NFC West Poker Chip Assessments for Defensive Starters – Will Cards Raise the Ante? – Revenge of the Birds

Background: May 23, 2022; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals defensive end J.J. Watt (99) during mini-camp at Arizona Cardinals training facility. Nfl Cardinals Mini Camp

NFC West Starters in the Nickel Defense:

LDE

LDT

RDT

RDE

MLB

NLB

LCB

SS

FS

RCB

NCB

Total Points:

Mike Clays Defensive Unit Grades:

DI

ED

LB

CB

S

Defensive NFL Rankings

Commentary

What stands out amongst Mike Clays unit rankings is how high he is on the Cardinals linebackers and how low he is on the Cardinals CBs. Clay must like the athletic potential of Zaven Collins and Isaiah Simmons. As for the the CBs, Marco Wilson and Jeff Gladney are both unproven heading into their second seasons in the NFL, and Byron Murphy was unable to sustain his high level of play in 2021.

Whats fascinating is how much Quentin Harris (Executive Direct of College Scouting) raved about the Cardinals young secondary when he was on the Dave Pasch Podcast. Then, Budda Baker said yesterday: Personally I feel like its the best (defensive back room) that Ive had in my career. Were all kind of young, we all have the same kind of personalities and were all friends. Weve got some guys that youll be excited to see.

A couple of weeks ago, Mike Clay had the Cardinals safeties graded at 1.5. I tweeted Mike to ask why his grade was so low. While he did not respond to the tweet, he recently raised his grade to a 2.0 (which I think is still too low, but at least its an improvement).

The participation thus far in OTAs by the Cardinals defensive players, led by J.J. Watt, has been outstanding:

That is what true leadership looks like.

This is what true leadership sounds like:

When asked why he opted to participate in the Cardinals OTAs, Budda Baker cited these reasons:

Hope is a good thing, Red.

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NFC West Poker Chip Assessments for Defensive Starters - Will Cards Raise the Ante? - Revenge of the Birds