Cardinals Sign Larry Foote
MAY 14: Foote received a minimum salary benefit contract, but a $65K bonus takes his overall salary up to $1.02MM, and $513K of his deal is guaranteed, tweets Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com.
MAY 7: The Cardinals have signed free agent linebacker Larry Foote to a one-year contract, according to The Associated Press. Foote himself essentially confirmed the agreement last night, posting “AZ birdgang!!!!!!!!” on his Twitter account.
Foote, 33, has spent all but one of his 12 NFL seasons in Pittsburgh with the Steelers, winning two Super Bowls with the club. He started 16 games at inside linebacker as recently as 2012, but missed significant action last season for the first time in his career, appearing in just one game due to a biceps injury.
Foote should provide a solid veteran presence on the Cardinals’ defense, though he shouldn’t necessarily be counted on to be the impact player in the middle he was earlier in his career. In 2012, he ranked just 46th of 53 qualified inside linebackers, according to Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics (subscription required).
The rumor mill had been fairly quiet on Foote for nearly two months — the last we heard, he had no plans to retire and wanted to sign with a contender. While Arizona didn’t make the postseason last year, the team won 11 games and will bring back most of its key contributors from 2013, so it certainly fits the bill.
Cards Sign Anthony Walters, Keenan Clayton
The Cardinals have increased their roster to 89 players, one below the max, by officially announcing two more signings. As Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com details, the club has signed free agent safety Anthony Walters and linebacker Keenan Clayton. Both contracts are one-year pacts, per Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com (via Twitter).
Walters, who spent his first three seasons with the Bears, didn’t receive a contract tender from the team in March, making him an unrestricted free agent. The 25-year-old was a special teams contributor in Chicago last season, logging six tackles in kick and punt coverage for the club. As for Clayton, the former Eagle and Raiders hasn’t appeared in a regular season game since the 2012 season.
The two signings come on the heels of the Cardinals selecting seven players in the draft and announcing 15 undrafted free agent additions earlier in the week.
Patrick Peterson, Cardinals Talk Extension
The Cardinals and star cornerback Patrick Peterson are discussing a possible extension, according to Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com, in conjunction of the Associated Press.
The team has leverage, owning Peterson’s rights the next two year after exercising his fifth-year option earlier this offseason. The Cardinals can still franchise tag him the following year, limiting Peterson’s negotiating power even further.
Peterson will likely seek an extension rivaling that of his former NFC West coverage expert Richard Sherman. Sherman signed a four-year extension with the Seahawks earlier this offseason, worth $56MM with $40MM in guaranteed money.
Peterson has been selected to the Pro Bowl in each of his three seasons, and been an All-Pro twice already.
When asked if he thinks he is worth more than Sherman, he answered, “I think I am but at the end of the day both sides have to agree to terms and we’ll see what those terms are.” That thinking could mean the Cardinals will have to write a huge check in the near future.
He did state that he is committed to being a Cardinal. “I think I’ll be here for a while,” Peterson said. “That’s a definite guarantee, I’ll be here for a while.”
Cardinals Announce 15 UDFA Signings
The Cardinals have signed 15 undrafted free agents, reports Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com.
Here are all of the Cardinals’ signings:
- Zach Bauman, RB, Northern Arizona
- Jonathan Brown, LB, Illinois (9K bonus, per Aaron Wilson)
- Glenn Carson, LB, Penn State
- Chandler Catanzaro, K, Clemson
- Tim Cornett, RB, UNLV
- Bruce Gaston, DT, Purdue
- Kelvin Palmer, OT, Baylor
- Kelsey Pope, WR, Samford
- Justin Renfrow, DT, Miami
- Brandon Sermons, CB, UCLA
- Kevin Smith, WR, Washington
- Anthony Steen, OG, Alabama ($12K bonus, per Wilson)
- Corey Washington, WR, Newberry
- Todd Washington, CB, Southeastern Louisiana
- Kadeem Williams, OT, Albany
Cardinals Cut Ryan Williams, Three Others
The Cardinals have parted ways with 2011 second-round pick Ryan Williams, tweets Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com. Williams is one of four players let go today by the Cardinals, who also cut center John Estes, linebacker Kenny Rowe, and tight end Brett Brackett, according to Urban (Twitter link).
