Day 3 of FA Thoughts

[RugbyMuffin]

OK. Let's play: "What would you do to get under the cap if we kept Calais, TJ and Swear? (Buehler)?

My initial answer would be: Nothing. I had no problem letting Tony Jefferson and Calias Campbell walk. I liked DJ Swearinger but since I am a fan, all I have to go on is play on the field with Swearinger.

In order to sign Campbell, and Swearinger, I would have released Veldheer, Bethel and Peters, and asked Iupati to restructure. Yet, that would leave this team without a right tackle past John Wetzel, make Iupati un-releasable, and leave us with Tony Jefferson, who is a nice piece but not a 9mil a year player, IMHO, and a 31 year old aging veteran that will have this roster hostage for the next 3 years.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

I just don't get that we are into BASK's 4th season and we still have a cap issue? Cap should have been cleared already.

Having less than 500k in dead money is pretty good if you ask me.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

Rush DT...any of the 7 a good bet? Not 1 of them have proven they can do it.

Agreed.

Rolling the dice, got to do it now and then.

Its like trading Jamie Collins and Chandler Jones at the beginning of the season and saying the players behind them are going to produce enough to win.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

Rugby---from my perspective and perhaps this is what PJ1 is getting at...we just lost our best interior defensive lineman, our starting #2 CB, our starting SS and our starting FS (3 of whom were the best three tacklers on a team that did not tackle well).

In response, the Cardinals have signed two defensive players in their 30s who are no longer in their prime. Bethea is a good tackler, but he's iffy in coverage. Dansby is good in coverage, but he's not a stuff the hole, downhill tackler and never has been and at SILB that's part of the job description. Plus, without Campbell, those holes might be getting bigger to fill.

Haven't had an ILBer like that in nearly a decade, and this defense has been near the top of the league.

Campbell and Safety will have to be filled by the roster, and as stated above, that is rolling the dice.

Cornerback #2, that is a need, and has been since last season. Cooper was solid, we will see what the Cardinals will do about replacing that role.

 

[GuernseyCard]

I am beyond disgusted with the Patriots. Do they excel? ABSOLUTELY! But, I honestly believe that a tremendous anti-patriot ground-swell is forming within the ranks of fans everywhere. ...And I believe we're looking at the NFL version of a shell-game. When fans of the other 31 teams realize they can't win because New England is standing in the way every time...People are suddenly going to question whether it's worth it to spend so much time, energy, and $$ on something that just isn't going to be. We ALL want one thing...a CHAMPIONSHIP! How man times has New England in recent years played in one? I don't honestly know but I know it's a heckuv' a lot!

I luv' watching football and I'd NEVER turn in my Cardinal "wings" BUT...I'm also a realist. Do any of us honestly see us beating a team of New England's caliber anytime soon?

Mark in SC

Yeah... I remember when everyone stopped watching baseball when the Yankees dominated; Les Canadiens in hockey and the Packers, Cowboys, Steelers and 49ers in football.

 

[Chopper0080]

You can minimize the loss of Jefferson and Swearinger all you want....We haven't replaced them in my opinion....Losing Campbell in addition to this makes us a much less effective D...Now if the unproven pick up the slack you may be correct....Not betting on it though....

It isn't a minimization...we chose to sign Tyran Mathieu and Tony Jefferson plays a very similar role to Mathieu. Once Jefferson played the way he did in 2016, we were not going to be able to keep him. He is essentially a backup with Mathieu on the roster regardless of how talented he is. You can argue that we should have chosen to pay Jefferson over Mathieu, but that is about it.

Campbell was gone once he declined to restructure last year with the franchise tag. We then used a first rounder to develop to take his place. You can argue that Nkemdiche was the wrong pick, but the Cardinals prepared for this to happen.

Swearinger was a street FA who had success in the Cardinals system. He is one player who we lost that we did not have a backup on the roster with. You can argue that Swearinger and Bethea are the same type of limited player but Swearinger is younger.

Markus Cooper...please. It should be an expectation that Bethel or Williams gives us similar production as Cooper. Not to mention if we draft someone.

