August 28, 2023 • 30 mins
With the preseason over and final cuts coming on Tuesday, Jess does a solo show giving his predictions for the Cardinals' final 53-man roster. He also shares Seth's projections.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Yes, this is the Rise UpSea Red podcast, all about the Arizona
Cardinals and the NFL, featuring insiderand outsider perspectives. Enjoy the best hour
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of Cardinals talk on the web.Now Here are your hosts, Jess Route
and Seth Cox. Hello Arizona Cardinalsfans, and welcome to the latest edition
of the Rise Ups He Read podcast. I'm your host, Jess Route from
cardsmaw dot com, the USA TodayNFL wire site covering of course he Arizona
Cardinals and my car. This isnot this is a solo show. This
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episode four hundred and fifty five,and Seth is not with me for this
episode. He is down for thecount right now. He should be back
on Tuesday to react to the finalcuts. But the Arizona this show going
to run down after the Cardinals preseasonfinale in eighteen to seventeen comeback win over
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the Minnesota Vikings. I'm going totalk about my roster predictions also sets.
I've got sets roster predictions and myroster predictions for the fifty three man roster
kind of including everything we know fromtraining camp to the preseason to the roster
needs and more. Let's go ahead, and yeah, it's that. This
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also includes the trades that I talkedabout on the show over the week a
couple of days ago, in episodefour hundred and fifty four, Isaiah Simmons
out Josh Jones out quarterback Josh jobsin. But I want to jump right
into this because you know, Iwaste time quarterback this. While we don't
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know how things are shaking out,I think we can safely say that the
one thing for sure with the acquisitionof Josh Daubs is that the Cardinals are
going to have Kyler Murray remained onpup, which means he's gonna be on
at least the first four weeks ofthe season. And that's that's the way
both Seth and I went. There'snot really much to discuss so that,
and so the three quarterbacks that theykeep on the roster Colt McCoy, Clayton
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Tune, and Josh Dobbs, whateverorder that ends up being, I believe
it will ultimately be McCoy, Tune, Dabbs to start, maybe McCoy Dobbs
Moon, but I don't think Dobbis going to be the start, at
least cerainly on unless Colt McCoy ishurt. Yeah, it just doesn't make
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sense to cut Colt McCoy. They'vethey've treated him like a start of the
whole time. He's due three andthree quarters million, and two and a
quarter of that is completely guaranteed.Now, the addition of Josh Dobbs is
interesting because his salary is one anda half million dollars completely guaranteed, and
that will lead to a move somewherelee down the wine when it comes back,
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because means they're gonna have to cutsomebody. They're not gonna keep four
quarterbacks on the roster. I don'tthink they'll cut Clayton too, unless they
feel confident that he's not going toclaim to anywhere. But he's a quarterback.
He played well in the preseason reasonablyokay, not great, but it
wasn't like other other rookies that we'veseen. So maybe he can make it
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through. But you know, otherwise, Josh Dobbs get cut, depending on
when that is. It's not asmuch to eat Colt McCoy. That is
a little bit more. But ifyou get out of him what you got
wanted to get out of him,say it's four or five starts, maybe
maybe that's the direction they go andthey say thank you very much, and
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they continue to pay him his money. That's he's due for the rest of
the season at running back. Sethand I differ a little bit, but
not actually, yeah, we dothis for a bit. We both have
James Connor, we both have KantaIngram, but in my case only have
three. Are you running backs onthe final fifty three? Now? And
I will explain the reason. Then. The reason is I think they have
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to cut short a position because ofinjury suffered during the game. So backup
center, rookie center John Gaines suffereda knee injury. Backup guard Dennis Daily,
free agent Edition injured his ankle.I don't know what that means for
either player moving forward, but itgains his injury is probably one that might
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cause him to miss some time,maybe the first couple of games, which
means they're gonna need another center onthe roster, and they might need another
backup guard because then what you haveis your solid three backups with Josh Jones
not on the roster, the threesolid backups that you knew that you probably
could be competent in backup center JohnGaines. It's a rookie, Dennis Daly
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and Calvin Beecham. Two of thosethree are currently hurt hurt, and so
that's gonna change though. I Ishorted the running back room with the idea
that probably one guy get comes onthe crap, he's on the practice squalk
and get called up if needed.Seth has James Connor, Canta Ingram,
Tyson Williams, and Corey Clement.Reasonable I have the I have Connor Ingram,
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but rather I have Amr. Demrcado, who seems to have moved up
and they do kind of like him. He does everything. He doesn't have
a ton of juice, but he'sreliable. He'll get the yards that are
there. He can also from histime at TCU, because he was a
backup at TCU, he does thingslike blitz pick up. He can play
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special teams. They even had himreturning some kicks. So while that wasn't
something he didn't do in college,he did work at it and can do
it. And so I think Ithink Demrcado is going to be the guy
that makes the roster for me.Corey Clement of a play number fifty four,
he was the one I cut infavor of keeping ten offensive lineman,
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which you know, we'll kind ofget to that. But Seth keeps William,
Seth keeps Clement, and the truthis he he played well in the
preseason finale Russian for seventy nine yards, including at twenty nine yards scamper.
He's a veteran, he can playspecial teams. That that was the role
that he had last year. Basicallyhe was He was signed kind last season
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because Jonathan Ward got hurt and Clementcame in filled that role and eventually kind
of creeped his wing into the playingrotation right at the end of the year.
However, a guy playing deep inthe fourth quarter in a fourth preseason
game, to me, that doesn'tscream he's making the roster. That screams
they're auditioning him elsewhere, or he'sright right right there in the bubble.
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And I would have had him onthe roster. But again, I think
ultimately they want four backs, butI don't think they have room right now.
And Clement is a guy that's likelygoing to clear waivers for sure,
actually probably he doesn't even have theclear waivers, but he'll he'll become a
free agent. And and then thecard was probably Gonn bring it back to
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the practice squad and he can beused for elevating at some point until they
have to make a decision down theline wide receiver. We're both the same
here with Cardinals will only keep fivereceivers on the roster, and that will
be Hollywood, That'll be Michael Wilson, that will be Rondel Moore, Zach
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Pascal, and Greg Dortsch. Noarguments there. It's felt like all five
of those are locks for the roster. Hollywood is your is your main guy.
