Cardinals 53-Man Roster "Bubble" Hunches

By Walter Mitchell

Jonathan Gannon said that the plan for the Raiders is pretty much the same personnel-wise as the plan they had for the Broncos --- he indicated that this game will feature the players who are battling for roster spots.

However, perhaps with one or two exceptions, it's extremely likely that Monti Ossenfort and Jonathan Gannon have already decided on the 53-Man roster and which players they are going to hope to sign to the practice squad if they clear waivers. 

Here are some hunches as to what the decisions already are at each position:

QB (2): Kyler Murray, Jacoby Brissett

My hunch for quite some time has been that when the Cardinals signed Jacoby Brissett to a 2-year deal with over $8M in guaranteed money, they reached out to Clayton Tune to assure him that their plan was to keep him on the practice squad, if he passes through waivers. I believe that the GM, coaches and the players have a much higher regard for Clayton Tune than the fans do. Why, for example, would Kyler Murray have invited him to the Los Angeles retreat with the team's skill players? 

Unlike last season for Clayton Tune with Desmond Ridder, the QB2 situation was never a competition. And given how seamlessly Jacoby Brissett has picked up the offense from where he left off with Drew Petzing as QB coach in Cleveland, all has been going perfectly as planned.

RB (4): James Conner, Trey Benson, Emari Demercado, Michael Carter

The main question here given the coaches' confidence in Conner, Benson and Demercado has been whether the Cardinals will keep a 4th RB on the roster, and if so, which one? There are two main reasons why Michael Carter is the most likely to stick; (1) the coaches down the stretch last year gave the starting RB nod to Michael Carter over DeeJay Dallas and did so again versus the Broncos this past week. In both cases, Michael Carter received kudos from Jonathan Gannon; (2) this week Michael Carter was featured as one of the players the team chose to give a press conference. It' was a spirited event, highlighted by MC's profession for his affinity to video games and for Kyler Murray.

The other conspicuous factor is how committed Jeff Rodgers has been this pre-season to trying out a host of kickoff and punt return candidates. 

TE (4): Trey McBride, Tip Reiman, Elijah Higgins, Travis Vokolek

It's understandable why the Cardinals' coaches absolutely cherish their TE group. It makes complete sense for the Cardinals to keep 4 TEs because of their commitment to 12 and 13 personnel packages.

WR (6): Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson, Greg Dortch, Zay Jones, Simi Fehoko, Xavier Weaver

Harrison and Wilson are starters, Jones brings veteran savvy and Dortch, Fehoko and Weaver bring situational passing game and special teams value.

OL (8): Paris Johnson Jr., Evan Brown, Hjalte Froholdt, Isaiah Adams, Jonah Williams, Kelvin Beachum, John Gaines II, Josh Fryar

It's likely that Will Hernandez, Christian Jones and Hayden Conner won't be kept on the initial 53-Man roster due to their current injury statuses. 

None of the other current offensive linemen on the 90-Man roster are potential waiver wire claims. This gives the Cardinals the wherewithal to sign 3-4 of their linemen to the practice squad, and if and when necessary, activate one of them from the PS on game days. My hunch the 3-4 would be Royce Newman, Nick Leverett, Jake Curhan and either Sincere Haynesworth or Dohnovan West.

DI (6): Calais Campbell, Darius Robinson, Dalvin Tomlinson, Dante Stills, PJ Mustipher, Patrick Jenkins

The biggest question is whether the Cardinals will opt to give Walter Nolen III a roster spot in the hope that he can start practicing with the team in a couple of weeks. However, my hunch is that they will designate him to the reserve/PUP list, which means he cannot practice with the team for the first 4 weeks of the season. You might recall the advice that Calais Campbell gave to Walter --- "let it heal 100%."

At this point it would be hard to imagine that the Cardinals have Justin Jones and Bilal Nichols in their immediate or long-term plans, given their injuries. Part of the reason is how high the coaches are on their young talent on the defensive interior. One potential giveaway of that was giving PJ Mustipher, coming off his dominant 6 tackle performance versus the Broncos, his own press conference this week. Jonathan Gannon this week raved about coming to the Cardinals' closed facility on July 4th only to find PJ out on the field by himself engaged in a training regimen. At his presser, PJ avowed that per JG's suggestion at the end of last year, he has shed over 40 pounds. PJ looks and sounds like a player on a mission.

I think it's entirely possible that the coaches keep L.J. Collier on the roster, but my hunch tells me that Patrick Jenkins' pre-season performances to date may have attracted some attention from waiver wire pirates. 

This is one of the great dilemmas of roster decisions --- do you keep the veteran who is on a modest one-year contract, or do you keep a young, very talented under-the-radar player whom you can help develop over the next 4 years? I am always in favor of keeping the younger player --- plus, in this case, the Cardinals should be able to do what they did with L.J. Collier last season --- waive him, sign him the practice squad and elevate him on game days from the PS or re-sign him to the 53-Man roster when needed. 

The hope would be for Elijah Simmons and Kyon Barrs to clear waivers. Simmons has been solid, but not quite to the degree that he would be claimed by another team at this point. Barrs has flashed more than Simmons, but he lacks the size that teams typically covet. Yet, Kyon Barrs has some Dante Stills elements to his game that are intriguing.

ED (4): Josh Sweat, Zaven Collins, Baron Browning, Jordan Burch

It looks like B.J. Ojulari will not be ready to practice anytime soon. But the coaches will be happy to keep him in the wings for when they might need him the most.

The Cardinals are pretty much set on game days on the edge for now with Sweat, Collins, Browning and Burch. They also have the ability at times to rush Darius Robinson and Calais Campbell from the edge if and when they choose. This is why, with B.J. Olari likely returning at some this season the coaches may risk exposing Xavier Turner to waivers in the hope that he clears and is signed to the PS. The coaches also appear to like Benton Whitley and Elliott Brown as PS candidates.

ILB (5): Mack Wilson Sr., Akeem Davis-Gaither, Cody Simon, Owen Pappoe, Mykal Walker

The coaches are still trying to determine what the best starting ILB combo will be, but in the meantime, Davis-Gaither, Simon, Pappoe and Walker are prolific special team assets.

CB (6): Garrett Williams, Max Melton, Will Johnson, Kei'Trel Clark, Elijah Jones, Denzel Burke

Not sure we have ever seen a Cardinals' CB group strictly comprised of the Cardinals' own draft picks. Darren Hall has been making a strong case to be the outlier, but he is not a waiver wire risk and could be re-signed to the PS.

S (5): Budda Baker, Jalen Thompson, Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, Joey Blount, Kitan Crawford

Budda, JT and Rabbit are the big three on the defense, while Joey and Kitan are special teams' assets and potential sub-package cover 2 safeties. Kitan was another player the Cardinals gave a presser to this week. They are extremely high on him. 

ST (3): Aaron Brewer, Chad Ryland, Blake Gillikin.

I get such a kick just thinking of how good these guys are.

Like last year, the Cardinals might waive Aaron Brewer with a wink-wink and re-sign him a day or two later in order to keep another player in the fold.

These are my hunches. What are yours?