The Arizona Cardinals made their final cuts today to get their initial 53-man roster together.
A lot of that talent is back from 2016 and almost all of it is from the Steve Keim regime, including a strong amount of draft picks.
Here is an initial look at the depth chart, based on the Arizona Cardinals 53-man roster as released by the team today. That will be different after today.
Starters marked with (*)
Quarterbacks
Carson Palmer*
Drew Stanton
Blaine Gabbert
Running Backs
David Johnson*
Kerwynn Williams
Andre Ellington
Elijhaa Penny
T.J. Logan (Will go on IR designated to return tomorrow to allow another player to be signed)
Wide Receivers
Larry Fitzgerald*
John Brown*
Jaron Brown
J.J. Nelson
Brittan Golden
Chad Williams
Tight End
Jermaine Gresham*
Troy Niklas*
Ifeanyi Momah
Offensive Tackle
D.J. Humphries*
Jared Veldheer*
John Wetzel
Ulrick John
Offensive Guard
Mike Iupati*
Evan Boehm*
Will Holden
Center
A.Q. Shipley*
Daniel Munyer
Defensive Line
Josh Mauro*
Corey Peters*
Frostee Rucker*
Robert Nkemdiche
Olsen Pierre
Rodney Gunter
Xavier Williams
Outside Linebacker
Chandler Jones*
Markus Golden*
Kareem Martin
Inside Linebacker
Karlos Dansby*
Deone Bucannon*
Josh Bynes
Haason Reddick
Phillip Wheeler
Cornerbacks
Patrick Peterson*
Justin Bethel*
Brandon Williams
Tramon Williams
Safeties
Tyrann Mathieu*
Tyvon Branch*
Antoine Bethea
Budda Baker
Rudy Ford
Special Teams
Phil DawsonMatt Wile Andy Lee
Aaron Brewer
Initial Thoughts: A lot of the young guys expected to be players were cut. We saw Harlan Miller and Cole Toner both cut, they were 2016 day three picks and of course Dorian Johnson was cut.
This shows two things:
- The Cardinals have some talent on their roster so getting drafted is not a slam dunk to make the roster.
- Patience is not on young players side at this point.
The Cardinals will make another move tomorrow, with T.J. Logan going on the IR designated for return. They just had to have him on the initial roster. There was speculation we could see the Cardinals cut both punters and keep an extra position player, then tomorrow put Logan on the IR. Well, they waited for Andy Lee and it paid off.
Phillip Wheeler was getting some work at outside linebacker, Haason Reddick will obviously play OLB, but the team would still like a veteran. You also know that they will try and bring Cap Capi back to the practice squad, as he was a preseason favorite.
What are your thoughts?