Arizona Cardinals kicking game should be simple to solve

The Arizona Cardinals kicking game hasn’t been the best over the last few years but they may already have the kicker they need on the roster

Not that they got a lot of opportunities last season, but the Arizona Cardinals have a fairly simple problem to solve at kicker.  Keep Zane Gonzalez.

Gonzalez joined the Cardinals active roster last season in week 13 against the Green Bay Packers.  He went 2-2 for that cold day in Green Bay.

Overall he went 7-9 with the Cardinals.  That included a 3-3 against the Seattle Seahawks in the season finale.  All three kicks were from 50-plus yards.

Gonzalez was brought in because of injury to Phil Dawson.  Dawson struggled a bit with an injury that also saw Matt McCrane come in and spell him for one week.  It was kind of head-scratching at the time why the Cardinals didn’t just stick with McCrane.

Either way, Gonzalez, the former draft pick of the Cleveland Browns, was available after being cut due to early season struggles in losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints.  He is a local favorite out of Arizona State University.

A number of Cardinals fans wanted to see them sign Gonzalez after the draft, not expecting him to get drafted.  Cleveland took a chance on him and probably gave up on him too soon.

The situation now for the Cardinals is a simple one.  Keep Gonzalez and bring in competition for him in camp.  Bring in one other guy.

That other guy does not need to be Cody Parkey, who is getting released by the Chicago Bears.  Parkey had the playoff debacle with the ball bouncing off the upright and crossbar on the same kick.

The Bears were unhappy he spoke about the kick publicly when it became fodder for national news outlets.  The writing was on the wall, he was done in Chicago.

That doesn’t mean the Cardinals should hop right on that wagon.  They already have a kicker who was solid at the end of the 2018 season.  No, Gonzalez isn’t perfect but no one out there is.