Could Phil Loadholt’s future lie with the Arizona Cardinals?
By Jim Koch
The Arizona Cardinals may be on the lookout for an offensive tackle and the veteran may fit the bill if he’s released
The training camp countdown is on. Five weeks and counting. And while the roster of the Arizona Cardinals is looking strong it’s not yet a finished product.
One area that may need looking at is offensive tackle. While Jared Veldheer is entrenched at left tackle D.J.Humphries is anything but a certainty on the right side. In addition the depth behind him is pretty much young and untested. Enter Phil Loadholt and the offensive tackle situation of the Minnesota Vikings.
Loadholt is a massive (6’8, 345), road grading right tackle. He’s also a seven year veteran who missed the entire 2015 season due to a torn Achilles tendon.
His job is in limbo due to the Vikings’ signing of Cincinnati Bengals free agent Andre Smith ( whom the Cards reportedly had interest in back in March).
The plan of the Vikings is to let the two tackles battle it out for the starting job in training camp with the overall consensus being that Smith will emerge victorious. That would leave Loadholt a strong candidate for release due to his salary (Most likely more than the Vikes would be willing to pay a backup coming off of injury).
That would put the ball in GM Steve Keim’s court. It would actually be a situation reminiscent of the 2013 signing of right tackle Eric Winston, brought in because of questions surrounding Bobby Massie. While Loadholt wouldn’t be guaranteed to beat out Humphries he would at the least provide quality insurance in case the untested, second year pro struggles.
Obviously alot has to happen for this scenario to come to fruition but it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on.