Free agency only officially began on Thursday and the Arizona Cardinals have not yet announced any official moves but they get high grades for their early work in the offseason.
Having agreed to acquire receiver DeAndre Hopkins from the Houston Texans and having agreed to sign defensive lineman Jordan Phillips and linebacker Devon Kennard, Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield gives the Cardinals the highest marks possible in his grades for every NFL team.
He gave them an A+.
When you’re an NFL executive, it’s always good when you can take advantage of the deals proposed by other, lesser NFL executives. Cardinals general manager Steve Keim was able to fleece Texans head coach/GM Bill O’Brien because O’Brien has an interesting tendency to overvalue players he doesn’t have, and undervalue the players he does. That’s the only possible explanation for the deal that sent DeAndre Hopkins, one of the NFL’s best receivers, to the Valley of the Sun in exchange for running back David Johnson and a minor draft pick swap. This is just one of O’Brien’s many personnel embarrassments over the last two years, while Kyler Murray now gets to throw to Hopkins and Larry Fitzgerald. Not bad. Add in the signing of underrated former Bills defensive lineman Jordan Phillips, and it’s hard to argue with any of Arizona’s moves so far.
The Cardinals have hit on every move so far.
They needed a No. 1 receiver. Now they have one.
They needed to get out from uender David Johnson’s contract. They got out of it.
They needed help on the defensive line. They got it.
They needed a pass rusher opposite Chandler Jones. They got him.
They wanted to retain Kenyan Drake. He was given the transition tag.
They still have moves to make to better address right tackle and add inside linebacker help, but their moves have been about as good as they could have been so far.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.
Ep. 261
Ep. 260
