Former Arizona Cardinals are struggling to find employment

There’s a contingent of former Arizona Cardinals who are not yet guaranteed employment in the NFL for the upcoming season

Year after year, the Arizona Cardinals management team has some tough decisions to make. The NFL’s salary cap makes it impossible to hold onto everyone, so the club’s front office has had to cut ties with many productive players. Unfortunately, quite a few of those former Cardinals are struggling to find employment during the current offseason.

Deone Bucannon, Arizona’s first-round draft pick back in 2014, has received lukewarm interest on the free agent market. The undersized linebacker spent time with two different squads (Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Giants) last fall. Bucannon racked up 368 tackles during his first four campaigns with the Cards, but totaled just 28 in 14 appearances (one start) last year.

Back in ’14, Cardinals general manager Steve Keim inked offensive tackle Jared Veldheer to a five-year, $35 million contract. The 6’8, 321 pounder logged 53 starts during his four seasons in the desert, before being traded to the Denver Broncos in 2018. Veldheer played in two contests for the Green Bay Packers after a brief retirement last year, but his best days are clearly behind him.

One former member of the Arizona roster who should be able to land a gig sometime soon is safety Tony Jefferson. The 28-year old tore the ACL and the LCL in his knee last October, and was released by the Baltimore Ravens this past February. Jefferson has since posted a video of himself running on a treadmill, and believes he’ll be offered a deal as soon as he can prove himself healthy to a needy franchise.

There are some other former Cards who are waiting for their phones to ring as well. Those on the offensive side of the ball include Drew Stanton, Jaron Brown, Earl Watford, Ted Larsen and Bradley Sowell. Some of the former Cardinals defenders on that list include Sam Acho, Josh Mauro, Kareem Martin, Olsen Pierre, Jamar Taylor and Xavier Williams.

There was a time when everyone mentioned in this article were making contributions on the football field for the Redbirds. Whether they have anything left to offer the league remains to be seen. At this point, there’s no guarantee that they’ll be given a chance to show what they can do in 2020 or beyond.