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The Arizona Cardinals have their offensive line more or less set on the left side with Jared Veldheer, Jonathan Cooper and Lyle Sendlein.
The right side, though, is very much up in the air. As noted in our offensive line outlook, the team has three players at both right guard at right tackle to compete for the starting job.
At right guard, it will be between Paul Fanaika, Earl Watford and Ted Larsen. At right tackle, it will be Bobby Massie, Bradley Sowell and Nate Potter.
Eric Winston potentially plays a role again. He is a free agent, so he can sign with any team. Thus far, there has not been in any rumors, so it is probably safe to say that, for now, there is no market for him.
Last year, after being released by the Kansas City Chiefs and he was signed by the Cardinals right before training camp, where he took the starting job away from Bobby Massie, who struggled with mental errors in a new offensive scheme.
Unlike most other positions on the team, the off battle for right tackle does not have any veteran player to compete with the younger guys. It is just Sowell, Massie and Potter.
That's the way it is likely to stay for now.
It appears that the Cardinals will stand pat until closer to training camp.
The draft will come and go and maybe they draft a tackle, maybe they don't. If they do draft one high, then he will probably be penciled in as the starter. If not, then the team will probably go into offseason workouts -- OTAs and mini-camp -- standing pat. If one of the player steps up and shows he can handle the starting job, Winston could lose out. But if no one stands out, that is where Winston comes in. He already knows the Arians system, so there would be no real learning curve. He could just sign and play like a year ago. He is an option the Cardinals have in their back pocket right now...but down the line.
The bottom line? Unless Winston suddenly sees interest elsewhere, he is probably the Cardinals' backup plan at tackle.
Are you ok with that?
