Arizona Cardinals GM Steve Keim says G Jonathan Cooper could crack the lineup soon

When the season began, Jonathan Cooper was penciled in to be the starting left guard for the Arizona Cardinals. He showed signs of rust in offseason activities, having come off a broken leg he suffered in the 2013 preseason, and there was hope those would go away by the time the season came around.

That was not the case as Cooper was benched in favor of journeyman Ted Larsen and injured his toe. Larsen has done an admirable job this season, but has no push in the run game, similar to right guard Paul Fanaika. This morning during general manager Steve Keim's weekly radio interview with the Doug and Wolf Show on Arizona Sports 98.7 he stated that Cooper has been impressive in practice and added this

"I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next couple of weeks we try to work him back in there"

Cooper was on the field for one snap this past Sunday, as a tight end. He made his appearance on the play prior to the Ellington touchdown. Cooper has come close a couple of times to receiving his first start, back in weeks five and six while Paul Fanaika was battling injuries, but Fanaika wound up playing.

Bruce Arians replied to questions regarding Keim's comments during his time with the media later in the day saying,

"There’s no hesitancy to put him in," Arians said, "but we’re not going to change our lineup either."

Both men have the utmost respect for Cooper, and believe in what he brings to the table, Arians and his offensive line coach, Harold Goodwin, however are firm believes in continuity on the offensive line. Coop will more than likely see an increase of work to try and get the run game going effectively, but barring injury, his 2014 season will be on the bench.