This is what teams have to do, and these moves are all solid decisions. Whether or not the players who need to step up will is another discussion.

 

[PJ1]

It isn't a minimization...we chose to sign Tyran Mathieu and Tony Jefferson plays a very similar role to Mathieu. Once Jefferson played the way he did in 2016, we were not going to be able to keep him. He is essentially a backup with Mathieu on the roster regardless of how talented he is. You can argue that we should have chosen to pay Jefferson over Mathieu, but that is about it.

Campbell was gone once he declined to restructure last year with the franchise tag. We then used a first rounder to develop to take his place. You can argue that Nkemdiche was the wrong pick, but the Cardinals prepared for this to happen.

Swearinger was a street FA who had success in the Cardinals system. He is one player who we lost that we did not have a backup on the roster with. You can argue that Swearinger and Bethea are the same type of limited player but Swearinger is younger.

Markus Cooper...please. It should be an expectation that Bethel or Williams gives us similar production as Cooper. Not to mention if we draft someone.

This is what teams have to do, and these moves are all solid decisions. Whether or not the players who need to step up will is another discussion.

Please back at you. No good team would ever rely on a combination of Bethel and Williams after last year's performance. I also don't believe we will. I say we will still sign a CB.

 

[Chopper0080]

Please back at you. No good team would ever rely on a combination of Bethel and Williams after last year's performance. I also don't believe we will. I say we will still sign a CB.

The expectation that either Justin Bethel or Brandon Williams or a vet min FA or a drafted CB can meet the low bar Markus Cooper set last year isn't unrealistic. Cooper graded out at PFF as the 101st CB out of 112 qualifiers. Regardless of your feelings about PFF, when the bar is set low like Cooper did, you shouldn't be too concerned with beating it.

 

[PJ1]

The expectation that either Justin Bethel or Brandon Williams or a vet min FA or a drafted CB can meet the low bar Markus Cooper set last year isn't unrealistic. Cooper graded out at PFF as the 101st CB out of 112 qualifiers. Regardless of your feelings about PFF, when the bar is set low like Cooper did, you shouldn't be too concerned with beating it.

Trust me I was not thrilled with Cooper but the other two were playing behind him so what does that tell you? And I said we won't count on them either.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Would you rather the Cardinals losing David Johnson in the future? Matching those contracts would pit this team in cap hell.

Who replaces Jefferson? A healthy Tyrann Matthieu, who was nearly a defensive player of the year in 2015.

Why do you expect Matthieu to be healthy? This was his 3rd out of 4 years ending up on IR and he's now had two ACL tears in different years. I think the notion that he's going to be the DFPOY guy he was two years ago is pretty iffy at this point. Can you name me a lot of other guys who fully recovered from two ACLs to different knees who ended up continuing to play at a superstar level?

Who replaces Campbell? A rotation of solid young DL. Fans seem to forget that for a good chunk of last season, Campbell was invisible. He came strong once the Cardinals were virtually eliminated from playoff contention.

Who is this solid rotation and have any of them ever commanded a double team which Campbell did on a regular basis?

 

[mjb21aztd]

are there any speed lb in fa that are left for not to much change?

 

[JeffGollin]

Realistically, overspending on vets and other teams free agents are why we are in this position. Palmer, Fitz, Veldheer and Iupati are all older players given big money or outside FAs who we had to bid for. Doesn't mean they were bad moves, just that they come with a cost. You can make an argument that we aren't repeating these choices which highlights the direction the franchise wants to go..

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Pretty much agree, but "overspend? Maybe not.

SK felt we had a realistic path to the Super Bowl, and he went for it. Things didn't work out, and he's got dig his way out of a veteran/cap hole.

And it wasn't the defense that did us in. It was ill-timed turnovers and poor play in the kicking and punting game.

 

[MadCardDisease]

. Can you name me a lot of other guys who fully recovered from two ACLs to different knees who ended up continuing to play at a superstar level?

In 2011 Thomas Davis tore his ACL for the third time in three years.

He has been a monster ever since he returned from his third tear.