Who will be Cards’ starter at RT?
Most of the starting lineup appears to be set. If the Cardinals were forced to start the 2020 NFL season today, they’d probably have a pretty good idea how their immediate depth chart would look.
Quarterback Kyler Murray, the reigning NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, would be throwing passes to superstar addition DeAndre Hopkins, future Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald and local third-year pro Christian Kirk while also optimizing the talents of dual-threat running back Kenyan Drake and running and scrambling for his own yards as well.
Murray would also be relying on mostly the same offensive line that protected him as a rookie and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph could rest comfortably knowing that offseason additions at key areas have helped strengthen his overall unit and enhanced his returning core talent.
But as veterans prepare to report to training camp on Tuesday — assuming the Cardinals don’t push the arrivals back because of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic concerns and other practical matters relating to negotiations between the league and the Players Association — nothing appears guaranteed.
That includes multiple position battles that, even without the benefit of four preseason games, figure to take place during the next month of meetings, workouts and on-field practices at State Farm Stadium. Rookies, quarterbacks and players that ended last season on the injured list have already started to trickle in, but several decisions figure to remain up in the air.
Here’s a look at some of the position battles we’ll be following closely at azcentral sports:
Who starts at right tackle?
Right now, the favorite is veteran Marcus Gilbert, who was brought in to do just that before suffering a seasonending knee injury a week before the 2019 opener. Gilbert, 32, was re-signed to a one-year deal and will need to fend off challenges from a host of competitors, including Justin Murray, who was brought back after starting 12 games there in 2019, rookie Josh Jones, the team’s third-round pick out of Houston, and free-agent addition Kelvin Beachum.
Who wins? As long as he’s fully recovery and ready to go, the bet here is Gilbert, even though he’s missed 36 games the past three seasons combined. Before he got hurt, Cardinals coaches were crowing that he was the most reliable lineman of the entire bunch. But that was then. This is now.
Under-the-radar candidate: Gut instincts tell us it should be Justin Murray because he more than held his own last year. Don’t overlook Jones, but the guess here is the Cardinals give him a full season to watch and learn. Beachum, 31, is intriguing because he could transition to the left side as the primary backup to starter D.J Humphries, and also be used as a reliable second man at either guard spot behind expected starters Justin Pugh and J.R. Sweezy.
Who starts opposite Jordan Hicks
Hicks, 28, more than proved his worth last season as one of the club’s prized free-agent additions, playing every single down in all 16 games and finishing with the third-most tackles in the league (149) while smartly handling all the play calling as Arizona’s strong-side left inside linebacker. The top two primary option to man the weak side position are free-agent addition De’Vondre Campbell, 27, and first-round draft pick Isaiah Simmons, 21.
Because both players are new to the organization, it’s not as if either player has a leg up on the other, although veterans usually win out in these situations. This one, though, is tougher to call. The hunch is each of them get equal opportunities for snaps alongside Hicks until one of them clearly wins out at some point during the season.
Who's the No. 4 WR?
You don’t need to ace a cognitive test to know that coach Kliff Kingsbury is going to rely primarily on Hopkins, 28, Fitzgerald, 36, and Kirk, 23, as his top passcatching targets for Murray, who became only he second rookie in league history to throw for at least 3,500 yards and also rush for 500 or more. But what about behind them?
Well, it depends. If Kingsbury decides to revert to a full-out “10 Personnel” look and constantly run four wideouts and just one running back in his offensive sets, the guess is that the No.4 wide receiver will become a combination of a rotation that includes Trent Sherfield, 24, and second-year pros Andy Isabella, 23, KeeSean Johnson, 23, and Hakeem Butler, 24.
Don’t be surprised if Kingsbury convinced General Manager Steve Keim to keep at least seven wide receivers on the roster and that all of them get their respective reps, depending on their availability and production. One of them must emerge as a go-to target, though, and until they show it in camp, there’s no telling who that will be.
What about the secondary?
As things stand today, the plan is for perennial Pro Bowl selection Patrick Peterson, 30, to slide into his normal role as starting left cornerback and man-up on the opposition’s No.1 wide receiver while veteran Robert Alford, 31, returns after missing the entire year due to a fractured leg to handle the starting spot at right corner.
If for any reason Alford isn’t ready to go, the Cardinals can turn to secondyear local product Byron Murphy, 22, although the former Scottsdale Saguaro standout already has a complex and mostly full-time role as the club’s primary slot corner. Meanwhile, Budda Baker, 24, is back as the team’s all-everything free safety and his starting Pro Bowl nod last season is sure to land him a rich, multi-year contract extension at some point this year.
It’s at strong safety where things could get interesting in camp, if not during the first quarter of the season. Former supplemental draft pick Jalen Thompson, 22, is the incumbent there and figures to have a stranglehold on the starting job. But things could change. Joseph, for instance, could decide that Campbell is a safer, wiser choice at inside linebacker and, with the blessings of Keim and Kingsbury, work out the rookie Simmons at strong safety, too.
That’s the position he first mastered in college at Clemson and although the No. 8 overall pick is capable of playing almost anywhere, Simmons has the potential to become an invaluable weapon there. If it happens, he could become a bigger version of Tyrann Mathieu and a faster version of Adrian Wilson. Who wouldn’t approve of that?
What about the backups?
Any NFL team is only as good as its next man up, even though nobody wants to admit it. It’s rare that a backup quarterback can lead a team to the Super Bowl, for example, but it’s happened before. Second- and third-stringers, however, have often made a difference in an NFL franchise’s success from year to year. It undoubtedly will happen to the Cardinals in 2020.
Top projected backups to watch include Isabella, tight end Dan Arnold, outside linebacker Haason Reddick, rookie running back Eno Benjamin, guard Max Garcia, defensive end Jonathan Bullard, cornerbacks Chris Jones, Duke Jones and Jalen Davis and rookie defensive tackles Leki Fotu and Rashard Lawrence.