Arizona Cardinals: Predicting the final 53
By Scott Allen
The Cardinals defense will also have some very tough decisions to make come cut time the first weekend of September. There are going to be some good players who the Cardinals will have to cut.
Defensive line (7)
Red Bryant, Calais Campbell, Rodney Gunter, Josh Mauro, Robert Nkemdiche, Xavier Williams, Ed Stinson
Not much to go off of here from Friday night. Gunter did see some second half playing time which was a bit surprising.
The biggest take away here from Friday night was that no one got hurt. Look for Nkemdiche to return to practice very soon off of his injured ankle. You may not see him in a game until week three or four of preseason though.
Inside linebacker (3)
Kevin Minter, Alani Fua, Gabe Martin
The odd man out right now has to be Donald Butler. Butler could climb into the top three though with more reps. He just got to Arizona a week ago so he will need some time to catch up to speed.
Outside linebacker (5)
Chandler Jones, Alex Okafor, Markus Golden, Kareem Martin, Shaq Riddick
Jones will be the man here. Okafor is working himself out of the doghouse after the non-football injury that kept him out of the playoffs last season.
Golden will eventually be a starter. The only one on the roster not making the final 53 right now is Tristan Okpalaugo.
Cornerback (5)
Patrick Peterson, Brandon Williams, Justin Bethel, Harlan Miller, Mike Jenkins
Still a tough position to call. The Cardinals are working hard to work Williams in as the starter. He didn’t play particularly well against the Raiders. Arians though did say he looked alright and would learn how to defend the fade passes better.
Jenkins is still nursing a broken hand. Despite that, he could still end up with a spot on the team given the depth issues here. A lot will depend on the health of Bethel as well.
Safety (4)
Tyrann Mathieu, Deone Bucannon, Tony Jefferson, Marqui Christian
Christian had a very nice professional debut on Friday night. He lead the team in tackles with five. He will fit in well with this group of safeties.
The tough calls here will be Tyvon Branch and Chris Clemons. Clemons may have worked his way out of a spot though given his off the field issues. Also missing from this list is Matthias Farley. He could be a practice squad potential.
Punter (1)
Drew Butler
Butler has competition with Garrett Swanson right now. Butler out-punted Swanson though by almost seven-yards per punt on Friday night.
Kicker (1)
Chandler Catanzaro
Cat Man missed a field goal on Friday night but there is no one else in camp right now to push him. He will need to continue to hit the field goals and extra points though to hold that true.
Long snapper (1)
Daniel Dillon
Dillon is competing with Kameron Canady for the new Cardinals long-snapper. Mike Leach retired after the 2015 season.