FanPost

Will 4 WRs provide enough depth?



Cardinals coach Bruce Arians has gone the relatively unconventional way of forming the 53 man roster with only four wide receivers. While I read the Broncos and maybe other teams are trying this, it does leave many questions unanswered.

Does this mean Patrick Peterson will receive a lot of plays in addition to his CB and PR duties?

How does this affect the TE position, knowing Rob Housler is hurt and the backups are unproven?

What if, God forbid, Fitz, or for that matter Micheal Floyd or Andre Roberts gets hurt? Can Jaron Brown truly fill the position?

One possible solution I read is that the running backs, which is currently overloaded at 5, could split out wide - which they have done in the preseason with at least Ryan Williams and Andre Ellington.

This, however, would go against past Arians and the RB's history.

Williams, whom I actually like out in space on screens, had 26 catches out of the backfield in college and only a handful in the pros. If I had to turn a RB into a WR - it would be him.

Alfonso Smith on the other hand, no. 5 catches in two seasons.

The rookies? Ellington averaged over a catch a game, Stephan Taylor a very good 41 catches last season at Stanford -yet 2 receptions for 6 yards in the preseason probably doesn't strike fear into opponents hearts.

The starter, Rashad Mendenhall, who has played a majority in Arians' system had a career high 25 catches in 2009. That's a little less than 1 and a half per game. Don't see the 4th receiver there.

And then you look at Bruce Arians' career of RBs catching passes and other than Mewelde Moore's 40 receiving output in 2008, Mendenhall's 25 was second best.

So, unless the Bruce leopard is going to change his spots - hard to see the the running backs make a large contribution in catches. Couple that with a supposed weakened TE position, the load seems to be severely shouldered on the big three of Fitz, Floyd and Roberts.

Ought to be interesting.

<em>This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Revenge of the Birds' (ROTB) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of ROTB's editors.</em>