The Arizona Cardinals have been active in free agency thus far. They have re-signed 11 players. They have added eight free agents who played for other teams last season. They made one trade.
Almost all their biggest holes have been adequately filled for now — backup quarterback, guard, tackle, defensive line, linebacker, cornerback, punter and long snapper.
They have added both expected starters and depth.
However, two areas remain as big question marks — wide receiver and the defensive edge at outside linebacker.
At receiver, Hollywood Brown departed, getting a one-year contract to join the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. They traded away Rondale Moore.
The top three receivers on the roster are now Michael Wilson, Greg Dortch and newly added Chris Moore. None of those three players have reached 600 receiving yards in a season.
While they are expected to land a top receiver in the NFL draft and the draft class is very talented, with how they have addressed other positions of need, it seems weird to leave the receiver position the way it is.
At outside linebacker, they have done nothing. Dennis Gardeck led the team with six sacks. The team has one sack over the final six games and that wasn’t even a sack behind the line of scrimmage. Gardeck got credit when Justin Field ran out of bounds for no gain.
They do like Zaven Collins and BJ Ojulari was a second-round pick last year. But to leave the position unchanged seems odd.
We have only had one week of free agency so there are likely more moves to come.
Perhaps they have some plans that have not yet materialized.
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