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Cardinals Pulse
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news from the nest post draft addition |
heading into draft gardiner and his staff and moved out alot of valuable draft picks and were left with 2 early 2nds,a 5th and a pait of 6th round picks as the draft ticked down to end of 1st and beginning of 2nd it was obvious gardiner was gonna miss couple of targets on his board,as it turned out we drafted ourselves a kick returner,OLB depth and had 3 darts at draft gem which would equate to 3 cheap depth players that shouldnt get near the field.
draft-2#6 rashaard penny this was a bit of a reach as some of out targets tumbled just before our pick and this left front office scratching around,we opted for penny with his high return grade,which we think couple with his speed and BTK skills could be dangerous asset in special teams
2#8 leighton vander esch this guy was BPA at the time and has the skills to be a good player in this league,one slight problem we have 2 good young OLBS on our roster already but we are hoping this pick will give us very minimal drop off when hes on the field
5=2,6#2,6#3 these 3 picks were all drafted with the hope of getting lucky in draft gem draw,ramirez,evans,cantrell didnt strike it lucky so all 3 guys are cheap depth
2nd phase free agency-after a very mediocre draft we felt the need to grab back up QB with highest awareness incase barkley goes down,as mentioned its massive season for cards and we need at least 6 wins to not lose a year,we brought in aaron rodgers on 1 year deal despite having offers from colts and ravens as well,the other guy we brought in during this free agency period was cyrus younger brother arie kouandijo so we have these brothers manning back up spots on right side of the line
mentor-as per last season CB keenan lewis returns to work with promising youngster witherspoon,its sad lewis is getting phased out cards gameplan but being the top professional he is ,he is committed to turning witherspoon ino a starting corner
training camp-corner witherspoon gets more coaching as we try and boost up positional skills to match his speed and height,with awareness,catch and tackle he jumps to 73ovr
our pair of free safeties jones and furman get worked out and boost awr,tack and cth.furman was on the block briefly but with low awareness scaring off potential suiters.josh jones continues to improve and its thoughts cards will soon be looking at bringing in athletic coach to boost his speed.
and finally late round project TE shaheen gets the nod with jared cook a 1 year rental and egnew down to last couple of season on his contract,we wanna see whether shaheen can develop into a stqrter or a situational guy
restructure-we managed to purchase a restructure and tied down WR josh doctson to a 6 year deal @25.60M ,the coaching staff have high hopes for this kid as hes worked his way up the depth chart to sit as slot guy. |
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Forum Discussion
(by S_Gardiner on 02/22/2024)
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Replies - 1 :: Views - 19 |
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news from the nest off season edition |
a very quiet off season so far in arizona and gardiner and his coaching staff concentrated on prudent spending with the league tightening finances around the league.
resign-we opted to resign RE dee ford after sending couple of 2nds to bring him over from jets,hes been solid performerand despite a poor team performanmce last year ford put up his best numbers yet with career highs in tackles and tackles for losses and actually returned fumble return for a TD
match eligable-we made cyrus kouandijo our eligable player,hes got great physical attributes and blocking skills but lack of playing time has hindered his awareness but sitting behind smith and williams at tackle,gametime is always at a premium,we were delighted no on emade an offer and we got cyrus to resign at minimum amount
restructure-randy gregory after 3 solid seasons starting at ROLB gregory was rewarded with a long term deal,whichmeans the linebacking core of gregory,collins and barr should man the middle of the field for next 3/4 seasons our front office managed to get him signed for 7 years at a modest amount 12.81M with 4.97M guarenteed
trades-we highlighted we needed to upgrade our starting cornerback partnership,we had king a star in the making,commings and last year 2nd rd corner witherspoon,but with witherspoon lacking awareness and commings lacking top end speed we reached out to many organisations trying to bring in that premium player whilst offering up the 2nd overall pick.players such as rhodes/gilmore/slay/millinier/amerson/and detroit pair bradberry and jones were enquired about but all were rejections with their franchises unwilling to move on from these players.we did find a willing trade partner in gary cohen and a deal was struck with details below
arizona send -
pick 1#2 2018 draft
7th round pick 2019 draft
pittsburgh send-
CB trae waynes
pick 2#6 2018 draft
2nd round pick 2019 draft
we are delighted we get a starting corner with awareness in 80s on cheap long term deal,and 2nd round pick this and next season to bolster our roster.arizona front office remain in conversations with several gms and trade lines remain open to everyone but word on the street is we may get couple of minor trades but dont expec anything drastic from gardiner
free agency-final recap from arizona tonight is brief recap of what arizona done during free agency,with a section of fans starting to turn on gardiner after early sucess the team have been trending down the last 3 seasons,gardiners staff belief the players they have drafted and progressed can get the job done,the fans would like to have seen couple of big name additions.cards did resign koundijo as mentioned above and made generous offers for top free agency targets DT aaron donald and qb andre woodson but our offers were blown out of the water by coaches that needed them more,we did find ourselves in top 3 bidding for k boswell and fs pinkins,we decided not to up our offer for boswell and continue to improve our struggling young kicker,and we actually won pinkins but panthers chose to match and pinkins returned to carolina.
