The Cardinals were somewhat busy this week in trying to fill voids created by players leaving or inconsistencies at certain positions.
First was DE Travis LaBoy, who the Cardinals snatched from the Tennessee Titans. I’ll be honest, not following the Titans all that closely, I really didn’t know much about LaBoy. After I read more about him and his 2007 stats, I liked what I saw. He managed 6 sacks in 12 games played. He also had 1 INT and 1 Forced Fumble. He fills the void of Calvin Pace.
Second pickup was P Dirk Johnson. He most recently punted for the Chicago Bears, albeit for just one game. Most notably he punted for the Philadelphia Eagles for four seasons before being cut at the end of preseason last year. Again, I don’t know much about this guy. What I do know is that was another position that needed to be addressed. Mitch Berger’s numbers were only slightly better than Mike Barr’s. As you will remember Berger came to the Cardinals after Barr was cut at the end of November.. Looking at Johnson’s career numbers, they are better than Berger’s number from last season.
Lastly, there was the one year exclusive rights tender offer that TE Troy Bienemann signed this week. Given the Cardinals early attention in Free Agency to this position, I imagine there will be competition for the backup spot behind starting TE Leonard Pope.
It’ll be interesting to see how this upcoming week turns out. Visits are scheduled, but I’m not holding my breath on any hopefuls until the contracts are signed. I’d really like to see WR Larry Fitzgerald get his contract situation worked out. Hard to speculate where that will go. Get it done Red Birds!
Scott Allen
AZScott