Arizona Cardinals turn to Jordan Hicks to fix the ailing inside linebacker position

Through the offseason for the Arizona Cardinals there has been a singular vision.

This was the crux of the hiring of Kliff Kingsbury and then drafting Kyler Murray.

The Cardinals were aligning their offensive identity with the head coach and quarterback.

It was almost imperative after the debacle of 2018.

Pairing a young, talented quarterback in Josh Rosen with a coach who has only really had success with two Hall of Fame level, veteran quarterbacks was a recipe for disaster.

So, the pairing of Kliff and Kyler makes sense.

The struggle, at least for me and my least favorite move of the offseason was watching how they rebuilt the defense.

Now, I will say I understand the philosophy of Vance Joseph, premium positions need premium talent, that’s where the money should go, and on defense you build from the outside in, meaning pass rusher and corner.

The Arizona Cardinals followed that philosophy except when it came to Jordan Hicks.

Now, the need for Jordan Hicks and the player are more than worth the salary that they paid, but it’s an interesting way to build after your DC talked about building outside in.

Hicks will be the quarterback of the new defense and when healthy is one of the better athletes at the linebacker position in the NFL.

He’ll be worth the money, so I don’t want people thinking I dislike the move.

Instead, it feels like continuing to chase the inside linebacker position and for the fifth time in seven seasons throwing big assets at it, is a bad way to build.

Hicks $34 million could have gone a long way to bringing in more talent.

You could have signed Preston Brown and Zach Brown for about $18 million, $7 million in 2019 and used that additional money to go find more help along the offensive line, or gotten in on some higher paid offensive linemen.

You could have signed Z Brown and Brandon Marshall for a combined $3 million this year and had even more money available.

Hicks should be a nice addition and help a position that has been searching for a fix since 2013 when Karlos Dansby and Daryl Washington were the standard.

Since then Washington was suspended from the league, Kevin Minter flopped, Deone Bucannon flashed and flamed, Dansby came back, Haason Reddick was asked to do something he’s never done before, then to do something else, then something else, and now something else again and now they’ve signed Jordan Hicks.

Hicks better be a fixture for all four seasons, with the type of money and investment the Arizona Cardinals have put at inside linebacker.