Cardinals Quietly Filling Needs in Free Agency

Until today, all but one of the Arizona Cardinals free-agent signings have been their own guys.  Only offensive lineman Adam Snyder from the San Francisco 49’ers had been signed from outside the organization.  Today, the Cards finally added another from the outside.  William Gay, cornerback formerly of the Pittsburgh Steelers, signed a two-year contract according to Darren Urban on azcardinals.com.  It is a move to fill a need, after the departure of Richard Marshall last week.

The Cards have been filling the needs with their own guys.  Although I don’t like the move, the Cards still filled an offensive line need by bringing back Levi Brown in at a lower salary, only $1 million for 2012. They re-signed their free agent kick Jay Feely.  Problem solved there.  They also re-signed wide receiver Early Doucet.  I’m on the fence with that move.  How many chances does a guy get to prove himself?  Apparently one more.  Wide receiver is a position of need though and Doucet and the Cards of course are familiar with each other.  I still see the Cards selecting a receiver or two in the draft next month.

I would imagine the Cards will still make moves before the draft in about a month from now.  They appear to be quite meticulous in their signings.  What they are doing is filling the gaps though.  They still have much work to do.

I think it would be a mistake for the Cards to rest on just signing their own guys.  Clearly the mix they had didn’t completely work in 2011.  I’m in favor of bringing guys back for familiarity at the right price, which is what they did with Brown, although I think they are better off without him.  Fact is though, they are familiar with each other.  At least he knows the playbook.  I think?  Same can be said for guard D’Anthony Batiste who re-signed the other day.