Arizona Cardinals: Projecting the final 53-man roster

The Arizona Cardinals must trim their roster to 53 players by Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Arizona time.

So the time has come once again to make predictions about your Arizona Cardinals. This time I will be predicting who makes the final 53-man roster. By final I mean who makes the roster as of Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The roster is subject to change. There is one more preseason game on Thursday night against the Denver Broncos for some of these guys to prove themselves.

One thing you can probably count on is one or two guys initially making the final roster but then being replaced by someone else cut by another team to fill greater needs. It happened last year, the year before and so on. That’s the NFL for you. Here are my projected 53.

Offense:

QB (2): Carson Palmer, Drew Stanton

RB (5): Andre Ellington, David Johnson, Stepfan Taylor, Chris Johnson, Robert Hughes

WR (5): Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd, John Brown, Jaron Brown, J.J. Nelson

C (2): A.Q. Shipley, Lyle Sendlein

LG (2): Mike Iupati, Ted Larsen

RG (2): Jonathan Cooper, Earl Watford

RT (2): Bobby Massie, D.J. Humphries

LT (1): Jared Veldheer

TE (5): Ifeanyi Momah, Darren Fells, Troy Niklas, Gerald Christian, Jermaine Gresham

Defense:

DE (3): Calais Campbell, Cory Redding, Josh Mauro

NT (2): Rodney Gunter, Xavier Williams

DT (2): Frostee Rucker, Ed Stinson

LB (8): Sean Weatherspoon, Kevin Minter, LaMarr Woodley, Markus Golden, Alex Okafor, Alani Fua, Shaq Riddick, Kenny Demens

CB (5): Patrick Peterson, Justin Bethel, Jerraud Powers, Cariel Brooks, Jimmy Legree

S (4): Tony Jefferson, Deone Bucannon, Tyrann Mathieu, Rashad Johnson

Specials:

K (1): Chandler Catanzaro

P (1): Drew Butler

LS (1): Mike Leach

I think ultimately the Cardinals keep two quarterbacks on the active roster but Phillip Sims could make the practice squad. I have to give him the nod over Logan Thomas. One of those guys will be added to the practice squad though in case something happens to Palmer or Stanton.

The running back situation is very tough. I think the versatility of Taylor beats out Marion Grice but it will be difficult to let Kerwynn Williams go. This is the one position I have changed my mind on several times. I think Paul Lasike has a very good shot at the practice squad.

At receiver I think J.J. Nelson has beat out Brittan Golden. Jaxon Shipley is a nice story and could be practice squad bound, either with the Cardinals or with another team.

On defense say goodbye to NT Alameda Ta’amu. Also I see LB’s Kareem Martin and Gabe Martin not making it. At safety Chris Clemons could take one of the corner spots but I see the great need at corner though, so I think a guy like Cariel Brooks makes it but Thursday night’s game will probably decide that.

More from Raising Zona

Home/Cardinals News