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So far this offseason, the Arizona Cardinals have not gotten a lot of love. Despite the change in leadership and roster improvements, including a draft class that many are calling one of the best in the league, the team is still considered one of the league's weakest. Many critics do not believe that Carson Palmer will have much of an impact and that the offensive line woes that the Cards have had will continue.
CBS Sports' Pete Prisco, though, is one of few voices that believe that Palmer still has what it takes, and it shows in the offseason power rankings that he has recently published.
Prisco's methodology was to rank teams' starting quarterback (weighted double), left tackle, top pass rusher and top cornerback, each from 1-32. Then he assigned a point value from 32 points for the top rank and one point for the lowest ranked pieces. Then he added up the points to give a set of four-pronged power rankings.
At the very top were the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos, but I know you care about the Cardinals. They were ranked 17th.
At quarterback, Prisco ranked Palmer 18th, just after Jay Cutler and just before Matt Schaub. The pass rush, using Sam Acho, was further down the list, at 22. Levi Brown was ranked 26th among left tackles, but the Cardinals got a bump from Patrick Peterson, who was ranked second at corner, only behind Richard Sherman.
The total was 79 points. They landed behind the Kansas City Chiefs and ahead of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
I guess that's where we might just ignore these power rankings.
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