Arizona Cardinals trade for Jamar Taylor and restructured salary takes risk out of move

When reports broke that the Arizona Cardinals had made a trade for cornerback Jamar Taylor of the Cleveland Browns, the question that first came up was... For what?

The Browns had been trying to move Taylor for months and when they failed to do so before the 2018 NFL Draft, carried the corner through the time.

The Cardinals have been trying to find a cornerback to play opposite Patrick Peterson since... Well whenever Steve Keim took over, and in doing so have thrown a lot of players at the position, but not much in the way of assets.

In trading for Jamar Taylor, they continue to buy low to hope to catch lightning in the bottle like they have a number of times.

Jerraud Powers, Antonio Cromartie, Marcus Cooper and Tramon Williams have all had levels of success and then moved on to more pay. Powers was the only one to do it in multiple seasons, the rest were on one year deals.

Taylor was had for a measly 2020 6th round draft pick, and to boot he restructured his contract to save money in 2019.

This is another move where Steve Keim is not investing heavily, but instead this time he is investing smartly.

Keim took a corner who has had success and was able to make a deal for him for a low round pick. He is due only $8 million over the final two years of his deal and can play as a low end cornerback two or high end cornerback three/slot corner.

He did it this time for a corner on a two-year deal, something he rarely has done at the position.

It is a low risk investment with a potential high reward. If the Cardinals can’t find a CB2, Taylor mans it. If they find a CB2, they have a very good CB3/slot corner in house for a low cost.

If it doesn’t work out, they move on after this season.

Not a bad deal.