Bruce Arians wants consistency out of Michael Floyd

Michael Floyd has been an interesting product since the Arizona Cardinals drafted him in 2012. His play has steadily gotten better, besting his touchdowns and yards per catch each of the past three seasons. While that is all fine and dandy, he's been rather inconsistent as well.

In his rookie campaign, Floyd struggled off the bat, before his big game in the season finale against San Francisco. He finished with 45 grabs, 562 yards, and two scores. He averaged 12.5 yards per reception.

The next year, his first under coach Bruce Arians, Floyd had a breakout year of sorts. While Fitzgerald battled through learning a new position and several injuries, Floyd became the teams number one. He posted 1000 yards, five scores, with 67 grabs. That was good for 16 yards per catch. He had a string of consecutive games in which his catches resulted in a first down.

While those numbers look fine and dandy on the surface, you look closer and it's a very inconsistent stat line. In six of his 16 games, he recorded 80 yards or better. In two of them he recorded 50 yards or more.The other eight games his highest total was 49 yards.

Big things were expected out of him a year later, but a series of unfortunate events derailed that. His first three weeks saw him post 119 yards, 19, and 114 yards. In the final 13 games, he only eclipsed 80 yards twice (85 and 153).

Arians proclaimed that Floyd's biggest problems lay at the fact that he played with several different quarterbacks. With Carson Palmer at the helm (six games), Floyd scraped out a mere 260 yards (43.3 yards per game) and 2 touchdowns. With Stanton at the helm (eight games), Floyd managed 387 yards (48.4 YPG) and two scores. And lastly with Ryan Lindley throwing him the ball(2 games), he managed 194 (97 YPG) yards and two scores.

His scored twice with all three, but had his most productive game with Ryan Lindley. Floyd had two games in 2014 where he did not record a catch, and his first ever playoff game resulted in one grab for a loss of twelve yards.

There were instances where Floyd left us scratching our heads. An easy catch he dropped, fumbling the ball, or losing yards on a wide open field. Arians attributed these towards frustration and trying too hard. It certainly showed often.

This season, a rejuvenated and healthy Palmer will return, an improved offensive line and hopefully an improved running game can see Floyd spark some of his 2013 numbers, and help him earn a contract whether here in the desert, or elsewhere in the NFL.