Wilson and Pascal play the same positionessentially, and Brondel and Dortsch also,
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so you've got your backups there,and then then what you're gonna do.
You're gonna have guys in the practicesquad. That's where Daniel Arius might
come in. Played a ton ofspecial teams and so and it was a
really good special teams player at Colorado. He is for me, a sneaky,
sneaky possibility for the for a sixthwide receiver. If they keep six.
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I don't think they can keep six, But in that case, that's
kind of how I feel about that, Like, if they keep six,
Arius makes that because well he addsthat height factory gets something different and his
special team's prowess. He played aton, he was great in college at
it. And then guys like KadenDavis, David and Davis. I think
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those guys will be will be possiblepractice squad guys. Andre Bichelli is an
interesting one because he was definitely acliff guy. But he didn't play in
the finale. I'm guessing was becausehe was injured. I don't think it's
because he locked up spot on therock. But yeah, so we'll kind
of kind of go from there.So coming on next on the Rise ups
here at podcasts Best Air of CardinalsTalk on the Web. We've wrapped up
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the main skilled position quarterback, runningback, receiver. Let's move on.
I'll move on and talk about thenext set of positions tight end, defensive
line, tight of tight end,offensive line, and defensive line. That's
coming to next and Rise ups.You read we're back on the Rise of
Podcasts, Back Best Oar of CardinalsTalk on the Web. I'm Jeff root
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in that one hundred and fifty five. It is a solo show tonight recording
on a Thursday, on a nota Thursday night. This is a Sunday
night, the day after the Cardinalswon their preseason finale. Now on by
Tuesday afternoon one o'clock Arizona time,the Cardinals will have to cut their rust
roster down to fifty three players.I don't know if they're gonna have any
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trades left. I don't know ifthere's anyone left worth trading. Richard Lawrence
comes to MINDA I don't think he'sgonna make the team. But but you
know, there is a there isa defense where there's a coach that really
likes him. That'd be it's Josephut in Denver. Could you get anything
for Richard Lawrence? I don't know, but it's it's a it's a hope.
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We move on to to the tightend room. We I guess it's
just me moving on to the tightend room. We both Seth and I
have the Cardinals keeping four, thetop three we're in agreement with, and
I think those three are considered low. Zacherertz, Trey McBride, Jeff Swain.
I don't think there's any question aboutthat. Those three on the roster.
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It just depends. So what whereit gets tricky is will they keep
three or four on the active roster, Will they play practice squad call up,
you know, game for the firstcouple of weeks of the year,
or do they keep four on theroster. Seth has them keeping Noah Tongue
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guy, the tight end that playedfor the Eagles last season. Nothing thing
real special about his game, butplay a little bit of special teams.
I on the other hand, havethem keeping undrafted rookie Blake Whiteheart. He
played maybe the most snaps on theCardinals in the preseason. They played him
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a ton on special teams, andhe was productive in the passing. He
wasn't perfect, but he also Imean he had that highlight play in the
first half where he goes up andmakes a contested catch, big play that
had to help. And I'm goingto add to this, there isn't why
that they're they're likely going to keepwhite Hart around, either on the roster
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or on the practice squad, isbecause his contract, it has two hundred
thousand dollars in guarantees, and soit's kind of like the Chris Travelers situation
a couple of years ago. Whenthey signed him, they guarantee two hundred
thousand dollars of his salary. Andnow he ended up beating up Brett Huntley
for the backup job. He didthat outright based on what Cliff Kingsbury said.
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But I think it's contract means theyreally like him now, and so
they're gonna try that he'll at minimumbe on the practice squad, but I
think he is tight end four.They either keep three on the roster and
and Blake and then white Heart makesthe practice squad. But if they keep
four, I'm pretty sure it'll bewhite Heart, although don't gie, I
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doesn't isn't a bad choice at allbecause he was He was kind of right
there in terms of the rotation aswell, there's familiarity with Jonathan Gannon and
how they view him. Now theoffensive line gets tricky. I have them
keeping ten. Seth has them keepingnine. Reasonable right then makes perfect sense.
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I have them keeping ten simply becauseof the injury situation. I think
that they're gonna need that. Youhave to have eight active on game day,
and but two of you those eightguys will be active are hurt,
and I don't know how long it'sgonna go. We know the starting five
change since OTAs, since minicamp.Daeja Humphers like tackle Elijah Wilkinson right left
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guard, yelled a Froholdt center,Will Hernandez right guard, and Paris Johnson
is the right tackle who's on thebench. This is what Seth has.
They have Calvin Beecham, John Gaines, Dennis Daily, Endless, Citis Smith.
He does have a slash with Gaines, with Hayden Howardton, and I'm
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guessing that's if task to go on. I are they Howerton is his replacement.
I didn't get this explanation from him, but that's where we go up
now. For me, Howardton islineman number nine for me. And here's
here's why Howardton, especially if Gaineshas to miss any time, Howardton becomes
the backup center. He was thenumber three center unless unless here here here's
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the possibility. Pat elf Line theveteran, but he obviously got hurt because
the last two playoff the preseason games. He didn't play in the opener,
and unless they are just keeping himhealthy to put him on the roster,
I don't think so. The hiscontract was not like certain, but he
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would give them the best option behindyelled a fold in a pinch, John
Gaines didn't look bad in the preseasonby any means, But did I go
I've got beach him, I've gotDaily, I've got gains. I assume
unless his in his knee injury isbad where they have to put him on
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IR and this season ending, hewould make the initial fifty three and maybe
go on I are to miss fourgames, That's that's my prediction. So
he'd still be on the final fiftythree. But the two guys that I
have as as lineman's ninth and tenis Howarton. And here it's an interesting
thing about Howardton as well as myback of the back of the rotation guy
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is you know us only in emergenciesHowardton. I mean, his PFF grade
was fantastic during the preseason. Buthe can play guard, he can play
center, and guess where he wasplaying most of the game on Saturday.
