The secondary took plenty of heat in 2007 and by the end of the season, it was criticism well deserved. They finished the season ranked 27th in pass defense and ranked near the bottom of the league in touchdowns allowed. The secondary, as well as defense as a whole faltered terribly down the stretch. After playing the Buccaneers in week 9 the Cardinals were allowing, on average, 194.6 passing yards per game. Had they finished the season with that average, they'd have had the 8th best pass defense in the league. Instead though they tanked the next eight games allowing over 250 yards passing 6 times and over 300 yards three times (CIN, NO, ATL). They would finish the season allowing an average of 232.3 passing yards per game.

Much like the rest of the defense, the secondary suffered their share of injuries last season. The biggest loss was strong safety and leader of the defense,  Adrian Wilson, who missed missed the final seven games. He was joined on IR by starting corner back, Eric Green, who missed the final 5 games. They also lost top backup safety Aaron Francisco for five games in the middle of the season. The one good thing that came out of the 2007 injury riddled season though was the idea to move former first round pick Antrel Rolle to free safety. Here's how the secondary should shake out in 2008:

Corner Back: The starters should remain the same with Roderick Hood and Eric Green getting the nod for the second consecutive season. Hood had a decent season, his first in Arizona, starting all 16 games and recording five interceptions and 21 passes defended. He signed a 5 year, 15 million dollar deal to come to Arizona and if he can continue to be that productive, he'll be a great free agent addition. Green struggled though in first season as a starter breaking up just eight passes and failing to record an interception for the second consecutive season.
Green is back on a one year tender and unless his production improves dramatically they'll let him walk after 2008, although there is some hope that he'll be an adequate #3 corner when DRC is ready to step up. First round pick, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, isn't going to be pressured into starting from day one but it he'll likely be expected to win the job sometime during the season. His second-to-none athleticism should be an instant upgrade once he's able to add 10-15 pounds. The depth chart should be filled out by some combination of veterans Ralph Brown and Matt Ware and second year player Michael Adams. Only two of these guys will be able to make the cut though. Undrafted free agent Marcus Brown will have to make some noise in training camp in order to snag a roster spot.

Safety: Again the starting safeties are set. Adrian Wilson will be returning as the incumbent starter for the 6th consecutive season, but it will be his first season to prove that he's fully recovered for an injury that caused him to miss significant time. He be joined by Antrel Rolle, who'll be starting his first season as free safety. Prior to the 2007 season, the Cardinals added free agent Terrence Holt with a significant salary but a disappointing season has since seem him leave town for Carolina. Depth will come from Aaron Francisco and Oliver Celestin, both of whom are younger players who are stand outs on special teams. Dennis Keyes, another undrafted free agent, will likely get a spot on the practice squad.

The secondary as a whole looks like it should be improved and if they can stay healthy, they should be well above average. The wild-card will be how quickly DRC becomes a starter. Once he's firmly entrenched, the Cards will have three explosive play makers in the defensive backfield. So how good do you think the pass defense will be? Can Rolle succeed in his first season as a safety?

The Cardinals defense took much of the blame for faltering down the stretch in 2007 and while it was deserved, they had a decent excuse. Injuries ravaged the entire defense including Adrian Wilson (final 7 games), Bertrand Berry (final 7 games), Eric Green (final 5 games), and Chike Okeafor (entire season). The injuries were finally to much to overcome and even the guys that were healthy started to wear down. Guys like Pro Bowler, Darnell Dockett, who started the season with 35 tackles and 8 sacks in the first eight games but just 23 tackles and 1 sack in the final eight. The defense as a whole suffered as well allowing 29.1 points per game over the final seven games. That's a far cry from the respectable 21.7 that they averaged over the first nine games. That's a fairly important difference considering that two of their three losses during that stretch were by 7 points or less. Needless to say, the Cardinals entered the off season with a need to add depth, if nothing else, to a defense that finished 27th in points allowed and 28th in passing yards allowed.

The first day of the draft saw the Cardinals take a big corner exuding athleticism and a huge defensive end and the second day brought some much needed depth to the defensive line and line backing corps. The first mini-camp practice already had Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie practicing with the first string, thanks to the strained groin of Rod Hood. Mini-camps also brought the questions about where exactly Calais Campbell would line up. Coach Whisenhunt said it's too early to tell at this point but he'll likely get work at both defensive end (in 3-4 alignments) and defensive tackle (in 4-3 and pass rush situations). At this point Campbell is just going with the flow and working hard to improve his technique. Either way it works out the defense seems to be in a better position heading into 2008. Thoughts?

