indianapolis Colts. In addition to this, he was also able to learn from Andrew Luck and Matt Hasselbeck. Learning from a rising star, and a Super Bowl quarterback puts Harnish in a great position heading into the preseason.

Arians has never been shy about roster changes, and will cut a player if he feels it is necessary. So if Arians sees Harnish or Sims being able to make a bigger contribution to the team than Thomas will, then expect to see Logan Thomas packing his bags come the regular season.

If Logan Thomas is unable to separate himself from Chandler Harnish and Phillip Sims, then his viability as an NFL starting quarterback comes into question.

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