Off season grade

[Cbus cardsfan]

Now that off season is practically over and the roster has settled, I thought it would be a good time to assess the Cards entire roster makeover.

I give the Cards an A-. When you look at positions where the Cards were deficient last year, they have addressed it this off season.

LT: Even if Veldheer turns out to not be an elite LT, he's going to be better than the Sowell/Brown combo that manned the position last season.

Slot/Speed WR: Well, the Cards certianly gave themselves some options at this position by signing Ted Ginn and burning 2 draft picks. This element has long been missing from the Cards offense. If Brown pans out, it may become strength.

SS: I'm not a huge fan of Bucannon in round 1 but he is their 1st rounder and should be an upgrade at the position. If he has more coverage skills than believed, it will greatly upgrade the position.

DL depth: Rookies shouldn't be counted on to start and that's good for the Cards. DL depth has needed to be addressed for a couple years running and the draft has given them a couple nice candidates in Stinson and Martin. They should get their feet wet this year and become more viable options down the road.

TE: The Cards also went nuts to ensure there are options available at TE. Brining back Ballard and adding Niklas and Carlson gives the Cards a solid, stable TE corp that can be effective in both the run a pass game. If Housler can step up, this group will be very good.

CB: Cromartie in, Cason out. Huge upgrade and Powers will be an excellent nickel.

OG: Cooper should provide a big impact to the OL.

As you can see, the Cards went down the list and came away better, at least on paper, at every area of need. The only downside was not being able to sign Dansby, thus the A-. They tried but Cleveland's ridiculous offer made that go by the wayside. Hopefully Minter can play somewhere close to Dansby's level. Evenso, that's really the only negative to the offseason and the positives far outweigh the negative. All in all, it was a superior job by the FO.

 

[juza76]

Now that off season is practically over and the roster has settled, I thought it would be a good time to assess the Cards entire roster makeover.

I give the Cards an A-. When you look at positions where the Cards were deficient last year, they have addressed it this off season.

LT: Even if Veldheer turns out to not be an elite LT, he's going to be better than the Sowell/Brown combo that manned the position last season.

Slot/Speed WR: Well, the Cards certianly gave themselves some options at this position by signing Ted Ginn and burning 2 draft picks. This element has long been missing from the Cards offense. If Brown pans out, it may become strength.

SS: I'm not a huge fan of Bucannon in round 1 but he is their 1st rounder and should be an upgrade at the position. If he has more coverage skills than believed, it will greatly upgrade the position.

DL depth: Rookies shouldn't be counted on to start and that's good for the Cards. DL depth has needed to be addressed for a couple years running and the draft has given them a couple nice candidates in Stinson and Martin. They should get their feet wet this year and become more viable options down the road.

TE: The Cards also went nuts to ensure there are options available at TE. Brining back Ballard and adding Niklas and Carlson gives the Cards a solid, stable TE corp that can be effective in both the run a pass game. If Housler can step up, this group will be very good.

CB: Cromartie in, Cason out. Huge upgrade and Powers will be an excellent nickel.

OG: Cooper should provide a big impact to the OL.

As you can see, the Cards went down the list and came away better, at least on paper, at every area of need. The only downside was not being able to sign Dansby, thus the A-. They tried but Cleveland's ridiculous offer made that go by the wayside. Hopefully Minter can play somewhere close to Dansby's level. Evenso, that's really the only negative to the offseason and the positives far outweigh the negative. All in all, it was a superior job by the FO.

martin was praised by arians recently ,he was surprised how powerfull he is..i think he will be our best player of the draft

 

[NMCard]

Will Cooper have an impact this upcoming season as a rookie? Have not heard much about him. Hopefully he can contribute.

 

[D-Dogg]

Will Cooper have an impact this upcoming season as a rookie? Have not heard much about him. Hopefully he can contribute.

Uhm, yeah. Big. Huge.

 

[Cardiac]

I think an A- is a very fair grade. I loved what they did last offseason but the HUGE miss in not filling the LT void was the inexcusable.