He's playing left tackle. So hegives you true versatility across the offensive line.
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And that's kind of what you wantat the back end, especially when
when you have some injury uncertainty.That's kind of the role that him playing,
is that him break in case ofemergencies. That's that guy. Howarton
is that guy. He's gonna beyour backup center. But if Gains is
hurt, and then now we bothdiffer on the last offensive line, how
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granted, I have them keeping ten. The other guy is Mark. He's
Hayes, and that is because Ifelt that he is probably ahead of all
the other guards, ahead of allthe other guards on the ross. He
was playing guard up in the secondteam with Dennis Day. He can play
left or right. Big guy didn't. It wasn't perfect preseason obviously, but
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I like him better than the otheroptions that they have behind him. Now,
Seth has them keeping Lisita Smith,a guy that's really likable down on
the show actually a couple of times, but gives you that center guard flexibility,
and he gave did some snaps.I don't know what they think about
Lacitis. I kind of feel likehe's the very backands coaching staff that the
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previous regime liked him more than thiscoaching staff in front office, and so
I have Lasitas off the roster,though I would understand why they might do
that because he then becomes he couldalso play center and guard, giving you
some versatility there. But yeah,on the on the defensive line, this
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is where it kind of gets interesting. I think we we While Jonathan Gannon
refuses to starters, we know whothe starters are going to be because those
are the guys that were held outof the game on Saturday, not not
out of Vermin. There's some injuriesand there's a couple of interesting decisions there.
But on the defensive line, bothSeth and I have them keeping six
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guys, but the six guys aredifferent, which you know, it's good
for discussion. My six are LJ. Collier, Lecky Foe two and Jonathan
Ledbetter. Who are the starters.Then on the back Endkins, Kevin Strong,
Dante Stills, Carlos Watkins I thinkis also kind of a walk.
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He did play in the preseason finale. Dante Stills one of their draft picks
and kind of flashed, and sothey could they could keep another guy and
then you know, go with thepractice squad option with Still's you know,
Eric Banks made some plays, BenStilly or maybe even the undrafted kid Jacob
Slade, another guy that's got somesome guarantine muddy on his contract as an
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undrafted rookie. But for me itcame down too because I felt Dante Stills
is probably making the team. Theylike him, and I think he's disruptive
enough. He gives you a littlesomething athletically. For me, it came
down to Kevin Strong versus Richard Lawrenceand Kevin Strong's reps. Now, granted
he's a, he's A, hebecomes the backup is on the death charps.
He's behind Lecky Foetu and ahead ofRichard Lawrence at no stackle. But
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I also look at the playing timethat he had in the preseason. Found
out he played, but he playedhis snaps throughout the entire game, including
at the beginning, you know,more, suggesting that that he's closer to
making the team than not. AndRichard Lawrence's snaps, which were a little
bit less than half of the Strongs, all came late in the game.
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And so I think Richard Lawrence isa cut guy. While Seth has them
keeping Lawrence instead of Strong, Icould see that going either way. Strong
does have them to money Austin Fortbecause he played for the Titans, you
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know, but they're gonna ultimately keepthe guys that they like best. Lawrence
also, we know has a historyof injuries. He hasn't had a great
preseason, but that that last spotof the defensive line or second to last
spot. I could see it goingeither way. I just think Strong is
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gonna be the guy, especially becauseI think he's got more positional versatility on
the defensive line as well. Comingon next on the rispre Podcasts, serve
Cardinal's talk on the web. Let's, you know, let's kind of wrap
things up and go to the linebackerpositions, the secondary and the specialists.
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That's coming up an extra Nips Red. We're back on the right Epsy Red
podcast, but starve Cardinal's talk onthe web. We moved to outside linebacker,
which I wrote about on Sunday,and I think it properly is the
toughest room to decide four number ofreasons. It feels like to me that
there's seven guys who the coaching staffwould all love to have on their roster.
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They they might be able to dosix. Maybe Seth has him only
keeping five. I've got a keepingsix because yeah, here's here's what Seth's
are. Zaven Collins Dennis Gardeck.Those are the two starters as of right.
That makes sense. Cameron Thomas,third round pick last year, who
is pretty saw in the preseason inthe camp BI Giojilari second round pick this
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year, and Jesse Looketta Looketta seventhround pick a year ago. Really well
liked by coaching staff like Steve Kimloved him when they drafted him. He's
got He's like a guy you gottahave on your football team. He's all
team for first he moved position incollege, and on Saturday in particular,
he was showcased because he was here. He was the Cardinals team captain for
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the game for the coin Toss.He played special teams that he did,
he played defense, and then theyhad him playing fullback. I don't think
they're gonna use him as a fullbackin the regular season because I think they
would rather use their tight ends,like they could use Trey McBride or Jeff
Swam to do that. But maybe, just maybe they used the hard hitting
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guy in Looketta. I think theykeep Lookette as well. I just but
I think they keep and so instantNomja Sanders and no Victor de mckage.
Okay, my five vic I havethe same five as he does, but
I have de mckage over Sanders,and that in some ways might seem crazy,
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but as we saw with Isaiah Simmons, and the kind of what the
talk was. The reason why Simmonswas cut was a matter of fit.
He didn't fit quite right deeply andmaybe also culturally. I don't know.
I don't know everything about that,but I don't think Sanders in the same
boat where Sanders hurt his hand andstarted training camp hasn't played in the preseason.
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On the depth chart, he wasbehind McCage, a six round pick
from two years ago. And demckagy's made some plays. And here's the
other part. De mckage has beenon so much on special teams. He
was he had one of the mostspecials teams on the team. And here's
the here's the curious part. Hewas held out of the game on Saturday.
