As the Arizona Cardinals have their first preseason game coming up on Thursday, the team has released its first public depth chart of the season. As Khodder noted when he first listed the link as a Fanshot, there are little surprises with how things are lined up.
If there is one trend to be noticed, it is the philosophy that Ken Whisenhunt and his coaching staff believe when it comes to the depth chart -- with rare exception, no one is given a starting job. It must be earned.
Newcomers must battle their way into the starting lineup. The three exceptions are Kevin Kolb, Daryn Colledge and Todd Heap. But all the 2011 draft picks and all of the other newcomers are listed lower so they work their way up.
The perfect example of this? That would be newcomer Richard Marshall. He is listed third team behind Greg Toler and injured Michael Adams. While that hopefully changes, it shows that he has to do more to make the team.
Another example is Chansi Stuckey, He is stuck on fourth team alongside NAU undrafted player Davieun Curry-Chapman, who truthfully has looked dreadful in camp. Stuckey has gotten some love from Darren Urban and Kent Somers with some tweets, but still is behind players like Max Komar and Aaron Nichols, better known as "The player wearing No. 13 that's not Kurt."
In looking at 2010 players who have an uphill battle to make the team, at least right now, TE Jim Dray and QB Max Hall are the two big ones. Richard Bartel has been looking good, while Max has looked nothing like last year. Dray is just caught in the numbers game. He is battling at a position that features two free agent signees and a high draft pick.
Rookie Patrick Peterson finds himself in second team in everything -- behind camp standout (so far) A.J. Jefferson at corner, behind Andre Roberts as punt returner and as the second guy behind LaRod Stephens-Howling in kickoff returns, although he may be back deep with Hyphen.
Still, actual football has to be played. When the bright lights are on, we will soon see what some of these players are made of.