I'm very bullish on the Oline and think the left side will be above average. I'm drinking koolaide with the right side, Massie or Sowell will be at least as good as Winston IMWO and I'm expecting Watford to beat out Fanika.

I would have like to see an Olineman drafted but Niklas kinda covered that for us so I'm okay that SK didn't get another olineman.

The big miss this offseason was not getting a pass rushing OLBer. Martin might be that guy but most believe he will be a 3-4 DE.

Not sure we needed 3 WR's added this offseason but I do have a TON of faith in SK so I'll stop the nitpicking now.

 

[DoTheDew]

The off-season thus far looks quite good when you look at it from that perspective.

On Dansby- Obviously there's a big drop off there, but we could do worse than Foote/Minter I think. The first few weeks will be rough, assuming DWash is suspended, but after that I think we'll be solid.

 

[MrYeahBut]

Hopefully Minter can play somewhere close to Dansby's level.

I hoping he can even get on the field. He probably will because Dansby is gone, but have we really seen anything out of him yet?


.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Hard to disagree with any of the above. We made a fair offer to Dansby and I'm happy we didn't match the ridiculous contract he got from the Browns. The only move I'd like to see now is bringing back Winston for depth/in case Massie just never gets it, but other then that, they actually addressed a TON of needs and fortified depth in some key areas.

 

[Jetstream Green]

It is going to be tough at the beginning of the season for two reasons. Adapting the defensive scheme to life after Dansby with Minter and our safeties for coverage help and getting an improved OL on paper to play as one unit. I know they will be able to do it but just hope it does not make us struggle early on and have to play catch up again with the NFC West division

 

[Goldfield]

This has been a very good off season. Dansby was a big loss but we did good everywhere else.

This should be an exciting season.

 

[TruColor]

Watford tweeted something last night about eating a whole bag of Double-Stuff Oreos.

I refrained from replying back.

 

[Totally_Red]

Hard to disagree with any of the above. We made a fair offer to Dansby and I'm happy we didn't match the ridiculous contract he got from the Browns. The only move I'd like to see now is bringing back Winston for depth/in case Massie just never gets it, but other then that, they actually addressed a TON of needs and fortified depth in some key areas.

Apparently they want to give Massie & Sowell all the reps in OTA's which makes sense.

Cardinals had a solid offseason IMO and in any other division, we'd be at least co-favorites including the AFC East and AFC West.

 

[NeverSayDieFan]

Years of worry and fret....

have now been replaced by a feeling of "quiet confidence."

I LIKE IT!!

MARK IN SC

I expect us to be GOOD but only one will be GREAT in the end!

 

[kerouac9]

Can it really be an exceptional offseason when we did nothing to help the edge pass rush and have a shoulder-shrug like Logan Thomas as the established QB of the Future?

I think that a B is fair for this class, considering the lack of a near-future at two of the more important positions on the football team and the lack of value picked up in the draft.

 

[cardpa]

I think the key will be how everything pans out at ILB positions. DWash is a question mark at this point for at least the early season games. I would think Minter in for Dansby will alter the look of the defense and personnel packages. I do have faith in Bowles to make the required adjustments to keep this a top 10 defense. BA/SK may have already anticipated the shortcomings at ILB since the secondary is now considered a strength and no longer a weak area. The Dline is still solid.

Would not be surprised to see 6 DBs in for a good portion of the game on defense until they settle in on who is playing at ILB. I think Bucannon will see quite a few snaps playing close to the LOS very much like AW playing more like a LB than a S. I could realistically see Johnson, Jefferson, and Bucannon on the field at the same time on second and third downs.

There is always that possibility that the ILB problem irons itself out and never becomes the problem we tend to anticipate. With any luck Foote has a Abraham resurrection and solves the ILB shortcomings. Isn't every team suppose to have that one player that exceeds expectations? Maybe Foote is that player.

 

[52brandon]

I'd say LB as a whole is a ?. Our top OLB last season was #4 on depth chart. Now the top 3 are back. I'm curious how it goes

 

[Mulli]

D+