The Arizona Cardinals‘ 53-man roster is one of the more confounding in the NFL. They’re built a bit like if you put the keys of the roster into the hands of a 13-year-old Madden player who is uncompetitive in online matches. Steve Keim and Co. haven’t necessarily ignored the offensive line — they just haven’t made it a priority.
Arizona Cardinals 53-man roster projection
Starters will be annotated with an asterisks
Arizona Cardinals offense (25)
Quarterback:
Kyler Murray*
Colt McCoy
Trace McSorley
Running back:
James Conner*
Darrel Williams
Eno Benjamin
Keaontay Ingram
Wide receiver:
A.J. Green*
Marquise Brown*
Rondale Moore*
Antoine Wesley
Greg Dortch
Andy Isabella
Tight end:
Zach Ertz*
Maxx Williams
Trey McBride
Offensive tackle:
D.J. Humphries*
Kelvin Beachum*
Josh Jones
Joshua Miles
Offensive guard:
Justin Pugh*
Will Hernandez*
Cody Ford
Center:
Rodney Hudson*
Lecitus Smith
Arizona Cardinals defense (25)
Defensive end:
J.J. Watt*
Zach Allen
Michael Dogbe
Defensive tackle:
Leki Fotu*
Rashard Lawrence
Kingsley Keke
Inside linebacker:
Isaiah Simmons*
Zaven Collins*
Nick Vigil
Tanner Vallejo
Ben Niemann
Outside linebacker:
Markus Golden*
Cameron Thomas*
Myjai Sanders
Jesse Luketa
Victor Dimukeje
Cornerback:
Byron Murphy*
Marco Wilson*
Antonio Hamilton*
Josh Jackson
Jace Whittaker
Safety:
Budda Baker*
Jalen Thompson*
Deionte Thompson
James Wiggins
Arizona Cardinals specialists (3)
Matt Prater (K)
Andy Lee (P)
Aaron Brewer (LS)
Suspension
WR DeAndre Hopkins (six games)
The defensive depth chart is an absolute mess. Budda Baker is a certified stud, but the rest of the roster feels disjointed, particularly when paired with defensive coordinator Vance Joseph. Joseph would love nothing more than to line up and run man-to-man coverage on a majority of the defensive snaps.
But his best cornerback is Byron Murphy, who is best suited as a zone cornerback. Nevertheless, the defense hasn’t changed much outside of Chandler Jones’ departure. And while that is significant, he wasn’t the monster we’ve gotten used to seeing after that wild Week 1 performance.
Despite their wacky defensive depth chart, they finished sixth in defensive DVOA, and the team finished 11-6 and in second place in arguably the best division in the NFL last season.
