Arizona Cardinals offensive line still work in progress
By Scott Allen
The Arizona Cardinals have made three huge additions on the offensive line in the past couple of weeks
One of the worst units in all of the NFL in 2018, the Arizona Cardinals offensive line was surely due for a huge change. Injuries and inefficiencies doomed them the last couple of seasons.
Arizona quarterbacks were sacked an astounding 52 times in 2018. It was kind of amazing the Cardinals still managed to rush for 1,342-yards last season. David Johnson had 940 of those yards.
There are 16 offensive linemen now on the current Cardinals roster. But should they be done looking to add or upgrade? No.
At guard they have Max Garcia and Justin Pugh. Left guard they have J.R. Sweezy and Jeremy Vujnovich. Center likely will see Mason Cole as the starter with A.Q. Shipley returning from injury as his backup initially.
At right tackle they have Marcus Gilbert and left tackles would presumably be D.J. Humphries and Korey Cunningham. Cunningham had some good moments last season as a rookie. One has to wonder how much more the Cardinals can get out of Humphries?
Others in the mix right now include Will Holden, Colby Gossett, Justin Evans, Zack Golditch, Coleman Shelton, Will House, and Rees Odhiambo. Not sure if any of those guys will be around once September rolls around.
Pugh, Humphries, and Shipley all had injuries that ended their seasons prematurely in 2018. Shipley is coming off a torn ACL in the first week of training camp last year. Will he even be ready for camp?
So it would seem while Steve Keim should be commended for doing what he can to get help on the offensive line, it is almost a 365 days a year job to pay attention to. Health and age will again be questions of the line going into camp at this point.
They need guys that can pass protect to give Rosen more time to throw. Johnson also needs to be given better holes to run through to get back to his 2015 and 2016 production.