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Arizona Cardinals general manager Stveve Keim and head coach Bruce Arians both gushed about second round pick Markus Golden after he was selected on Friday. They compared him to both LaMarr Woodley and James Harrison and cited his sack production in the SEC.
So let us look back at Golden's 2014 season and find out when those 10 sacks came.
At first, you will notice something -- he picked up four of his 10 sacks in the first three weeks. He got 1.5 sacks against South Dakota State, one against Toledo and 1.5 against Central Florida.
He did not log a sack again until six weeks later, when he got half a sack against Kentucky. he then had two against Texas A&M, two against Tennessee, none against Arkansas or Alabama, and then he picked up another 1.5 in Missouri's bowl win against Minnesota.
That five-game stretch doesn't look good, right? It can be explained.
He missed Missouri's fourth game of the season with a hamstring injury. It hampered him for several weeks, even though he played every game after Indiana. He wasn't completely healthy until Texas A&M, coincidentally, when he had two sacks. Missouri had a bye week before the game against the Aggies, and that made the difference.
A healthy Golden was dominant. With the lingering hamstring, he still had 23 tackles in five games.
What can we expect from Golden in 2015? If he is healthy, he should get sacks, simply by virtue of his motor. How many? That will depend on playing time and opportunity, but a season with 6-9 sacks shouldn't be an unreasonable expectation from him in his rookie season.