Arizona Cardinals: It’s a re-load, not re-build
By Scott Allen
The Arizona Cardinals have a lot of offseason moves to make decisions on
The Arizona Cardinals are now more than a month removed from the 2016 season. The 2017 season preparations are on their way.
Super Bowl LI is Sunday evening in Houston and then it is time to solely focus on the task at hand. Will the Cardinals re-load or re-build? Fox 10’s Jude LaCava will be interviewing Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians this evening to ask this very question.
The answer should be simple, it’s a re-load. Not when you have receiver Larry Fitzgerald coming back for at least one more season to try and get his ring.
Although the Cardinals are still waiting on an answer from quarterback Carson Palmer most believe he will be returning. I would expect a decision very soon.
The Cardinals surely will lose a number of players. They can’t re-sign all of their free agents and nor should they. There are some replaceable parts.
More from Raising Zona
- Arizona Cardinals: Could Eric Bieniemy come to the desert?
- Would Jonathan Gannon be a good fit for the Arizona Cardinals?
- Arizona Cardinals: Budda Baker right in his take regarding the next coach
- Arizona Cardinals: 3 reasons new coach should want to work with Murray
- Arizona Cardinals special teams could be completely revamped in 2023
The Cardinals will need to re-tool their secondary a bit. They need to find a starter opposite Patrick Peterson at cornerback. Safety Tyrann Mathieu will be 100 percent for the first time in two years but decisions still need to be made with guys like Tony Jefferson and D.J. Swearinger.
One the defensive line, the Cardinals still need to make a decision on defensive tackle Calais Campbell. They already said they are going to bring back linebacker Chandler Jones.
The Cardinals biggest offensive decision may be the backup to running back David Johnson. Chris Johnson is likely done. Will the Cardinals bring back Andre Ellington or look elsewhere?
The Cardinals aren’t done. Even if they do go out and get their future quarterback this offseason, that man will have at least a year to learn under Palmer and new quarterbacks coach Byron Leftwich.
The Cardinals have a good thing going but after 7-8-1 and a number of free agents about to hit the market, some change is inevitable. It just won’t be a complete re-build. The Super Bowl is still the goal.