Arizona Cardinals not forgetting special teams

The Arizona Cardinals have not ignored their special teams so far in free agency

The Arizona Cardinals have made a number of moves so far in free agency, including taking care of their own.  In the last two weeks, the Cardinals have re-signed or offered a tender for several players on the 2019 Cardinals roster.

They first took care of kicker Zane Gonzalez.  He got a one-year tender worth $3.25 million as a restricted free agent.  Keeping him was important.

Sure, there are a lot of free agent kickers out there but the Cardinals were right to keep him.  He had a very good 2019 season.  He went 31-35 on field goal attempts in 2019 while going 34-35 on extra point attempts.

His longest field goal last season was 54-yards. Overall he was 2-2 from 50+ last season.  One thing he will need to continue to work on is touchbacks on kickoffs.  He dropped to a 54.2 percent touchback rate last season.

Also re-signing was safety Chris Banjo.  He played mostly on special teams in 13 games played last year.  Look for him to mainly be a special teamer in 2020 as well.

A third signing came from running back D.J. Foster.  He is in a crowded running back room and likely won’t see much time in the backfield most likely.  As was the case in 2019, Foster will spend most of his time on special teams.

Although they lost return men in guys like receiver Pharoh Cooper and running back David Johnson, they still have a contingent of players that can fill that role. Receivers Christian Kirk and Andy Isabella can play in those roles as well.

Don’t count out cornerback Patrick Peterson as a possibility as a punt returner once again.  Also, if he ends up sticking around, receiver Trent Sherfield can fill a return role, although the receiver room is pretty full, so we’ll have to see if he can make the roster this upcoming season.