Cards OC Goodwin: We’re Looking At Moving D.J. Humphries To Left Tackle

Last night’s showing of the Big Red Rage featured Cardinals offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin, who had a somewhat surprising revelation about the Cardinals offensive line situation: they’re likely going to swap their offensive tackles.

“I think D.J. at left and Jared at right and we’re rolling and kicking butt” Goodwin said.

One big reason for the move is due to Veldheer recovering, as he might not be ready at the start of off-season workouts after tearing his triceps Week 8 versus the Panthers last season.

D.J. Humphries slid over from right tackle to take his spot and probably played his best games of his career during his stretch before also hitting Injured Reserve with a concussion.

Per Goodwin, Humphries’s eyes “Lit up” when he was asked about a move to left tackle, which was his natural position in college and talked about “his smoothness, the punch, the feet, everything looked natural.”

The natural part as well as the smoothness is part of why many of our own writers here at Revenge of the Birds have seen this coming, as the NFL’s typical tackle scenario tends to have the smoother, finesse offensive tackles on the Quarterback’s blind side along with a road-grading run-blocker on the right side.

Arians is a fresh-thinking coach who was trained and worked in this old-school mentality.

While the league has changed over the years leading to the need for two quality tackles on both sides, the ideology likely has not. Humphries is young and could be the Cardinals’ long-term answer and it’s also important to note that he wasn’t a slouch in the run-game last year either.

Will Humphries be able to hold the job protecting (assuming Palmer is coming back) on the left side through camp to the regular season?

Time will only tell.

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