The Arizona Republic

Former Cardinals quarterbac­k Kurt Warner, now an NFL TV analyst, says the Cardinals need more stars throughout their lineup.

- By Cassandra Negley azcentral sports

Kurt Warner donned shades behind the bright lights of the NFL Network cameras Tuesday at University of Phoenix Stadium to joke around with fellow analyst Deion Sanders, who was at camp with the Atlanta Falcons.

Then Warner got down to business, talking about how former Falcons pass rusher John Abraham will fit in perfectly with the Cardinals, who have the personnel to take some heat off the14-year veteran linebacker.

“He’s a dynamic pass rusher, but the question with Abraham the past few years has really been his durability,” Warner said between shooting live updates from camp.

“What I like about the situation here is they got other guys who can rush the passer. They got other guys that have to elicit some attention from another team.”

Warner, the standout quarterbac­k, left a huge void upon retiring after the 2009 season. He led the Cardinals to the NFC title after a memorable 2008 regular season — more than 4,500 yards passing, 30 touchdown passes, 67 percent completion­s and a passer rating of 96.9. The Cardinals lost to the Steelers in a heart-stopping Super Bowl XLIII.

Warner, the analyst, wants to see the Cardinals round out the team more so there are stars at all positions.

Though the Cardinals added Rashard Mendenhall, the running game was last in the league in 2012 and the offensive line didn’t give much protection.

Larry Fitzgerald, Warner’s favorite target when the combo led the Cardinals to the Super Bowl, is obviously still the go-to guy at receiver. But after that the depth chart gets a little muddled.

“Michael Floyd, Andre Roberts. Can those guys become dependable targets for him (Carson Palmer)?” Warner said. “Teams are going to focus on Larry. They’re going to continue to focus on him until somebody shows him different.”

Warner has been in Palmer’s shoes, where the weight of a city and team is on his shoul- ders. Palmer is being looked upon to lead the team back into playoff contention in a tough NFC West division where both San Francisco and Seattle went to the postseason.

The best advice Warner said he can give Palmer is to learn the players around him and play to their strengths so he’s not taking all of the pressure.

“I think the great thing is that if this defense plays up to where it was last year, you won’t have to feel like you have to score 25 to 30 points,” Warner said. “It’s going to be more about, ‘Don’t make the big mistakes.’ Do what you feel comfortabl­e with and trust the guys around you to play well also.”

The guys around Palmer form a generally young group, but Warner doesn’t see it as much of an issue given the leaders the team has.

“I do think they have the right guys in leadership positions both offensivel­y and defensivel­y to kind of hold this ship down,” Warner said. “And then you add this coach (Bruce Arians) into the mix who can really hold the ship down and I think they’re going to be in fine shape.”

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