The Arizona Cardinals finished the 2019 season playing 1,133 defensive snaps. They had three players on the field for more than 90 percent of those snaps.
Let’s take a look at the final counts and percentages for the defense. The numbers come from Pro Football Reference.
Defensive line
Corey Peters, 805 (71.1%); Rodney Gunter, 602 (53.1%); Zach Kerr, 328 (29.0%); Jonathan Bullard, 309 (27.3%); Zach Allen, 144 (12.7%); Caraun Reid, 136 (12%); Mile Brown, 123 (10.9%); Clinton McDonald, 122 (10.8%); Michael Dogbe, 82 (7.3%)
Peters was the only player to appear in all 16 games. Gunter, Bullard, Allen and McDonald all finished the season on injured reserve.
Reid’s played in only the three final games. Dogbe never played more than 19 snaps in a game.
Linebackers
Jordan Hicks, 1,133 (100%); Chandler Jones, 1,069 (94.4%); Haason Reddick, 688 (60.7%); Terrell Suggs, 638 (56.3%); Joe Walker, 537 (47.4%); Cassius Marsh, 428 (37.8%); Brooks Reed, 78 (6.9%); Kylie Fitts, 37 (3.3%); Tanner Vallejo, 29 (2.6%); Pete Robertson, 7 (.6%); Zeke Turner, 4 (.4%)
Hicks entered the season known as an injury-prone player. He led the NFL in defensive snaps.
The other inside linebacker position changed. Walker started the last 10 games.
Turner’s four snaps came in the final two games in goalline sets. Fitts saw playing time in the final three games.
Defensive backs
Budda Baker, 1,120 (98.9%); Byron Murphy, 1,105 (97.5%); Patrick Peterson, 696 (61.4%); Jalen Thompson, 607 (53.6%); Tramaine Brock, 533 (47.0%); D.J. Swearinger, 282 (24.9%); Chris Jones, 273 (24.1%); Kevin Peterson, 254 (22.4%); Deionte Thompson, 252 (22.2%); Chris Banjo, 42 (3.7%)
The Cardinals didn’t deal with many injuries in the secondary. They dealt with suspensions and poor play. At safety, Swearinger was bad. Then, the two Thompson rookies split time. Jalen took over and developed nicely.
Murphy was the steady presence at cornerback as Brock, Jones and Kevin Peterson took their turns opposite him after Patrick Peterson’s suspension was over.
Banjo developed a nice little role. He was a goalline safety and then came in for Joe Walker playing like Budda Baker or Deone Bucannon as a hybrid linebacker/safety in the final two games.
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Ep. 254
Ep. 253:
