Arizona Cardinals New Additions for 2013-14 NFL Season

Though there are no NFL games going on, the NFL players and staff are behind the scenes training and making trades with other teams to bulk up their roster.  This year will certainly be a game changer as the Arizona Cardinals have added a few more quality assets to their repertoire which gives us that much more of an advantage to reach the big game this year.

Lets break it down by our strong suited Defense and then talk about our new additions and comments on offense. Here is the most recent news with your Arizona Cardinals.

Defense:

Starting last month in mid-March, the Arizona Cardinals made a 2 year deal with LB Jasper Brinkley who had a career high 117 tackles last year on the Minnesota Vikings. He Last year he also forced three fumbles and had two sacks, Brinkley should be a good addition to our defensive backs.

Cardinals also made a one year deal with Matt Shaughnessy started all 16 games last season with the Oakland Raiders. He had 3.5 sacks along with 42 team tackles, 29 solo tackles.

In sadder news, long time Cardinals LB Daryl Washington will sit out for at least the first four games of the season due to the NFL’s substance abuse policy. Washington admits his mistakes and will be able to participate in full for all training programs however will miss the first four games of the regular season.

Offense:

Of course you can guess the hot topic, the Quarterback position. After two years of Kolb injured half of both seasons on the sidelines, the Cardinals finally made a smart decision and cut QB, Kevin Kolb. There were talks about getting a rookie in the spot or even starting John Skelton but recent news has shows Skelton was picked up off waivers by the Cincinnati Bengals.

Ever since Bruce Arians was hired to replace the fired Ken Whisenhunt, quarterback was the No. 1 topic of conversation. In late March the Cards seemed confident that Drew Stanton would be the starter until Mr. Carson Palmer stepped up and showed some interest in Arizona. The Cardinals met and made a deal with Oakland for Palmer who should be a good addition to Arizona’s offense. Though Palmer had a rough year last season in Oakland, I think he has plenty of arm left and will compliment our receivers with a sturdy arm at the Quarterback position.

Larry Fitzgerald is arguable one of the greatest receivers of all time, in a recent statement by Fitzgerald, he states "I'm coming off the most disappointing season of my career and I'm in 'prove it' mode," Fitzgerald told Darren Urban of the Cardinals' team site on Tuesday 4/2/13. "Anyone who can come to our team and help us reclaim the division, I'm all for." Now when Fitz says anyone, he is directly referring to the addition at the QB position. I expect Fitz to be a very strong second half receiver this season with Palmer targeting No. 2-3 receivers and tight ends in the first half, pulling defenders off Fitz to cover the new play-makers which will give Fitz some one-on-one lines.  

It is still very early in the offseason and things can still change but for the most part, our 2013-14 season is shaping up and looking good. Look forward to the NFL schedule release in two weeks on April 14.