How do Arizona Cardinals deal with plethora of defensive linemen?
A year ago at this time, Mitch Mitch was in for Wolf. A year ago at this time, it was it was such a thin position defensive line for the Arizona Cardinals. Yes. And even into the season and then some guys kind of stepped up like all right this but then they would get hurt and so it was just like it it was never a position of depth. This is where in a lot of ways um I think Nick Rollis won a lot of people over of like man you are you’re already playing with a team on paper that isn’t fully formed yet on defense. Like clearly Monty Austin for addressed defense this year but that’s cuz he addressed offense last year and the year before. So you were already if you’re Nick Rollins dealing with a defense that wasn’t fully formed and then as he would get things to work guys would just go down and be hurt. You know what it is? It’s that meme of um do you know the pipe that’s like funneling water to that large individual at the end in a chair and it’s like guzzling all the water and then there’s the one scrawny individual underneath that’s just getting the little drops that are coming out of the crack. That was for the last two years the offense. Yes. Funnel the offense defense just you just get the little drops just be there. Now it’s kind of reversed but I don’t think the offense is necessarily suffering from not getting anything this off season. No, because they already got their stuff. I mean the defense got their stuff this offseason. They’re not going to they’re not going to use every pick except Hayden Connor on defense next year. They’re not going to only predominantly add defensive players in free agency next year cuz they did it this year, right? But the the result of it was defensive line that was so thin and got depleted is pretty loaded now, man. Like it to the point where some guys that you would love if you’re another team are just going to get let go by the Cardinals here at some point throughout camp. So, what exactly are they going to do here? Well, so I was looking at the depth chart yesterday and then it ties perfectly to uh Tyler Drake’s latest piece on Arizona Sports.com uh presented by Wy where he points out where the one area where you expect to be one of the bigger strengths of this team. Also has a glut like a massive glut. I was just looking at the depth chart on ESPN the other day. I’m going to read names and you tell me where to stop. Okay. Wait, so am I telling you where to stop if like that guy goes or No, just tell me where to stop where you’re like I’m comfortable with all those guys. Okay. Walter Nolan the third. Yep. Dvin Tomlinson. Justin Jones. Darius Robinson. Kas Campbell. Bal Nichols. Elijah Simmons. So hold on. Dante Stills. You have to stop now because Justin Jones and Bal Nichols are guys that I liked going into last year. especially Justin Jones. Mhm. That are Do you think they’ll both be back this year? I mean, they’re listing Jones as an edge on this depth chart. I’m not sure how the Cardinals are going to approach it. I was under the impression he was brought in as an interior guy. Now, it feels like they’re like the third line, so to speak. Like, I would imagine that Walter Nolan and Dvin Tomlinson would get like the 75% of the snaps. Kus Campbell and Darius Robinson right behind them. And then it’s Bal Nichols and Justin Jones and Dante Stills. Like that alone on the interior is seven guys. Yeah. And there’s no way that they keep all of those guys in the final cut. Six on the defensive line last year. And I’m not including edge rushers. And edge rushers play on the line now. Yeah. So it’s And Darius Robinson is the sort of player that maybe they can when Nick Rollins is making his case to keep all of these defensive guys and they’re cutting the roster down to 53. Darius Robinson can kind of slip around a little bit and you might be like, “Yeah, look, I’m asking you to keep seven defensive linemen, but really it’s like six and a half because Darius Robinson could play over here too, but um I mean all those like is Bal Nichols is some of it’s going to come down to camp. But this is a team now that if you’re another team that needs defensive line help, you’re looking at the Cardinals specifically when cutdown day comes because you’re like probably whoever they cut we’re going to take. There’s just as much of a pressure on the free agent guys that were brought in this time around. So Dvin Tomlinson and Klayas Campbell because if we think back to the four key guys that Monte Austin signed last year, Justin Jones, Bal Nichols, Shawn Murphy Bunting, and M Wilson senior. One of them’s already done for the year in Shawn Murphy Bunting. Two of them barely played last year because of injuries and the fourth one was the bright spot of the defense next to Kaiser White in the middle. Yeah, he is the least I’m concerned about in Matt Wilson. M I have no worries about Sean Murphy Bunting, as we said, is not going to play this year. So that already feels like a lost contract to be quite frank and nothing against the guy, but evaluating this from a performance. I will say too before you go to those other two guys with Shawn Murphy bunting and this just kind of speaks to where the defense was last year. He was the guy that I