The Cardinals tried to sign Cameron Wake too, but were out big by the Dolphins.
Could be, but in this blog Darren Urban states that the extraordinary braintrust of, among others, Rod Graves, Clancy Pendergast and Billy Davis decided to pass on Cameron Wake after taking him through a workout.
“After lighting up the CFL, Wake worked out for the Cardinals in late 2008 as a potential outside linebacker. The Cards ended up passing, and Wake didn’t latch on anywhere until Miami signed him in the offseason”.
http://blog.azcardinals.com/2012/09/28/friday-before-the-dolphins/
I get that Victor Butler probably won’t be the best thing since sliced bread but I do think he brings hope with him. For four seasons, Butler was the primary backup at outside linebacker with the Cowboys. I’m just going to assume that if you’re the primary backup to Demarcus Ware in his prime, you have some skills, and if he is just half the player Ware was then, then that’s a pretty good off-the-street-acquisition. When Rob Ryan departed as the defensive coordinator, and took a similar job with the Saints, he personally handpicked Butler as his first defensive free agent-pickup, and saw Butler as the primary weapon when he transitioned the Saints’ defense from a 4-3 base to a 3-4 base. As many has wrote, it didn’t work out because of injuries, and obviously that’s a big concern along with the simple fact that no other team has taken a shot with Butler. However, it’s pretty obvious that Butler has – or maybe had – some skills, and really, at this stage you are not going to get a more or less surefire-pass rush daemon. I see this as the Cardinals taking a chance that, although it probably won’t, could pay dividends bigtime. At the very least, I would rather that they take the chance with Butler then keeping it rather safe with Marcus Benard.
As for Okafor, I still think he could be a good player with the Cardinals. As other stated he showed in college that he has the technique and strengths required. No, he is not a speed rusher but neither is players like Tamba Hali, Brian Orakpo or Ahmad Brooks but they’re seems to be doing just fine. Also I think it’s kind of interesting that Okafor is even on the team. I mean, it’s only been a month since Arians called out players in the training room, and well, Okafor has been in the training room almost since he was drafted. (Story here
http://blog.azcardinals.com/2014/08/18/beware-b-a-noticing-the-training-room/) Not only did he once again make the final 53, in front of guys that could actually be on the field, but also when Thomas Kaiser was brought in Walt Powell got cut, not Okafor. The other day, when Abraham decided to return and Victor Butler was signed Marcus Benard, not Okafor, got cut. I figure there must be a reason. Maybe Keim sees something in Okafor. Maybe Arians does. Maybe Bowles, Tom Pratt, Mike Caldwell or Brentson Buckner does.