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On the surface, I would sayinjury, but I don't know of
any energy injury to mcage might havehad. But if it's not because of
energy injury and they were simply savehim him, okay, that that that's
a surprise. He might be abetter fit for this defense and the fact
that he's going to play more specialteams than Sanders. Sanders is leaner,
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he's a little undersized for that.But I'd be interesting to see. I'm
gonna be interesting in how this playsout, because they're either gonna cut Sanders,
a third round pick from a yearago, a guy I admittedly that
was productive in the preseason last year. He showed some promise when he got
playing time late in the year,he did generate pressure, he made some
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plays. So you're either gonna cutthat guy, or you're gonna cut the
two guys that you know that coachesreally like McCage and Laketta. Looketta who
does kind of everything, and McCage, who who's made some plays and is
a little bit bigger than Sanders,not quite as athletic, but also played
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a ton of special teams and sothat's that's an interesting case there. I
think inside linebacker is pretty cut anddry, pretty Cutch. I think it's
cut and dry, and we bothhave them. We both have them same
five. Kaisier White. Josh Woodshas apparently won the starting job as he
was held out of the game onSaturday, So it'll be Kaisier White and
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Josh Woods in the starting lineup.We have them both, keeping Chris Barnes,
former starter from Green Bay battle JoshWoods for a starting job. Zeke
Turner special teams stud and fifth roundROOKIEO and Papo incredibly athletic, has a
lot of upside and he has playeda ton of special teams. Now,
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we fought kind of felt that wouldthey only keep those five, would they
go down to four? But youknow, Zeke has basically a fully guaranteed
his salaries mostly guaranteed, if notall guaranteed. Papa was a rookie.
I think they like him, andthen I could see, I could see
a world where Chris Barnes is cutjust to save spots some more or else.
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But I don't think that's gonna happen. We both have those same players
on the roster. And let's goto cornerback. The cornerback. Sat as
them keeping five, five cornerbacks,I only have them keeping four. Just
that's just that's just the numbers gamethere, we're gonna we're both keeping Garrett
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Williams on the non football injury listas he comes back from his ACL tarr
And College. Don't know what theplan is here. He has to he'll
have to miss at least four games, but he hasn't come off of that,
despite his saying that hopefully by Augusthe was going to be cleared,
so either things aren't going as wellor the Cardinals learning to red shirt him,
which fine by me. Marco Wilson, Key, Tral Clark, Antonio
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Hamilton, and Christian Matthew are arethe guys that I have keeping. I
am not convicted on Christian Matthew.I you know Marco Wilson, So Wilson,
Clark, and Hamilton, we're allguys that sat out the game.
Hamilton's is completely guaranteed, and Ithink that's ultimately going to be the three
the three corner rotation with Isaiah SimmonscottI, Pilon Thompson is going to move
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back to safety, and we sawa lot of Antonio Hamilton's the second preseason
game playing in the slot. Somy guess is Hamilton is the nickelback and
Wilson and Clark are the starters onthe boundaries. Gonna go with that,
I would say keep ye out forBobby Price, Nate Hairston or Chris Boyd
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who's been a special team stud butdidn't play of special teams during the preseason
and his playing time in the finalewas late in the game, so I
don't think he's going to make theroster and so that's why I've got Christian
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Matthew making it. Seth has thesame for as me, but as undrafted
rookie. Quaity on White, Iyou know I can make you can make
a case for that. It's justhe's he's cutting guy. He's shorting other
positions that I'm not. He onlyhe kept the extra cornerback but cut an
additional outside linebacker. I cut arunning back in favor for an offensive lineman,
(27:17):
which he did not do. Sothat's where we got it. I
personally think that if we look atI think Bobby Price is going to be
ahead. But I think Bobby Priceis also practice squad guy that they can
bring up for special teams because heplayoffs. He also played a ton of
special teams as well. And thenit's safety. You know, we know
Budd is gonna be there. Weknow Gentleen Thoms is gonna be The next
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two are intriguing. I we bothhave Andre Sastre special teams guy, knows
the defensive system, played with JonathanGannon last year in Philadelphia. Sashury,
who's actually he was originally undrafted rookiewith the Cardinals and didn't make the team,
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but has found a spot. He'scame in as a cornerback and he's
playing more safety now. Seth hasthem keeping Juju Hughes as the second guy,
and I rather instead have Jovante Moffatt. Hughes earlier in the preseason was
safety number four, like he wasthe first in. After he was the
first in when Buddha wasn't playing,or when JT came out, and but
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he played later in the game onSaturday than other guys. Javonte Moffatt and
Sashay were the two that started,and I think that the way they go.
But you know, at that safetyposition, ultimately, I feel like
that fourth spot is interchangeable. Idon't think that's tough a decision. It's
just what they're looking for special teams, though, we do know what's going
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to be unless you know it's alock. You've got Matt Prador kicking,
you got Nolan Cooney punting after hewon the starting job. He won the
battle against Matt Hawk, and thenthe long snapper is Aaron Brewer. But
we knew that that was going toplay out like that anyway. So there
we have it. What do youthink about it? Make sure you know
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let us know on social media onTwitter or known as x now or whatever
it is. Where do you thinkwe got it wrong? How how close
will both I and Seth b whowill have the better set of predictions?
The next time we are on itwill be Tuesday night, so you get
it Wednesday during the day at somepoint when I published that show live reacting
(29:37):
to the Cardinals roster cuts, weyou know when we were when we record.
We won't know about the practice squad. We can predict that and I
can comment on that on the latershow that week. But as for this
show, we are done. Thisis episode four hundred and fifty five.
I'm Jess Rude. Thanks for listening. Always when We'll be back with Seth
in a couple of days. Thanksfor listening. Thanks for listening to the
(29:57):
latest edition of the Rise Up seRed podcast. Listen to previous episodes,
and subscribe to the show on ApplePodcasts, Stitcher Radio, Audio Boom,
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Please get the show a five starready and always support the sponsors to support
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(30:19):
the web. Rise Up Red Seab red sea red, and of course
rise up sea red, Rise,Rise, Rise, rise
Yes, this is the Rise UpSea Red podcast, all about the Arizona
Cardinals and the NFL, featuring insiderand outsider perspectives. Enjoy the best hour
(00:22):
of Cardinals talk on the web.Now Here are your hosts, Jess Route
and Seth Cox. Hello Arizona Cardinalsfans, and welcome to the latest edition
of the Rise Ups He Read podcast. I'm your host, Jess Route from
cardsmaw dot com, the USA TodayNFL wire site covering of course he Arizona
Cardinals and my car. This isnot this is a solo show. This
(00:44):
episode four hundred and fifty five,and Seth is not with me for this
episode. He is down for thecount right now. He should be back
on Tuesday to react to the finalcuts. But the Arizona this show going
to run down after the Cardinals preseasonfinale in eighteen to seventeen comeback win over
(01:07):
the Minnesota Vikings. I'm going totalk about my roster predictions also sets.
