Arizona Cardinals: Weekend headlines

A lot of activity happened this past weekend regarding the Arizona Cardinals.

The Arizona Cardinals are gearing up for another regular season, and this past weekend was just another part of the process. The team made the necessary final cuts to trim the team down to 53 players, and also heard the verdict regarding Bobby Massie’s suspension.

Bobby Massie:

Fourth year tackle Bobby Massie violated the NFL’s substance abuse policy by driving under the influence. Massie was originally suspended for three games, however, over the weekend the punishment was reduced to two games. With Massie’s suspension a new face will have to be added to an already makeshift offensive line. The player who will most likely be filling in for Massie will be Earl Watford who stood out in the preseason game against the Oakland Raiders. Massie’s suspension also made it it impossible for Bradley Sowell, another candidate to fill in for him, to make the roster.

(Still no word on the status of Daryl Washington.)

Matt Barkley:

On Friday, the Arizona Cardinals traded a conditional seventh round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles for third year quarterback, Matt Barkley. The trade for Barkley lead to the release of quarterbacks Logan Thomas and Phillip Sims. With the Massie suspension, Barkley was able to be added to the roster as the third quarterback. Barkley should have ample time to learn the offense behind both Palmer and Stanton, and Arians will be able to decide if Barkley will be able to run his offense for years to come.

This is a low risk high reward move for the team. Barkley, who was once predicted to go number 1 overall will now have the opportunity to be molded by quarterback guru Bruce Arians, who can hopefully turn him into a legitimate NFL starting quarterback. At 6′ 2″ 227 lbs. and poor performances in the regular season so far, the odds are against him, so time will tell whether this gamble will pay off.

Final roster cuts:

The Arizona Cardinals ended up cutting 22 players over the weekend. The most notable among those cut were quarterbacks Phillip Sims and Logan Thomas, running back Kerwynn Williams, wide receiver Jaxon Shipley, safety Harold Jones-Quartery, and defensive end Matt Shaughnessy.

Logan Thomas was claimed off of waivers by the Miami Dolphins, and is expected to be the third quaterback behind Ryan Tannehill and Matt Moore. Phillip Sims has tryouts lined up with the Raiders, who recently cut Christiain Ponder, and the Tennessee Titans. Kerwynn Williams was cut in favor of Stepfan Taylor who has a different skill set, whereas Williams’ style has been compared to that of Ellington and Chris Johnson.

Jaxon Shipley was a victim of playing the wrong position. He played great in the preseason but the odds were against him to make the team due to the team’s depth at wide receiver. If no other team claims him, he would be a great addition to the practice squad. Harold Jones-Quartey was one of the “on the bubble” players who were locks for the practice squad if they didn’t make the active roster. Unfortunately, Jones-Quartey was claimed off waivers by the Chicago Bears. Matt Shaughnessy was cut due to the impressive rise of Josh Mauro, which made Shaughnessy expendable.

As of now, the Arizona Cardinals have only claimed defensive end Lawrence Okoye from the 49ers and cornerback Robert Nelson from the Cleveland Browns. The Arizona Cardinals aren’t done making moves, Keim and Arians will still be looking to make any improvements to the roster in any way possible.

This was a busy weekend for what should be an eventful season for the Arizona Cardinals!

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