Williams, 24, was selected 38th overall in 2011, but could never get healthy enough to become a contributor for the Cardinals. After missing his rookie season, Williams accumulated 164 yards on 58 carries in 2012, then was injured for the entire 2013 season as well. Arizona creates a little over $1MM in cap savings by letting go of the young running back.
La Canfora On Draft, Browns, Jags, Easley
Based on what Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com was hearing during and after the draft, he believes the Browns traded down from No. 4 to No. 9 in the first round in the hopes that Texas A&M receiver Mike Evans would still be on the board. When Evans was snapped up by the Buccaneers seventh overall, Cleveland went another direction and never did address the receiver position in the draft. Here’s more from La Canfora, with a focus on draft-related what-ifs:
- The Jaguars “resisted several opportunities” to move out of the No. 3 overall slot and trade down with teams who were hoping to land Khalil Mack or Sammy Watkins, says La Canfora. We heard this morning that Jacksonville also considered trading with the Falcons, who were targeting Jake Matthews.
- Before they traded up to No. 22, the Browns were close to making deals with the Titans at No. 11 and the Cowboys at No. 16.
- If the Patriots hadn’t selected Florida’s Dominique Easley with their first-round pick, the Seahawks likely would have kept their first-rounder and used it on Easley rather than moving down. Similarly, the Cardinals would have selected Ryan Shazier if he was there at No. 20, but began attempts to trade down once he came off the board, ultimately swinging a deal with the Saints.
- Offensive tackle Ju’Wuan James likely would’ve been selected by the Panthers at No. 28 if the Dolphins hadn’t drafted him 19th overall.
- La Canfora continues to hear from sources that at this point rumors of a Ryan Mallett trade between the Patriots and Texans are just that — rumors.
- Defensive tackle Ego Ferguson, who was selected by the Bears in the second round, has been frequently identified by evaluators as one of the draft’s biggest reaches, says La Canfora.
NFC Notes: Cowboys, Bradford, Bortles, Lions
The Cowboys didn’t come away from the 2014 draft having selected a new quarterback, which head coach Jason Garrett says is just fine. Garrett explained the thinking to Todd Archer of ESPN.com:
“The thing you’re concerned about is developing them for somebody else,” Garrett said. “You develop them for two, three, four years and he goes and plays for another football team. We don’t think that’s a worthwhile thing. There’s been a theory around the league, teams like Green Bay for years always took a guy late and if that player develops into something that was a good thing for their team or to trade to somebody else. … It’s a philosophy a lot of teams, they agree with that. But when you have other issues on your team I think it becomes a little bit of a luxury to do that.”
Here’s more from around the NFC:
- While there have been rumblings about possible Sam Bradford trade talks lately, Rams coach Jeff Fisher said on today’s Dan Patrick Show that the club has neither made or received any calls about Bradford’s availability (link via Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk).
- If the Jaguars hadn’t selected Blake Bortles with the third overall pick, neither the Vikings or Titans would have drafted him, but the Cowboys would’ve considered it at No. 16 and the Cardinals would’ve pulled the trigger at No. 20, according to Albert Breer of the NFL Network (via Twitter).
- The Lions strongly considered picking a quarterback on the third day of the draft, but the club’s targets came off the board before Detroit had a chance to select them, writes Justin Rogers of MLive.com.
- If the conditional pick traded to the Eagles by the Bills in this weekend’s Bryce Brown trade doesn’t change hands next year, it can become a 2016 third-rounder if Brown rushes for 800+ yards in either of the next two seasons, according to Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter).
- Daniel Brown of the San Jose Mercury News provides an interesting look at how safety Jimmie Ward became the 49ers’ man in the first round last Thursday.
- Longtime Vikings college scouting director Scott Studwell resigned from the position following this weekend’s draft, and will transition into a new role within the organization, writes Sid Hartman of the Star Tribune.
NFC West Notes: Seahawks, Rams, 49ers, Sam
General manager John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll have worked five drafts together with the Seahawks, and as The News Tribune’s Todd Dybas writes, the duo has developed a penchant for taking lesser-known players.
