Arizona Cardinals: A time to get healthy

Injuries took a toll on the Arizona Cardinals during the 2014 season

The Arizona Cardinals should be happy there is time to heal.  Many fans, including yours truly, do miss football already even though it has been less than two weeks since Super Bowl XLIX has been played.  The list of players on the mend includes defensive end Calais Campbell.

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Campbell recently had surgery for a sports hernia.  He was at Arizona Cardinals headquarters in Tempe on Tuesday this week working with the medical staff.  Campbell as you will recall also suffered a sprained MCL in the game in October against the Denver Broncos on a cheap chop block by tight end Julius Thomas.  He ended up missing only a couple of games. He should be ready to go by the time the Cardinals take the field for OTA’s.

As far as other injuries go, quarterback Carson Palmer was reportedly ahead of schedule a couple of weeks ago as well.  He is recovering from a torn ACL back in November.  There is optimism from coach Bruce Arians that he will be ready for OTA’s as well.  I would be surprised if they let him out much though even if cleared.  I wouldn’t expect to see him back on the field until training camp.  However it is a good sign that he is recovering well.

The same can be said for quarterback Drew Stanton.  He too is recovering nicely from his injuries and will be ready once offseason workouts commence.  There may be no more important player to mend than the backup quarterback as we quickly found out at the end of the 2014 season.

Then there is running back Andre Ellington.  No recent updates have been provided, however he did start running again about four weeks ago.  That is another good sign.  The running back position could be one the Cardinals focus on in both free agency and the draft as the Cardinals decide how to use Ellington going forward.

Offseason workouts can begin for the Arizona Cardinals as early as April 20th.  The NFL Draft is April 30th -May 2nd in Chicago.  Free agency starts for the NFL at 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday March 10th.  That is now less than four weeks away.  Next on the calendar though will be the NFL Scouting Combine from February 17th – 23rd in Indianapolis.  The NFL’s Annual Meeting is in Phoenix March 22nd – 25th.