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Two things are clear four months from the start of the season: expectations are as high as they've ever been in the past 10 years and at least a handful of players are dissatisfied with their contracts. We'll get to the lofty expectations on a later day but are the number of disgruntled players something we should be worried about? Recent history has showed that one disgruntled player can divide a locker room and destroy a team's season (ala Terrell Owens and the Eagles in 2005).  But is the Cardinals' locker room that combustible and are any of these guys that kind of threat? Well lets look at each case individually.

Anquan Boldin - The most high profile of contract quibbles for the Cardinals is no doubt Boldin. The talk of him wanting a new deal started right around the time that Larry Fitzgerald signed his 4 year, 40 million dollar deal. The main question is where the talk is coming from though. Reports surfaced in the past couple of months that Boldin wanted out of the organization and that he demanded a trade but he's since refuted those reports. Boldin still have 3 years left on his current contract that was signed in 2005. The contract is nothing to sneeze at but his average of 5.67 million per year is a far cry from Fitz's 10 million per year. Boldin's had a prolific career to this point, holding NFL records for receiving yards in his first pro game (217), most receptions in first 26 games (157) and the fastest ever to 300 receptions (47 games). Boldin and Fitzgerald have also combined to form one of the most dynamic WR duos in  NFL history being just the second duo in NFL history to both have 100 receptions and 1,400 yards in the same season. The front office says that getting Boldin a new deal is a 'priority' but I wouldn't expect anything to happen until after this season.

Adrian Wilson - The man made famous as much by YouTube as his outstanding play on the field is ready to be paid and by paid, I mean the highest paid safety in the NFC. The silver lining to this thundercloud is at least he isn't requesting to be the highest paid safety in the NFL since most of the best and highest paid safeties reside in the AFC (Polamalu, Reed and Sanders). Wilson's currently playing under a 5 year, 21 million dollar contract that was signed in December of 2004. At the time, Wilson was a well paid player but now he's a relative bargain. He'll need a big bounce back season to convince the Cards that he's worth big money after an injury marred season that caused him to miss 7 games in 2007. He's still relatively young though at 28 years old so one more big contract should be in his future after the 2008 season.

Darnell Dockett - Dockett seemed the most likely to hold out or miss mini-camps but he showed up at the urging of his fellow teammates. The reason that his absence was more of a concern that others is because the front office has made it clear that they are not going to restructure his deal. Dockett signed an extension halfway through the 2006 season and is under contract through the 2011 season. He's well paid, at least 3 million every year, but Dockett had his best season to date in 2007 with career highs in tackles (58) and sacks (9) and was also voted to his first Pro Bowl. Dockett will have to come to terms with his current contract though because he's at the bottom of a long list of guys with their hands out and the Cards control his rights for the next four seasons.

Karlos Dansby - Dansby will have to be the first domino to fall if any contracts get done this off season. The Cards are expected to be right up against the cap after they sign their rookies but a long term deal for Dansby could free up some money to extend other veterans. He's currently scheduled to earn 8.065 million in 2008 under the franchise tag and he seems pretty satisfied with this current deal. If he stays healthy and has another productive season (averaged 88 tackles, 5 sacks and 2 interceptions the past three seasons), he'll hit free agency in his prime (27 years old) and ready for a pay day. Dansby recently saw his fellow linebacker, Calvin Pace, leave the Cardinals and sign a 6 year, 42 million dollar deal (20 million guaranteed). Signing Dansby to a long term deal is priority #1 for the Cards and they've actively working on getting a deal done.

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Before we start hearing about rookie contracts, I thought we'd take a look at where the Cardinals stand in terms of cap space. The salary cap is kind of like rocket science in that you have to be near genius in order to understand it all. Since I'm no where near that level, I'll defer to the experts on these numbers. This, from what I understand, is a very conservative estimate in that every possible bonus is included, even if it possibly won't count against the cap. Hat tip to joeschmo, resident capologist at azsportsfans for this comprehensive look at the Cardinals' cap for 2008. Here's a couple of things that jump out at me before we get down to the raw numbers.

• Matt Leinart has to step up and show signs of becoming the franchise QB in 2008. Having nearly $10 million tied up in two quarterbacks won't work much longer. Warner's contract ends after 2008 and they need Leinart to be firmly entrenched as the starting and productive QB.
• The offensive line is in better shape than I thought. The entire starting five are signed through at least 2009. Considering that they were at the very least average in 2007 and they were breaking in three new starters, I like the idea of those five guys growing more cohesive. A steady dependable OL will go a long way to helping Leinart develop and help Edge live out his contract.
  

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