The Arizona Cardinals lost their franchise’s all-time leader in sacks this offseason as Chandler Jones left in free agency to sign with the Las Vegas Raiders. But the Cardinals still have their team’s leading pass rusher from 2021 on the roster in Markus Golden.
Golden had 11 sacks in 2021 to lead the Cardinals and has three double-digit sack seasons in his career.
However, in PFF’s edge defender tiers, he is not even mentioned.
The category of “underrated veterans” perfectly describes Golden.
There is a Cardinals player mentioned in the article, but it is J.J. Watt who get cast into the tier of “declining forces.” Watt is definitely in decline at this point in his career. However, he isn’t really an edge defender anymore. He played exclusively inside in 2021.
Golden will be the main edge threat the Cardinals rely on in 2022. Jones departed and the rest of the outside linebacker room is either unproven or a question mark.
Golden is clearly underrated. He isn’t even rated highly enough to get mentioned as underrated.
Ultimately, it doesn’t mean much. Golden can not make the list and keep on getting 10-12 sacks per year. The Cardinals won’t complain about that.
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