I've got sets roster predictions and myroster predictions for the fifty three man roster
kind of including everything we know fromtraining camp to the preseason to the roster
needs and more. Let's go ahead, and yeah, it's that. This
(01:30):
also includes the trades that I talkedabout on the show over the week a
couple of days ago, in episodefour hundred and fifty four, Isaiah Simmons
out Josh Jones out quarterback Josh jobsin. But I want to jump right
into this because you know, Iwaste time quarterback this. While we don't
(01:53):
know how things are shaking out,I think we can safely say that the
one thing for sure with the acquisitionof Josh Daubs is that the Cardinals are
going to have Kyler Murray remained onpup, which means he's gonna be on
at least the first four weeks ofthe season. And that's that's the way
both Seth and I went. There'snot really much to discuss so that,
and so the three quarterbacks that theykeep on the roster Colt McCoy, Clayton
(02:15):
Tune, and Josh Dobbs, whateverorder that ends up being, I believe
it will ultimately be McCoy, Tune, Dabbs to start, maybe McCoy Dobbs
Moon, but I don't think Dobbis going to be the start, at
least cerainly on unless Colt McCoy ishurt. Yeah, it just doesn't make
(02:36):
sense to cut Colt McCoy. They'vethey've treated him like a start of the
whole time. He's due three andthree quarters million, and two and a
quarter of that is completely guaranteed.Now, the addition of Josh Dobbs is
interesting because his salary is one anda half million dollars completely guaranteed, and
that will lead to a move somewherelee down the wine when it comes back,
(02:59):
because means they're gonna have to cutsomebody. They're not gonna keep four
quarterbacks on the roster. I don'tthink they'll cut Clayton too, unless they
feel confident that he's not going toclaim to anywhere. But he's a quarterback.
He played well in the preseason reasonablyokay, not great, but it
wasn't like other other rookies that we'veseen. So maybe he can make it
(03:21):
through. But you know, otherwise, Josh Dobbs get cut, depending on
when that is. It's not asmuch to eat Colt McCoy. That is
a little bit more. But ifyou get out of him what you got
wanted to get out of him,say it's four or five starts, maybe
maybe that's the direction they go andthey say thank you very much, and
(03:42):
they continue to pay him his money. That's he's due for the rest of
the season at running back. Sethand I differ a little bit, but
not actually, yeah, we dothis for a bit. We both have
James Connor, we both have KantaIngram, but in my case only have
three. Are you running backs onthe final fifty three? Now? And
I will explain the reason. Then. The reason is I think they have
(04:04):
to cut short a position because ofinjury suffered during the game. So backup
center, rookie center John Gaines suffereda knee injury. Backup guard Dennis Daily,
free agent Edition injured his ankle.I don't know what that means for
either player moving forward, but itgains his injury is probably one that might
(04:30):
cause him to miss some time,maybe the first couple of games, which
means they're gonna need another center onthe roster, and they might need another
backup guard because then what you haveis your solid three backups with Josh Jones
not on the roster, the threesolid backups that you knew that you probably
could be competent in backup center JohnGaines. It's a rookie, Dennis Daly
(04:53):
and Calvin Beecham. Two of thosethree are currently hurt hurt, and so
that's gonna change though. I Ishorted the running back room with the idea
that probably one guy get comes onthe crap, he's on the practice squalk
and get called up if needed.Seth has James Connor, Canta Ingram,
Tyson Williams, and Corey Clement.Reasonable I have the I have Connor Ingram,
(05:18):
but rather I have Amr. Demrcado, who seems to have moved up
and they do kind of like him. He does everything. He doesn't have
a ton of juice, but he'sreliable. He'll get the yards that are
there. He can also from histime at TCU, because he was a
backup at TCU, he does thingslike blitz pick up. He can play
(05:42):
special teams. They even had himreturning some kicks. So while that wasn't
something he didn't do in college,he did work at it and can do
it. And so I think Ithink Demrcado is going to be the guy
that makes the roster for me.Corey Clement of a play number fifty four,
he was the one I cut infavor of keeping ten offensive lineman,
(06:05):
which you know, we'll kind ofget to that. But Seth keeps William,
Seth keeps Clement, and the truthis he he played well in the
preseason finale Russian for seventy nine yards, including at twenty nine yards scamper.
He's a veteran, he can playspecial teams. That that was the role
that he had last year. Basicallyhe was He was signed kind last season
(06:29):
because Jonathan Ward got hurt and Clementcame in filled that role and eventually kind
of creeped his wing into the playingrotation right at the end of the year.
However, a guy playing deep inthe fourth quarter in a fourth preseason
game, to me, that doesn'tscream he's making the roster. That screams
they're auditioning him elsewhere, or he'sright right right there in the bubble.
(06:54):
And I would have had him onthe roster. But again, I think
ultimately they want four backs, butI don't think they have room right now.
And Clement is a guy that's likelygoing to clear waivers for sure,
actually probably he doesn't even have theclear waivers, but he'll he'll become a
free agent. And and then thecard was probably Gonn bring it back to
(07:17):
the practice squad and he can beused for elevating at some point until they
have to make a decision down theline wide receiver. We're both the same
here with Cardinals will only keep fivereceivers on the roster, and that will
be Hollywood, That'll be Michael Wilson, that will be Rondel Moore, Zach
(07:39):
Pascal, and Greg Dortsch. Noarguments there. It's felt like all five
of those are locks for the roster. Hollywood is your is your main guy.
Wilson and Pascal play the same positionessentially, and Brondel and Dortsch also,
(08:00):
so you've got your backups there,and then then what you're gonna do.