Examples of this include Middle Tennessee State defensive tackle Jimmy Staten, Marshall offensive tackle Garrett Scott and Arkansas fullback Kiero Small, none of whom received much notoriety in the days leading up to the draft.
Schneider talked about the ambitious nature of his team’s roster and a mentality his players must possess: “There’s so much competitiveness. These guys are on edge. They’re confident, so you have to have a certain mentality to be able to battle. You’ve got to bring it right away. Right when you walk in the door, you’ve got to bring it.”
More notes from the division of the reigning Super Bowl champions below…
- The unpredictably consistent Seahawks need five or six of the nine draft picks to hit for Schneider and Carroll to retain the title of draft geniuses, penned Jerry Brewer of The Seattle Times.
- A roundup of the Rams‘ 11 draft picks by Joe Lyons of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. With two first-round picks, St. Louis solidified the trenches, going with Auburn tackle Greg Robinson No. 2 overall and Pittsburgh defensive tackle Aaron Donald at No. 13.
- At No. 249, the Rams made one of the more memorable picks in the draft, selecting Missouri DE/OLB Michael Sam, who will become the first openly gay player to play in the NFL. As Jim Thomas of the Post-Dispatch writes, now Sam needs to prove that he can also play football in addition to breaking barriers.
- USA TODAY Sports’ Tom Pelissero named the Rams as one of five teams that should expect instant impact from its rookies in 2014.
- 49ers general manager Trent Baalke was happy for Sam, but wished that the Missouri rusher landed outside the NFC West and thus avoiding facing him twice a year, Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com writes.
- South Florida outside linebacker Aaron Lynch, standing an impressive 6-foot-6 and 244 pounds, lauds himself as a first-round talent with mistakes in his past. He slipped to the 49ers in the fifth round because of those mistakes, and head coach John Harbaugh says Lunch needs direction, according to Eric Branch of SFGate.com.
- Despite the availability of SEC quarterbacks Zach Mettenberger (LSU), Aaron Murray (Georgia) and A.J. McCarron, the Cardinals took a developmental project instead, Virginia Tech’s Logan Thomas, writes Kent Somers of AZcentral.com.
Cardinals Notes: Thomas, Arians, UDFAs
Cardinals’ head coach Bruce Arians stated that Virginia Tech quarterback Logan Thomas will be playing quarterback for the team, reports Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com (via Twitter). Thomas has experience as a tight end, but Arians noted that his struggles with accuracy can be easily fixed.
Here are some other notes from Urban about the Cardinals draft day three:
- Yesterday Arians said that he liked the three quarterbacks on the team’s roster, writes Urban (via Twitter). This turned out to be a smokescreen, with Arians saying today “I lie pretty good.”
- Arians held his intentions to draft a quarterback close to his chest, because he was afraid a team would try to jump in front of the Cardinals to target Thomas in the fourth round, writes Urban (via Twitter).
- Cardinals’ general manager Steve Keim noted that he wants to add two running backs and between three and five offensive linemen as undrafted rookie free agents, reports Urban (via Twitter).
Poll: Best Late Round Quarterback?
Just because they don’t have the fanfare of a Johnny Manziel or Teddy Bridgewater doesn’t mean the day three quarterbacks are destined to be career backups. A handful of high-caliber NFL quarterbacks do get selected in the later rounds.
Not every quarterback drafted in the sixth round is going to turn into Tom Brady–most first-round quarterbacks won’t accomplish half of what Brady has–but many if not all of these fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh-round quarterbacks will have a chance to push for a starting job at some point in their career, either by performance or by injury.
The question is, which of these quarterbacks is going to have the best chance to find success as a starter in the NFL? That takes a combination of talent and opportunity, where some of these draftees have definite roadblocks in front of them in the form of quarterbacks entrenched as starters.
Of course, a few more quarterbacks will still come off the board in the next 50+ picks, and a couple more will be snagged as undrafted free agents. Maybe Stephen Morris of Miami, Tahj Boyd of Clemson, Garrett Gilbert of SMU, Keith Price of Washington, Brett Smith of Wyoming, or Connor Shaw of South Carolina ends up being the best of the group, although they are still waiting to hear their names called.