If there is one area that the Arizona Cardinals have struggled with as long as I have been a fan, it is with the offensive line. Historically, the Cards have had terrible lines, which has led to terrible QB play. Of course, there have been some awful quarterbacks, so the truth could be that some of those offensive lines were actually better than they looked. But we will never know that.
SB Nation's Ryan Van Bibber released his latest team positional rankings -- this time listing NFL teams from best to worst in terms of their offensive lines. As you can imagine, the Arizona Cardinals' line does not fare well.
Arizona is ranked 30th out of 32 teams, listed higher than only the St. Louis Rams and the Indianapolis Colts.
Levi Brown allowed 11 sacks last year; Levi Brown is Arizona's highest paid offensive lineman. Lyle Sendlein, the center, is probably the best player of the bunch. The Cardinals need rookie Bobbie Massie to give them a better option than they currently have on the right side.
You really can't rank the line any higher than this based on last year's performance and the fact that there was not a lot done to shore up the line on paper. The team brought back Levi Brown, they signed Adam Snyder, but many believe he isn't very good. Jeremy Bridges is a journeyman at best and he will probably be starting at right tackle to start the year.
So, looking at it that way, you can't help but think that the results will be much different.
However, with Daryn Colledge now having had a full season between Brown and Sendlein and with Brown perhaps having turned a corner with his play, the left side of the line could be decent. The right side is a question mark.
Will the line be better than it is ranked? Fans certainly hope so. If not, it will be very hard to watch and to enjoy simultaneously the Cardinals offense. The defense may bail the line out some, but if the line play is bad, it will not be fun to watch.
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