Arizona Cardinals: Starters ruled out for preseason finale

Phillip Sims to start the game at quarterback in the contest for QB3

Following their work on Sunday night versus the Oakland Raiders, Arizona Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians all but ruled out any of the offensive or defensive starters in playing Thursday at Denver in the preseason finale according to Josh Weinfuss at ESPN.

The starters will continue to practice at the Tempe facility with 7-on-7 drills while the remaining players continue to prepare for the Denver Broncos.

However, this is preseason and it isn’t a time to panic.

This may come as a surprise to more than a few after the “flat” showing of the starting offense, especially the offensive line against Oakland in front of millions on the national stage. However, this is preseason and it isn’t a time to panic. Arians knows what he has with many of his veteran starters, including Carson Palmer who was nearly perfect in his limited playing time in the first two weeks of preseason.

Arians also announced that the competition for QB3 would feature Phillip Sims starting the game and Logan Thomas, who lead the team on a game winning, two-minute drive, Sunday taking over at an unspecified time. Backup quarterback Drew Stanton will sit as well.

More from Cardinals News

• Arizona Cardinals: Could Eric Bieniemy come to the desert?
• Would Jonathan Gannon be a good fit for the Arizona Cardinals?
• Arizona Cardinals: Budda Baker right in his take regarding the next coach
• Arizona Cardinals: 3 reasons new coach should want to work with Murray
• Arizona Cardinals special teams could be completely revamped in 2023

There are hopes that some oft-injured players may be able to play, even if its to shake off some rust, as well. Free Agent pickup Sean Weatherspoon and recent acquisition Chris Johnson have yet to see the playing field. Neither appear to be in any danger of being cut, especially with the raw talent, but it would be nice to know if the team should keep other players in fear they may not play. Running back, in particular, is a very deep position that could see some surprise cuts (or keeps) and players who will not make it through waivers to be practice squad eligible.

Teams are expected to be down to 53 players by Saturday, mid-day here in Arizona, the players that remain on the roster are still likely to churn before the season debut in nearly two weeks as waiver pickups pique the interest of teams looking to still get better before the 2015 campaign begins.

If the season started today, you won’t find many Arizona Cardinals fans that will have any disagreement on the points above, if you do, I want to hear from you below. The team has tons of talent in place, speedy, athletic, freakish position players who can do a lot of damage, provided they stay healthy, and there in lies the key for the Cardinals in 2015.