You're gonna have guys in the practicesquad. That's where Daniel Arius might
come in. Played a ton ofspecial teams and so and it was a
really good special teams player at Colorado. He is for me, a sneaky,
sneaky possibility for the for a sixthwide receiver. If they keep six.
(08:22):
I don't think they can keep six, But in that case, that's
kind of how I feel about that, Like, if they keep six,
Arius makes that because well he addsthat height factory gets something different and his
special team's prowess. He played aton, he was great in college at
it. And then guys like KadenDavis, David and Davis. I think
(08:45):
those guys will be will be possiblepractice squad guys. Andre Bichelli is an
interesting one because he was definitely acliff guy. But he didn't play in
the finale. I'm guessing was becausehe was injured. I don't think it's
because he locked up spot on therock. But yeah, so we'll kind
of kind of go from there.So coming on next on the Rise ups
here at podcasts Best Air of CardinalsTalk on the Web. We've wrapped up
(09:09):
the main skilled position quarterback, runningback, receiver. Let's move on.
I'll move on and talk about thenext set of positions tight end, defensive
line, tight of tight end,offensive line, and defensive line. That's
coming to next and Rise ups.You read we're back on the Rise of
Podcasts, Back Best Oar of CardinalsTalk on the Web. I'm Jeff root
(09:30):
in that one hundred and fifty five. It is a solo show tonight recording
on a Thursday, on a nota Thursday night. This is a Sunday
night, the day after the Cardinalswon their preseason finale. Now on by
Tuesday afternoon one o'clock Arizona time,the Cardinals will have to cut their rust
roster down to fifty three players.I don't know if they're gonna have any
(09:50):
trades left. I don't know ifthere's anyone left worth trading. Richard Lawrence
comes to MINDA I don't think he'sgonna make the team. But but you
know, there is a there isa defense where there's a coach that really
likes him. That'd be it's Josephut in Denver. Could you get anything
for Richard Lawrence? I don't know, but it's it's a it's a hope.
(10:11):
We move on to to the tightend room. We I guess it's
just me moving on to the tightend room. We both Seth and I
have the Cardinals keeping four, thetop three we're in agreement with, and
I think those three are considered low. Zacherertz, Trey McBride, Jeff Swain.
I don't think there's any question aboutthat. Those three on the roster.
(10:31):
It just depends. So what whereit gets tricky is will they keep
three or four on the active roster, Will they play practice squad call up,
you know, game for the firstcouple of weeks of the year,
or do they keep four on theroster. Seth has them keeping Noah Tongue
(10:52):
guy, the tight end that playedfor the Eagles last season. Nothing thing
real special about his game, butplay a little bit of special teams.
I on the other hand, havethem keeping undrafted rookie Blake Whiteheart. He
played maybe the most snaps on theCardinals in the preseason. They played him
(11:15):
a ton on special teams, andhe was productive in the passing. He
wasn't perfect, but he also Imean he had that highlight play in the
first half where he goes up andmakes a contested catch, big play that
had to help. And I'm goingto add to this, there isn't why
that they're they're likely going to keepwhite Hart around, either on the roster
(11:35):
or on the practice squad, isbecause his contract, it has two hundred
thousand dollars in guarantees, and soit's kind of like the Chris Travelers situation
a couple of years ago. Whenthey signed him, they guarantee two hundred
thousand dollars of his salary. Andnow he ended up beating up Brett Huntley
for the backup job. He didthat outright based on what Cliff Kingsbury said.
(11:58):
But I think it's contract means theyreally like him now, and so
they're gonna try that he'll at minimumbe on the practice squad, but I
think he is tight end four.They either keep three on the roster and
and Blake and then white Heart makesthe practice squad. But if they keep
four, I'm pretty sure it'll bewhite Heart, although don't gie, I
(12:20):
doesn't isn't a bad choice at allbecause he was He was kind of right
there in terms of the rotation aswell, there's familiarity with Jonathan Gannon and
how they view him. Now theoffensive line gets tricky. I have them
keeping ten. Seth has them keepingnine. Reasonable right then makes perfect sense.
(12:46):
I have them keeping ten simply becauseof the injury situation. I think
that they're gonna need that. Youhave to have eight active on game day,
and but two of you those eightguys will be active are hurt,
and I don't know how long it'sgonna go. We know the starting five
change since OTAs, since minicamp.Daeja Humphers like tackle Elijah Wilkinson right left
(13:07):
guard, yelled a Froholdt center,Will Hernandez right guard, and Paris Johnson
is the right tackle who's on thebench. This is what Seth has.
They have Calvin Beecham, John Gaines, Dennis Daily, Endless, Citis Smith.
He does have a slash with Gaines, with Hayden Howardton, and I'm
(13:31):
guessing that's if task to go on. I are they Howerton is his replacement.
I didn't get this explanation from him, but that's where we go up
now. For me, Howardton islineman number nine for me. And here's
here's why Howardton, especially if Gaineshas to miss any time, Howardton becomes
the backup center. He was thenumber three center unless unless here here here's
(13:54):
the possibility. Pat elf Line theveteran, but he obviously got hurt because
the last two playoff the preseason games. He didn't play in the opener,
and unless they are just keeping himhealthy to put him on the roster,
I don't think so. The hiscontract was not like certain, but he
(14:20):
would give them the best option behindyelled a fold in a pinch, John
Gaines didn't look bad in the preseasonby any means, But did I go
I've got beach him, I've gotDaily, I've got gains. I assume
unless his in his knee injury isbad where they have to put him on
(14:41):
IR and this season ending, hewould make the initial fifty three and maybe
go on I are to miss fourgames, That's that's my prediction. So
he'd still be on the final fiftythree. But the two guys that I
have as as lineman's ninth and tenis Howarton. And here it's an interesting
thing about Howardton as well as myback of the back of the rotation guy
(15:03):
is you know us only in emergenciesHowardton. I mean, his PFF grade
was fantastic during the preseason. Buthe can play guard, he can play
center, and guess where he wasplaying most of the game on Saturday.
He's playing left tackle. So hegives you true versatility across the offensive line.
