Arizona Cardinals A-Z profiles: Matt Barkley

The Arizona Cardinals have one week of OTA and a mini-camp remaining before training camp

It is time for our annual look at player by player from A to Z on the current Arizona Cardinals roster as we head into the final four days of OTA’s and the three-day mini-camp next week.  The next stop is training camp at the end of July.

Listed first on the roster is quarterback Matt Barkley.  Barkley is entering his fourth-season out of USC.

2015: Barkley spent the entire season as the emergency quarterback for the Cardinals.  He never dropped that clipboard last season.  He was acquired for a seventh-round draft pick from the Philadelphia Eagles.

2016 season outlook: Barkley looks to be in the same position he was last season.  He virtually has no shot at playing in 2015 as long as Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton stay healthy.  However he has battle on his hands.

As he enters training camp he will have to compete with undrafted free agent Jake Coker for the third quarterback position.  Nothing will be given to him.

It comes as no surprise to have a fourth quarterback in camp during the preseason, however in many cases the fourth guy is just a camp body.  Coker will be more than a body.  Barkley is going to have his work cut out for him to make the final 53-man roster.

As you can see, some don’t feel like Barkley is worth the time.  Certainly Barkley hasn’t done much during his time in Arizona but they’ve not needed him to at this point.  The fact that Barkley has some real competition though tells me they aren’t ready to call Barkley their future.