After going 13-3 in 2015, losing in the NFCCG and having Carson Palmer being robbed of MVP, the Cardinals fell to 7-8-1 last year. Palmer returns for his fifth season in Arizona and fourteenth overall, and at age 37 he could be nearing the end - behind him are Stanton and Gabbert, but you'd imagine they would try and draft a highly-rated young quarterback sometime soon. Troy Niklas is listed at one of the two TE starting spots, while a 3/5 OL starts plus newly signed veteran guard Alex Boone in reserve. English-born Josh Mauro started 13 games last season, picking up 13 TFL and will start this season. Scooby Wright will be a back-up linebacker and will hopefully get some meaningful game time - we all know how good he is. QB: Carson Palmer, Drew Stanton, Blaine Gabbert TE: Troy Niklas (co-starter apparently) OL: AQ Shipley, Evan Boehm, Jared Veldheer, John Wetzel, Alex Boone DE: Josh Mauro LB: Scooby Wright Special Teams: K Phil Dawson, P Andy Lee, LS Aaron Brewer Practice Squad: LB Bryson Albright Starters: 6 On 53-man roster: 14
Good to hear about Mauro and Wright. Mauro was the lone paleface on the Cardinals' defense for too long, and didn't get the playing time he deserved. Wright was a tackling machine at U of A and it's good to see him back home in Arizona. Gabbert is a better QB than Stanton and should not be stuck at third string.
Jared Veldheer is a good left tackle. So the Cardinals move him to right tackle and put a subpar black tackle, Humphries, at left tackle. I guess in the minds of the coaches only a black should be a left tackle because it requires athleticism which no White player has. So even though Veldheer plays better than Humphries they put Humphries at LT.
Palmer is showing signs of slowing down, AZ has had plenty of chances to draft and develop a young QB, but has chosen not to. This could be the year it comes back to haunt them.
