When the Arizona Cardinals made their cuts to get down to the 53-man limit yesterday, a slight surprise was the fact that they kept five tight ends on the initial 53-man roster. Now, recognize I said initial. This is a roster set in pencil and you’ll most likely see one dropped as the Cards try to add elsewhere on the roster. Todd Heap, Jeff King, Stephen Spach, Jim Dray, and Rob Housler. The depth chart lists Jim Dray and Rob Housler as fourth and fifth respectively, but you can bet Housler is going nowhere and Dray may stick around too.
Raisingzona discussed the tight end situation a couple of weeks ago but now it is back at the forefront after keeping five of them on the initial regular season roster. You can’t talk about the improved position without mentioning Heap. Heap may just end up being the second leading receiver on this team as long as he stays healthy.
As for Jeff King, he’s tall and can substitute for Heap in any situation. Spach knows the system, he’s been around the longest of the five. Dray is a second year guy I don’t think the Cards are ready to drop anytime soon and Housler may end up being as good as Heap someday soon. Personally, I think the odd man out will be Spach. We’ll see, but finally it is a nice problem for a position that has been nothing but a problem since the franchise moved to Arizona 23 years ago.