The Arizona Cardinals are coming off an 11 win season in which they didn’t win the NFC West and ended up losing in the Wildcard round of the playoffs. They’ve lost defensive coordinator Todd Bowles already but will look to still improve this offseason. However, they will have to almost exclusively make improvements through the draft this offseason because they are already almost $7 million over the salary cap for 2015.
Their biggest need is on the offensive line. Their offensive line ranked tenth worst in the league in pass blocking according to PFF (subscription) and fourth worst in run blocking. Their right guard Paul Fanaika is set to be a free agent and I don’t think they’ll be bringing him back. As I said before, they won’t be making many moves in free agency due to their cap situation so they will most likely draft more than one offensive lineman in the upcoming draft.
On the other side of the ball their defensive line will need some attention as well. Starting nose tackle Dan Williams will be a free agent along with Tommy Kelly. While they will get Darnell Dockett back from injury, losing Williams and Kelly is a pretty big deal and something the Cardinals will need to address. Out of the two lineman, if they can only afford to bring one back, Williams is the more important one. However, there is a good chance they take a defensive lineman in the first round whether they bring back one, both, or neither of those two.
Two offensive positions they will need to address during the draft is wide receiver and running back. At wide receiver they have quite a predicament regarding Larry Fitzgerald’s contract. His cap number for 2015 is going to be over $23 million. That is an incredibly high number even for a top level quarterback, let alone an aging wide receiver with a diminishing role on the team. If the Cardinals decide to part ways with Fitzgerald they will have over $14 million in dead money, something I don’t think they’d be willing to do.
So if Fitzgerald doesn’t retire, they’re likely going to keep Fitzgerald to, at the very least, teach some of the younger receivers on the team. Whether they keep him or not I fully expect the Cardinals to take a wide receiver or two in the draft because it is a very deep position again this year. At the running back position they’ll be getting back a fully healthy Andre Ellington. However, even when he was healthy in 2014 he wasn’t very effective. I don’t see the Cardinals trying to bring in a veteran running back to compete with Ellington, but instead I see them drafting a running back. The way this position has gone in recent years it is much easier to find a running back later in the draft and have them succeed. It is one of the more expendable positions in today’s NFL.
The Cardinals are coming off two 10+ win seasons in a row and will look to continue that success in 2015. However, General Manager Steve Keim has some serious work to do with losing key players on defense in free agency and their salary cap situation. Luckily for the Cardinals they have one of the best head coaches in the league in Bruce Arians and they should be getting a healthy Carson Palmer back as well. It will be a very exciting offseason for the Arizona fan base.