we head into draft with a few decent mid round picks hoping to flesh out depth and maybe get lucky on 1 or 2 project players,arizona will be returning most of thier starting line up from last season and with gardiner needing at least 6 wins,the fans watch on nervously |
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Forum Discussion
(by S_Gardiner on 02/08/2024)
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Replies - 0 :: Views - 18 |
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news from the nest |
with a little lull in life ive gotta chance to write first team article since june,and wow what a rough couple of seasons its been,everyone knows we inherited a superteam full of ageing superstars that gave us couple of seasons of success where we didnt alter much,winning a superbowl and reaching nfc championship game,the last league update was first step along youth development route but couple of seasons since then vets cant get out the door quick enough,gardiner always wary now since failed lions rebuild project seemed to get carried away with 5 year job security and moved further along youth route than perhaps he should have.the performances have been getting worse since early days with gardiner going 11-12-6-5-3 win seasons.gardiner seems to want to address lack of awareness this season aqnd has reached out to 8/10 elite players with high awareness but despite offering 1#2 no one is prepared to budge. lets give a quick recap of position groups
quarterback-we have 4 guys in this group,barkley is obviously number 1 guy moving forward although injuries and poor play have slowed his development but with his key attributes upto awr 87 thp 99 tha 95 hes getting close to perfoming at a decent level.bomar and mettenburger who were brought in for mid round picks during injury crisis are both free to test free agency,canfield still has a year left act and will start as back up,gardiner may well pursue a decent back up QB this off season incase someone breaks barkley again
half backs-trent has steadied the ship being consistant big bodied rusher and davis has performed well as a back up since being drafted by gardiner,since these 2 are locked up long term sankey isnt being brought back next season
full backs-we brought in braden wilson last off season to give us edge in rush game,we lost hi for the season early so cards fans are hoping to see best of him next season
receivers-this is a strength of our roster if only we could just get half decent QB play...kris durham is amongst leagues best and gardiner is often fending off trade requests for his star man.underated keenan allen and promising youngster josh doctson fill out starting group,with floyd,posey and enenuwa offering size and speed in reserve.egnew has as of yet untapped superstar potential so we are feeling good about skills positions.
oline-we have 2 studs as our bookend tackles in tyron smith and trent wiiliamsthe other 8 guys on the line are all big athletic strong fast guys that need time to develop,its seems at moment schweitzer,boehm and morse are favoured by gardiner,it has been runoured that as well as cornerback gardiner has been enquiring about interior olineman .
offensively we have dabbled in playbooks but we can only highlight low awareness as issue in certain positions,we are gradually signing productive players long term whilst slowly progressing them,but it vitally important that we stop the rot at 2 contract years and give our young guys time they need
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Forum Discussion
(by S_Gardiner on 01/20/2024)
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Replies - 0 :: Views - 11 |
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news from the nest |
arizona finally reached the last off season where they were shackled by financial constraints with the bloated contracts of smith,carriker,umenyiora,gocong coming off the books and mentor QB grossman finally dropping to a figure that meant he could get moved without putting franchise in cap hell.