(15:24):
And that's kind of what you wantat the back end, especially when
when you have some injury uncertainty.That's kind of the role that him playing,
is that him break in case ofemergencies. That's that guy. Howarton
is that guy. He's gonna beyour backup center. But if Gains is
hurt, and then now we bothdiffer on the last offensive line, how
(15:46):
granted, I have them keeping ten. The other guy is Mark. He's
Hayes, and that is because Ifelt that he is probably ahead of all
the other guards, ahead of allthe other guards on the ross. He
was playing guard up in the secondteam with Dennis Day. He can play
left or right. Big guy didn't. It wasn't perfect preseason obviously, but
(16:11):
I like him better than the otheroptions that they have behind him. Now,
Seth has them keeping Lisita Smith,a guy that's really likable down on
the show actually a couple of times, but gives you that center guard flexibility,
and he gave did some snaps.I don't know what they think about
Lacitis. I kind of feel likehe's the very backands coaching staff that the
(16:34):
previous regime liked him more than thiscoaching staff in front office, and so
I have Lasitas off the roster,though I would understand why they might do
that because he then becomes he couldalso play center and guard, giving you
some versatility there. But yeah,on the on the defensive line, this
(16:56):
is where it kind of gets interesting. I think we we While Jonathan Gannon
refuses to starters, we know whothe starters are going to be because those
are the guys that were held outof the game on Saturday, not not
out of Vermin. There's some injuriesand there's a couple of interesting decisions there.
But on the defensive line, bothSeth and I have them keeping six
(17:18):
guys, but the six guys aredifferent, which you know, it's good
for discussion. My six are LJ. Collier, Lecky Foe two and Jonathan
Ledbetter. Who are the starters.Then on the back Endkins, Kevin Strong,
Dante Stills, Carlos Watkins I thinkis also kind of a walk.
(17:40):
He did play in the preseason finale. Dante Stills one of their draft picks
and kind of flashed, and sothey could they could keep another guy and
then you know, go with thepractice squad option with Still's you know,
Eric Banks made some plays, BenStilly or maybe even the undrafted kid Jacob
Slade, another guy that's got somesome guarantine muddy on his contract as an
(18:06):
undrafted rookie. But for me itcame down too because I felt Dante Stills
is probably making the team. Theylike him, and I think he's disruptive
enough. He gives you a littlesomething athletically. For me, it came
down to Kevin Strong versus Richard Lawrenceand Kevin Strong's reps. Now, granted
he's a, he's A, hebecomes the backup is on the death charps.
He's behind Lecky Foetu and ahead ofRichard Lawrence at no stackle. But
(18:29):
I also look at the playing timethat he had in the preseason. Found
out he played, but he playedhis snaps throughout the entire game, including
at the beginning, you know,more, suggesting that that he's closer to
making the team than not. AndRichard Lawrence's snaps, which were a little
bit less than half of the Strongs, all came late in the game.
(18:49):
And so I think Richard Lawrence isa cut guy. While Seth has them
keeping Lawrence instead of Strong, Icould see that going either way. Strong
does have them to money Austin Fortbecause he played for the Titans, you
(19:10):
know, but they're gonna ultimately keepthe guys that they like best. Lawrence
also, we know has a historyof injuries. He hasn't had a great
preseason, but that that last spotof the defensive line or second to last
spot. I could see it goingeither way. I just think Strong is
(19:30):
gonna be the guy, especially becauseI think he's got more positional versatility on
the defensive line as well. Comingon next on the rispre Podcasts, serve
Cardinal's talk on the web. Let's, you know, let's kind of wrap
things up and go to the linebackerpositions, the secondary and the specialists.
(19:52):
That's coming up an extra Nips Red. We're back on the right Epsy Red
podcast, but starve Cardinal's talk onthe web. We moved to outside linebacker,
which I wrote about on Sunday,and I think it properly is the
toughest room to decide four number ofreasons. It feels like to me that
there's seven guys who the coaching staffwould all love to have on their roster.
(20:18):
They they might be able to dosix. Maybe Seth has him only
keeping five. I've got a keepingsix because yeah, here's here's what Seth's
are. Zaven Collins Dennis Gardeck.Those are the two starters as of right.
That makes sense. Cameron Thomas,third round pick last year, who
is pretty saw in the preseason inthe camp BI Giojilari second round pick this
(20:44):
year, and Jesse Looketta Looketta seventhround pick a year ago. Really well
liked by coaching staff like Steve Kimloved him when they drafted him. He's
got He's like a guy you gottahave on your football team. He's all
team for first he moved position incollege, and on Saturday in particular,
he was showcased because he was here. He was the Cardinals team captain for
(21:07):
the game for the coin Toss.He played special teams that he did,
he played defense, and then theyhad him playing fullback. I don't think
they're gonna use him as a fullbackin the regular season because I think they
would rather use their tight ends,like they could use Trey McBride or Jeff
Swam to do that. But maybe, just maybe they used the hard hitting
(21:29):
guy in Looketta. I think theykeep Lookette as well. I just but
I think they keep and so instantNomja Sanders and no Victor de mckage.
Okay, my five vic I havethe same five as he does, but
I have de mckage over Sanders,and that in some ways might seem crazy,
(21:52):
but as we saw with Isaiah Simmons, and the kind of what the
talk was. The reason why Simmonswas cut was a matter of fit.
He didn't fit quite right deeply andmaybe also culturally. I don't know.
I don't know everything about that,but I don't think Sanders in the same
boat where Sanders hurt his hand andstarted training camp hasn't played in the preseason.
(22:18):
On the depth chart, he wasbehind McCage, a six round pick
from two years ago. And demckagy's made some plays. And here's the
other part. De mckage has beenon so much on special teams. He
was he had one of the mostspecials teams on the team. And here's
the here's the curious part. Hewas held out of the game on Saturday.
