Arizona Cardinals offensive line benefiting from veteran additions

The additions of Cody Ford and Billy Price have helped the Arizona Cardinals deal with the team’s banged-up offensive line. 

Things have not been going well for the Arizona Cardinals offensive line over the past couple of weeks. Starting center Rodney Hudson has missed the Cards’ last three matchups with a knee injury. Left guard Justin Pugh will miss the remainder of the campaign after suffering a torn ACL during a Week 6 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

The first replacements for the pair, Sean Harlow and Max Garcia, were far from impressive during the battle with Seattle. With just four days to go before their next game, Arizona offensive line coach Sean Kugler had very little time to come up with a better plan for the team’s blocking unit.

Fortunately, Cardinals general manager Steve Keim had made a couple of roster additions that have helped the squad deal with a very serious issue. To the surprise of many, those acquisitions were on full display this past Thursday night during the Redbirds’ 42-34 victory over the New Orleans Saints.

Cody Ford and Billy Price came through for the Arizona Cardinals O-line

When the Cards trotted out onto the field for their first offensive possession versus the Saints, Cody Ford took over Pugh’s former spot at left guard. The former Buffalo Bills draft selection had been activated from the injured-reserve list just hours before, returning from the bum ankle that had sidelined Ford since September 10th.

Arizona also had a new center in the starting lineup against New Orleans. The new anchor of the line was Billy Price, a former first-round draft pick of the Cincinnati Bengals. The 28-year old botched a shotgun snap and was charged with two false-start penalties as well, but Price’s overall performance was a huge upgrade over what Harlow has to offer.

Price was one of three Cardinals blockers (Kelvin Beachum, Will Hernandez) to log all 66 offensive snaps against the Saints. Ford totaled 53 snaps (80%) for the “Big Red” scoring attack, with Josh Jones also seeing a few plays at left guard.

Keim acquired Ford from Buffalo back in August for a fifth-round choice in 2023. Price was signed off of the Las Vegas Raiders practice squad earlier this month. Based on what the twosome accomplished during Thursday’s win over New Orleans, both acquisitions appear to be downright bargains for the Cards organization.

(Snap counts provided by Lineups.com)