resigns
WR we resigned slot receiver floyd as hes been dependable target whenever called upon and last season he earned pro bowl call up for his kick return efforts
FS sabby piscitelli we declared sabby match eligable as over last couple of seasons hes had plenty of interest,we thought we would accept an early 1st offer but match everything else it turns out teams werent as serious about acquiring the premium free safety in the league as we only had to match a 2nd round tender
releases
as mentioned earlier this off season was cost cutting exercise with 11 guys getting released after their contracts expired,a wealth of guys with starting experience but with bloated salaries as they headed deep into regression.cards front office have been planning this event as guys have been brought in previous seasons to limit the disruption with this guys leaving.gocong,umenyiora and jason smith were splitting time with their younger counterparts anyway.adam carriker and justin medlock were the other starters that we felt we could replace.
trades
we were involved in 4 trades this off seasons,with couple of big moves and couple of minor ones.
QB grossman to eagles for eagles 2#1,after grossman missed last season with long term injury we felt happy to go with barkley this year to get him more progression to get him upto where we think he could be ,we also cleared big chunk of cap moving away from rex
LE chris long arrived from atlanta for cards future 1st this was indication from arizona front office that we are committed to winning now,long should give us 2 seasons of elite play,we noticed lack of pressure from the edge and know the importance of getting there to help the secondary which was exposed last season
RE dee ford another edge rusher brought in this time from jets,we had to send 2#1 and 2#13 to get him into the desert but along with long these guys should be the missing pieces for our defence
last trade was minor bit of housekeeping with cards and skins exchanging kickers and late picks as washington needed someone with extra leg power cards ent K maher cards 7th for K kaeding and redskins 6th
free agency signings
we had most starting spots covered and with post draft free agency was just a case of adding some depth.we brought in 3 guys that we believe could help our franchise QB canfield was about best pocket option left and will sit purely as depth behind barkley if we ever need to rely on him we are in trouble.K janikowski offers better leg strength than kaeding and will battle new trade arrival for starting spot,finally a previous nemesis from our detroit days LE gaines adams was brought in to spell long with his deteriorating stamina,so between these 2 old boys hopefully we get pressure from left frequently.
draft class
at 2#5 we took best player available which was WR josh doctson with decent size and very good speed attributes and solid hands and stamina,its believed he is battling for #4 spot on depth,alongside gettis,floyd,and enumuna
with datish regressing and out of contract,we scouted a few centres and boehm and 2#18 was the choice,with better than average physicals with a bit of work on blocking skills he could be the long term answer for us anchoring our line
LG wes schweitzer was taken at 4#16 with half an eye on nicks and his regression/contract situation,we were delighted to see his attributes when we got him inside the building,very much like boehm he has outstanding physical attributes and with some blocking development hopefully he slides into start when nicks no longer cuts it
LT taylor decker was selected at 5#6,this was purely depth selection and lottery ticket at draft gem,he slightly skewed up but make no assumptions hes not challenging smith at tackle
DT david onyemata see above post depth and draft gem gamble taken at 5#7 ,this guy looks like he could be an asset in pass rushing situations but for now will sit at #3 in depth
5#12 SS jalen mills,again just selected to fill roster requiremnt,shouldnt get near the field unless in special teams
training camp
MLB jamie collins +1awr +2tack collins despite being 4th round selection has already won starting spot and plays at a very high level,hes just penned long term extension so he will be leading our defence for years to come.
