Arizona Cardinals: Lose Alex Okafor to Saints
By Scott Allen
The Arizona Cardinals have parted ways with their former fourth-round draft pick
Linebacker Alex Okafor’s time with the Arizona Cardinals has come to an end. On Tuesday the free agent left for cajun country.
The New Orleans Saints are now home for the four-year linebacker from the University of Texas. The Cardinals drafted him in the fourth-round of the 2013 NFL Draft.
Okafor’s time came to and end because he just never reached the potential that Steve Keim and Bruce Arians saw in him coming in as a rookie. He only played in one game as a rookie but quickly vaulted his second season in 2014.
In 2014 he played in 13 games, starting 12 of them. He followed that up with 13 starts in 2015 but then was relegated to just a backup player in 2016.
So where did things go downhill for Okafor in Arizona? He had a great season in 2014 with eight sacks. That however dropped to two sacks in 2015.
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Leading into the postseason Okafor had a secretive injury that no one wanted to discuss, not even Okafor himself. Many concluded it was a non-football injury and it didn’t make Arians and the team very happy.
Okafor has just 3.5 sacks in 2016, playing in all 16 games but again, not making the starting lineup once. He also had just eight tackles last season.
The Cardinals had to feel he was expendable, especially with the pickup of linebacker Jarvis Jones on Tuesday. Hopefully he can find his 2014 form again in New Orleans.
If Okafor had returned, he would be once again fighting for time with other linebackers such as Chandler Jones and Markus Golden. The Cardinals also like Kareem Martin, who is a year younger than Okafor.
It remains to be seen if the change from Okafor to Jones will change anything. After Okafor left however, there was no choice but to give Jones a one-year deal to replace the roster spot.