(22:44):
On the surface, I would sayinjury, but I don't know of
any energy injury to mcage might havehad. But if it's not because of
energy injury and they were simply savehim him, okay, that that that's
a surprise. He might be abetter fit for this defense and the fact
that he's going to play more specialteams than Sanders. Sanders is leaner,
(23:11):
he's a little undersized for that.But I'd be interesting to see. I'm
gonna be interesting in how this playsout, because they're either gonna cut Sanders,
a third round pick from a yearago, a guy I admittedly that
was productive in the preseason last year. He showed some promise when he got
playing time late in the year,he did generate pressure, he made some
(23:32):
plays. So you're either gonna cutthat guy, or you're gonna cut the
two guys that you know that coachesreally like McCage and Laketta. Looketta who
does kind of everything, and McCage, who who's made some plays and is
a little bit bigger than Sanders,not quite as athletic, but also played
(23:52):
a ton of special teams and sothat's that's an interesting case there. I
think inside linebacker is pretty cut anddry, pretty Cutch. I think it's
cut and dry, and we bothhave them. We both have them same
five. Kaisier White. Josh Woodshas apparently won the starting job as he
was held out of the game onSaturday, So it'll be Kaisier White and
(24:15):
Josh Woods in the starting lineup.We have them both, keeping Chris Barnes,
former starter from Green Bay battle JoshWoods for a starting job. Zeke
Turner special teams stud and fifth roundROOKIEO and Papo incredibly athletic, has a
lot of upside and he has playeda ton of special teams. Now,
(24:36):
we fought kind of felt that wouldthey only keep those five, would they
go down to four? But youknow, Zeke has basically a fully guaranteed
his salaries mostly guaranteed, if notall guaranteed. Papa was a rookie.
I think they like him, andthen I could see, I could see
a world where Chris Barnes is cutjust to save spots some more or else.
(24:57):
But I don't think that's gonna happen. We both have those same players
on the roster. And let's goto cornerback. The cornerback. Sat as
them keeping five, five cornerbacks,I only have them keeping four. Just
that's just that's just the numbers gamethere, we're gonna we're both keeping Garrett
(25:19):
Williams on the non football injury listas he comes back from his ACL tarr
And College. Don't know what theplan is here. He has to he'll
have to miss at least four games, but he hasn't come off of that,
despite his saying that hopefully by Augusthe was going to be cleared,
so either things aren't going as wellor the Cardinals learning to red shirt him,
which fine by me. Marco Wilson, Key, Tral Clark, Antonio
(25:45):
Hamilton, and Christian Matthew are arethe guys that I have keeping. I
am not convicted on Christian Matthew.I you know Marco Wilson, So Wilson,
Clark, and Hamilton, we're allguys that sat out the game.
Hamilton's is completely guaranteed, and Ithink that's ultimately going to be the three
the three corner rotation with Isaiah SimmonscottI, Pilon Thompson is going to move
(26:07):
back to safety, and we sawa lot of Antonio Hamilton's the second preseason
game playing in the slot. Somy guess is Hamilton is the nickelback and
Wilson and Clark are the starters onthe boundaries. Gonna go with that,
I would say keep ye out forBobby Price, Nate Hairston or Chris Boyd
(26:32):
who's been a special team stud butdidn't play of special teams during the preseason
and his playing time in the finalewas late in the game, so I
don't think he's going to make theroster and so that's why I've got Christian
(26:52):
Matthew making it. Seth has thesame for as me, but as undrafted
rookie. Quaity on White, Iyou know I can make you can make
a case for that. It's justhe's he's cutting guy. He's shorting other
positions that I'm not. He onlyhe kept the extra cornerback but cut an
additional outside linebacker. I cut arunning back in favor for an offensive lineman,
(27:17):
which he did not do. Sothat's where we got it. I
personally think that if we look atI think Bobby Price is going to be
ahead. But I think Bobby Priceis also practice squad guy that they can
bring up for special teams because heplayoffs. He also played a ton of
special teams as well. And thenit's safety. You know, we know
Budd is gonna be there. Weknow Gentleen Thoms is gonna be The next
(27:37):
two are intriguing. I we bothhave Andre Sastre special teams guy, knows
the defensive system, played with JonathanGannon last year in Philadelphia. Sashury,
who's actually he was originally undrafted rookiewith the Cardinals and didn't make the team,
(27:59):
but has found a spot. He'scame in as a cornerback and he's
playing more safety now. Seth hasthem keeping Juju Hughes as the second guy,
and I rather instead have Jovante Moffatt. Hughes earlier in the preseason was
safety number four, like he wasthe first in. After he was the
first in when Buddha wasn't playing,or when JT came out, and but
(28:26):
he played later in the game onSaturday than other guys. Javonte Moffatt and
Sashay were the two that started,and I think that the way they go.
But you know, at that safetyposition, ultimately, I feel like
that fourth spot is interchangeable. Idon't think that's tough a decision. It's
just what they're looking for special teams, though, we do know what's going
(28:49):
to be unless you know it's alock. You've got Matt Prador kicking,
you got Nolan Cooney punting after hewon the starting job. He won the
battle against Matt Hawk, and thenthe long snapper is Aaron Brewer. But
we knew that that was going toplay out like that anyway. So there
we have it. What do youthink about it? Make sure you know
(29:14):
let us know on social media onTwitter or known as x now or whatever
it is. Where do you thinkwe got it wrong? How how close
will both I and Seth b whowill have the better set of predictions?
The next time we are on itwill be Tuesday night, so you get
it Wednesday during the day at somepoint when I published that show live reacting
(29:37):
to the Cardinals roster cuts, weyou know when we were when we record.
We won't know about the practice squad. We can predict that and I
can comment on that on the latershow that week. But as for this
show, we are done. Thisis episode four hundred and fifty five.
I'm Jess Rude. Thanks for listening. Always when We'll be back with Seth
in a couple of days. Thanksfor listening. Thanks for listening to the
(29:57):
latest edition of the Rise Up seRed podcast. Listen to previous episodes,
and subscribe to the show on ApplePodcasts, Stitcher Radio, Audio Boom,
or many other podcast platforms so showsare delivered directly to your mobile device.
Please get the show a five starready and always support the sponsors to support
the show. We'll be back soonfor the best hour of Cardinals talk on
(30:19):
the web. Rise Up Red Seab red sea red, and of course
rise up sea red, Rise,Rise, Rise, rise
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