-Mike
Knowing that the rookies have already been dissected about 100 times, I thought i'd throw in my take, of course from the fans perspective. We will just go down the line of the Cardinals draft selections and then show the faces of the 15 undrafted rookies (whether they are still on the team or not, because they may end up on the practice squad.) Deone Bucannon IS an Adrian Wilson replica. Even though he's having a hard time at the camps right now this professional will deliver punishing hits and make game changing plays all day long. Expect him to be a day 1 starter or to fill in for Mathieu while he is rehabbing his knee. Troy Niklas is another large, mostly blocking tight end from Notre Dame. We all know Arians loves his two tight end sets and with the addition of John Carlson and the re-signing of Jake Ballard, Niklas adds some depth to the ranks alongside Rob Housler. The good thing about Niklas is that he is nowhere near his ceiling. He played as an offensive lineman in high school and a lineman in his freshman year in college. The depth of the TE position gives him a great chance to improve his skills and eventually polish into the next Tony Gonzalez. Kareem Martin immediately adds depth to an already great front four. Posting an impressive 4.72 40 time he will be able to keep up with most rushers and be able to blow past slow lineman to get to the QB. in 2013 for the Tarheels he had 11.5 sacks and 82 tackles However while his speed is good he can be easily beaten in the open field by the more mobile quarterbacks and edge rushers in the NFL. The player he most reminds me of is Justin Tuck and will get the same extreme motivation out of Martin that Tuck showed when he was picked. John Brown is the speedster that Bruce Arians was searching for last year. This multi-faceted player can reach to any part of the field with his 4.30 speed, he can play return man, gunner or just straight up burner as a receiver. He tracks the ball well and has great hands. Brown has impressed everyone at the Cardinals camps this summer but will have to overcome his small size and inability to push through tackles to really make it in the NFL. I expect him to challenge Ted Ginn Jr for the slot position but for now he will be #4 on the depth chart. Everyone knew the Cardinals would take a QB, but which one? Logan Thomas comes into probably the most ideal position any late round QB can dream of. He gets to work with Carson Palmer and some of the best coaches in the NFL to help him develop into a star. Thomas has an extremely powerful arm and is the dual threat that most teams look for nowadays. While a powerful arm is good, Thomas' accuracy is a problem and that boils down to his decision making and mechanics. Thankfully he has a year or two to work on both of those. I fully expect Thomas to overtake Lindley as the #3 QB on the depth chart and eventually become the starter around 2016. Ed Stinson is a run stopper. That is his resume, although he can occasionally stop speed backs and walk his lineman back to the QB I don't expect many sacks out of him. Stinson will be a very important cog in the defensive line rotation, giving Campbell and Dockett well deserved rests. While he may not be the quickest to absorb the playbook or have the greatest on field knowledge he make sup with his brute strength and incredible endurance. Expect to watch him make the most of his limited on field time and drive through ball carriers to make impact tackles. While not the speedster that John Brown is, Walter Powell is still up there, he is a natural returner and if he makes the team he will be an impact special teams player. Aside from his return abilities he is your average receiver and will be hard pressed to find a roster sport behind Brown and Ginn. Who do you think will be the biggest impact rookie? let me know in the comments! -Mike
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-Mike
Ah, a fresh pre-season is about to start with the 2014 NFL draft. It seems like the Seahawks beat down the Broncos just the other day. The free agency rush has come and gone and now it's time for these fresh young athletes to make their mark in this league. By now everyone has seen at least 200 mock drafts, I even did my own during the playoffs last season. ill have my final predictions on Wednesday night about who will be drafted in what order. In the mean time enjoy your week and lets get ready to have another great season. Two national championships and a 37-2 record as a starter at USC will bring some lofty expectations from the NFL. Matt Leinart ultimately couldn't live up to these being cut most likely for the last time by the Buffalo Bills earlier this season. Leinart was a very promising player at the start, what went wrong? When Matt Leinart entered the NFL he was in a pretty good position. Though the scouting report had him as an average NFL QB he was still drafted in the 10th spot which was above Jay Cutler, Greg Jennings and Antonio Cromartie. Leinart's rookie season wasn't exactly horrible. He appeared in 12 games missing 4 due to a sprained shoulder. Connecting on 56.8% of his passes and throwing 11tds and 12INTs. In his second season his collarbone was broken early on against the Rams and Kurt Warner replaced him for the rest of the season. In 2008 and 2009 he played a total of 12 games. Many experts thought that Matt had a chance to succeed in the NFL but his development had sputtered out quickly. "When he came out of USC he was so well-protected and had so much talent around him that it seemed like he entered the NFL already at one level, "Rob Rang said, "and he didn't show enough athletic ability as well as work ethic, at times, to improve." Leinart was cut in 2010 by the Cardinals and was quickly signed by the Houston Texans. Leinart appeared in a garbage time situation against the Buccaneers and started against the Jaguars going 10/13 for 57 yards and a TD against them but broke his collarbone for the second time and was waived. Teams continued to give him a chance, in 2012 the Oakland Raiders signed Leinart to be Carson Palmer's backup. Having a chance to impress people Leinart was inserted into a game after Palmer was hurt. If he was able to step up and make plays it would show the NFL that he was developing again, sadly he wasn't able to do that. Matt Leinart's downfall wasn't all his fault. I really feel like Dennis Green never gave him a fair chance. The coaches didn't really support him or make him any better in developing him. Coming into the NFL he had a weak arm and below average mobility. In the NFL if you do not have immediate success you become an afterthought. It's so easy in this day and age to go and get someone else. Carson Palmer seems to remind me of a certain quarterback that used to play for the Cardinals. That person is Kurt Warner. A grizzled veteran who had played on a few teams with relative success only to come to Arizona and thrive for a few seasons. These two quarterbacks will also do something to the Cardinals, retire, setting the team back 5 years. While it is apparent that Palmer isn't the long term answer at quarterback. He is a good stop gap while Steve Kiem and Bruce Arians search for a long term solution to the team's persistent problems at the position. The question is do you wait for free agency or look ahead to the draft and take a gamble on a person who hasn't proven themselves yet. If the season ended today the Cardinals would have the 20th pick (best team without making the post-season) in the 2014 NFL draft. At that low of a position the big name quarterbacks would have already come off of the board. So do they wait a year for the next draft class or pick a lower valued QB. Here's the best options if the decided to draft a QB. Alabama's A.J. McCarron who has great poise, touch and accuracy but is labeled as a game manager. Or the Cardinals could go with LSU's Zach Mettenberger who is compared to Joe Flacco and Ben Roethlisberger since he has the arm strength but unlike those two quarterbacks Mettenberger does not have the mobility. He is also rehabbing from having his ACL repaired. It doesn't matter who your quarterback is unless you have an offensive line. With the offensive line heavy draft the Cardinals could also take a tackle to replace the void Levi Brown left when he was traded to Pittsburgh earlier this year. Bradley Sowell has performed admirably but is not the future of the position barring major improvement. With Jonathan cooper coming back from injury next year and the prospect of talented tackle next to him, that combination would make for solid protection all around. Looking at free agents, Jay Cutler is the only big name that is scheduled to be on the market. Other than Cutler the free agent market is looking thin until 2015 where Tom Brady and Cam Newton can play the market if they choose too. One way or another the Cardinals need to act on a quarterback of the future and finally put some security on this oft under skilled position. |