WR josh doctson +1awr +2cth arizona coaching staff already showing faith in young tcu stand out,with a superb pre season under his belt,we felt a boost would help him creep up the depth chart
CB sanders commings +1awr +1cth +1tck,with commings out of contract at end of season this is a headscatcher but rumours are hes beat out sherrod martin for nickel spot,if this move helps us get couple more wins we would be very happy |
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Forum Discussion
(by S_Gardiner on 07/23/2023)
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Replies - 0 :: Views - 12 |
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cardinals season recap |
heading into the season,we knew we made some decisions that made us weaker as we were battling cap situation,5 of our key playmakers were moving to new franchises some with our blessing some without.
we lost demarco murray to oakland through match eligable,and we lost a regressing brandon browner to jets in free agency,the other 3 guys chris white,michael bennett and brandon marshall were moved on with our blessing to clear cap and give youngsters a chance to play.we thought we covered bases pretty well,trent richardson was brought in to replace murray,kris durham to replace brandon marshall,sherod martin to fill in for brandon browner,and draftees collins and jackson would be filling in for the others.there was a slight hit in talent but nothing that prepared us for horrors that happened.we are thinking this must have affected team chemistry or something because a roster thats been elite our first couple of season in arizona were playing more like gardiners lions.
week 1 we lost our talisman and star QB grossman,our highly touted project barkley would get his first meaningful gametime this season because of it.what this highlighted was massive difference between grossman and barkley,and how rough transition to barkley will be until we get his awareness up.along side barkleys erratic passing the oline took a massive step backwards,was this because of barkleys awareness or cards trying to intergrate morse into a solid oline?
we took a few positives froma rough season,trent is the no nonsense runner we need to carry offence,durham was as we expected a complete stud,poor QB playleft alot of yardage on the field.jamie collins at MLB took a massive leap in place of departed chris white and became heart and soul of our defence.we lost 7 games by 1 score so with slightly better QB play or better luck we could have been right in playoff hunt.we beat the champs niners in agame so we can still hang with the best.
along with oline regression and poor QB play.,2 other areas jumped out as problems despite having 4/5 decent corners we were vulnerable through the air we attribute this to lack of pressure from our DES,5th rd selection edwards over plays his draft slot and seems solid against run but really lacks elite playmaking skills and rarely does his play influence games,veteran left end carriker was his normal solid self leading franchise in sacks before going down injured.
after 2 great season we are hoping this one was just a blip and we bounce back to solid on field performances and can get to 7 wins next year whilst progressing barkley.
with another batch of high earning regressing vets being out of contract we are hoping for the first time since we have been in the desert,the cap situation doesnt force us into some tough moves.we are happy with the foundations we have been laying whilst trying to move from high salaried super team we inherited to more stable finiancial situation.
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Forum Discussion
(by S_Gardiner on 06/18/2023)
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Replies - 0 :: Views - 13 |
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At A Glance
| NFC West |
| RNK |
TEAM |
W-L-T |
PCT |
DIV |
| #2 |
 y-Cardinals |
11-5-0 |
0.688 |
4-2 |
| #14 |
 Seahawks |
8-8-0 |
0.500 |
4-2 |
| #27 |
 49ers |
7-9-0 |
0.438 |
4-4 |
| #24 |
 Rams |
7-9-0 |
0.438 |
2-4 |
| CARDINALS SCHEDULE |
| Preseason |
| WK |
DATE |
OPPONENT |
SCOUT/RESULT |
| P1 |
Sat |
at  Dolphins #29 |
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| P2 |
Mon |
vs  Patriots #9 |
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| P3 |
Sat |
vs  Giants #15 |
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| P4 |
Fri |
at  Panthers #26 |
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| Regular Season |
| 1 |
Sun |
vs Panthers #26 |
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| 2 |
Sun |
at  Redskins #13 |
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| 3 |
Sun |
at Seahawks #14 |
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| 4 |
Sun |
vs Giants #15 |
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| 5 |
Sun |
at  Vikings #16 |
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| 7 |
Sun |
vs  Steelers #22 |
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| 8 |
Sun |
at  Ravens #31 |
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| 9 |
Sun |
vs Rams #24 |
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| 10 |
Sun |
at  Eagles #3 |
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| 11 |
Sun |
at 49ers #27 |
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| 12 |
Sun |
at Rams #24 |
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| 13 |
Sun |
vs  Cowboys #17 |
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| 14 |
Sun |
vs 49ers #27 |
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| 15 |
Sun |
vs  Browns #20 |
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| 16 |
Sat |
at  Bengals #21 |
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| 17 |
Sun |
vs Seahawks #14 |
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