Another free agent corner may be on Arizona Cardinals agenda
By Jim Koch
This past Monday, Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim met with reporters to address the club’s 2021 free agent acquisitions. One of the questions centered around the cornerback spot, which had become woefully thin after the departure of Patrick Peterson. Were the Cards taking too long to replace the eight-time Pro Bowler?
“One thing you don’t want to do is you don’t want to panic and do things that put you in a tough situation from a cap standpoint,” Keim told the members of the press. “So we’ll continue to monitor the market.”
Legions of Cardinals followers were relieved three days later when the club announced that they had landed Malcolm Butler, a talented cover guy from the Tennessee Titans. Suddenly, the “Red Sea” felt a whole lot better about the state of the defensive backfield. Even more comforting is the report that Arizona could look to add yet another free agent corner to the mix in the very near future.
Besides Butler, the Cards have just two other players on the roster who have starting experience at one of the defense’s most difficult positions. Byron Murphy is a third-year pro who the squad believes is best-suited to line up in the slot. Robert Alford is an injury-prone veteran who has not competed in an NFL game since December of 2018.
Dre Kirkpatrick, a 31-year old who spent last season in the desert, would make some sense for the Cardinals. Butler will count a decent amount of coin against the franchise’s salary-cap this coming fall, so the next cornerback acquisition will probably be on the less-expensive side. Kirkpatrick already knows coordinator Vance Joseph’s scheme, and would likely agree to another one-year “prove-it” deal at this point in the offseason.
Staying within the budget, 33-year old Josh Norman could also be a possibility for Arizona. The 6’0, 200 pounder spent last year with the Buffalo Bills, totaling 24 tackles, an interception and four passes defensed in nine appearances (three starts). Norman’s one and only campaign with the Bills was cut short thanks to a pulled hamstring and a COVID-19 test that came up positive in November.
Other potentially-affordable options include Darqueze Dennard, Steven Nelson and Gareon Conley. It stands to reason that Keim has more moves up his sleeve. All that we need to do as Cards fans is stay tuned.