Arizona Cardinals: The quarterbacks

The Arizona Cardinals played musical quarterbacks this past weekend to help set the roster

The Arizona Cardinals on July 31st had Carson Palmer, Drew Stanton, Logan Thomas, Phillip Sims, and Chandler Harnish as their training camp quarterbacks.  Harnish was waived on August 7th.  That left four quarterbacks to supposedly fight for three spots with really two quarterback fighting for the third spot.

As of last Thursday it was presumably still that way, even after the game against the Denver Broncos.  Sims and Thomas were still neck and neck for the last spot, whether it was going to be on the 53-man roster or a spot on the practice squad.  The Friday happened and everything changed.

The Cardinals went and traded for Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Matt Barkley and ended up waiving both Sims and Thomas.  Sims cleared waivers but went to work out for the Oakland Raiders.  Thomas did not clear waivers and was signed by the Miami Dolphins.

Carson Palmer

Palmer made a quick recovery, relatively speaking, from his torn ACL last November.  He made it back in time for some OTA’s and then mini-camp.  He was deemed ready for training camp when several months ago the Cardinals weren’t sure if he’d be ready to go in full for camp.

Palmer returns for his third season and hopefully his second full one.  After starting all 16 games in 2013 he only started six games in 2014, going 6-0.  He is 13-3 in his last 16 starts.  He is the man in charge of the offense as long as he stays healthy.

Drew Stanton

After a rough preseason for the most part, Stanton returns to be Palmer’s backup for the third season in a row.  Stanton went 5-3 in his eight starts in 2014 but struggled a bit down the stretch before being knocked out in week 15 last season for good.

Matt Barkley

Barkley struggled in the preseason.  He went 15-32 for 159 yards and an interception for the Eagles.  He couldn’t crack the top three quarterbacks on their roster, a roster at the time included Tim Tebow, who has now since been cut.  It is a no lose situation for the Cardinals though.

Barkley was traded for a conditional pick in the 2016 draft.  If he is still on the roster after week six, then the Cardinals will trade a seventh-round pick to the Eagles.  So at worst they lose a low draft pick and Logan Thomas.  At best of course they are able to help Barkley improve and go on to be the franchise quarterback in a few years.  Many people don’t expect the latter to happen but you never know.  For now, he holds the clipboard on Sunday’s.