mean a lot of times you’d watch and be like, dude, like come on, like what what are we doing? I had a lot of frustrations watching him play last the Green Bay game drove me nuts, but it was like every other play he was getting flagged. Yes. But at the same time, he led the team in forced fumbles and interceptions. Now, they weren’t extremely high numbers, but it’s just like, so that is kind of a sign of where they were last year to where I’m hoping whoever leads the Cardinals in interceptions this year has more than three and whoever leads the team in forced fumbles has more than two. Yeah, that’s always good. Or it’s like 10 guys with two forced fumbles. And somebody to break in the double- digit sack column because I think their leading sack getter had like five and a half. Five last year for Z. They didn’t do a lot of the sexy numbers last year. They did a lot of the the the analytics stuff is where they got a lot of darlings on their side. But to my further point about the four guys brought in last year, yes, there’s a ton of pressure on Bal Nichols and Justin Jones to perform because they’re in year two of three-year deals. And if they don’t perform this year, they could easily just be gone this year or next year. Yeah. Whereas there’s also that pressure on Dvin Tomlinson and Kus Campbell because there’s a 25% hit rate on the four guys he brought in last year. Well, now here’s two more that you expect to do a majority of the reps and what if they miss? Like what if Monty misses again on another free agent class? Then I’m going to start to be worried about him. I would be a little I mean those two names you just gave though. We know what Clay Campbell is. I mean his body of work is almost two decades deep. And I don’t mean as like a diss on these two individuals. They’re severely better than Bal Nichols and Justin Jones. I think it’s indicative of where the team is now, too, where they could go out and go out and get a Dvin Tomlinson as opposed to just trying to get guys to not that Justin Jones was a fill out the roster guy, but like two years ago felt like a fill out the roster guy. Last year was like, “Okay, these guys could start for us, but we’re probably not a playoff contender.” Yes. Uh now they’re they’re adding guys to contend for the playoffs. I will say though, and I I mean this means nothing. How camp plays out is going to be what matters. Yes. I’d like to see Justin Jones just to see what he could do in this defense. I know he played a very little bit last year and maybe it’s not feasible. I don’t know. Um but I I would I’m intrigued still a year later by what he could do for this defense. At the same time, you have to consider there’s other guys too. So it’s like you want to see Justin Jones. So do you want to see less of Xav Collins? No. Do you want to see less of Darius Robinson? You want to see a lot more of Darius Robinson on the field this year? BJ Gelari and I know some of these guys are edge, some of these are interior, but they have all of these guys. LJ Collier, Jordan Burch was a draft pick. Elijah Simmons was on Brown. There’s a ton of guys. They um there’s another one that we’re forgetting too. Thomas is the one. Owen Papo, Michael Walker. They signed in free agency. There’s a lot. They um they have a surplus. Did you guys say Dante Stills yet? I think a couple times. Just don’t pay just don’t play a West Virginia sounder as a result of us saying I won’t. I’m just saying good problem to have. Yeah, it is. Right. I mean, that’s that’s a it’s a great it’s a great problem, but sooner or later they’re going to need to figure out how few of these guys they want to keep. Well, it’s I mean, it’s going to be in the next or do they pull from a different area and then you’re weaker at a different position because you have less depth there when you’re going to Dante Stills and be like, could you play running back if we needed you? Could you play right guard? How many of you guys can play special teams? You play right guard. Uh yeah, it it is it’s a good problem to have. It’s not necessarily an issue in the sense of like like when we were going into the baseball season, it was like, man, can you have six starting pitchers for the Dbacks or is one of them going to be upset? Good depth is not an issue. Yeah, this is not an issue. It’s just more of a you’re not going to get to keep it. Yes. Like you’re going to have to give some of it up because other teams are going to want it. And and then as it turns out, the Diamondback’s depth one, it figured itself out cuz Jordan Montgomery was hurt before the year started and then they lost Corbin Burns. Yeah. I mean, you hope that doesn’t happen in camp, but football is football. Probably one of these guys will end up missing time and you know, then another guy will be an opportunity or whatever, but it’s nice to have depth at that position of of all of them. Thanks for watching Wolf and Luke. Tap to see more and click the button in the middle to subscribe to Arizona Sports.
Luke Lapinski and Mitch Vareldzis talk about the staggering amount of talent the Arizona Cardinals have on their defensive line heading into training camp.
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2 comments
I’ll believe it when I see it.
Who knew that Destiny was a Cards fan?