Happy Franchise Tag Week! With teams now officially able to slap the franchise tag on players,NFL free agency is right around the corner.
NFL Free Agency starts with the Legal Tampering period on March 11th and at 1 PM on Wednesday, March 13th teams can officially sign free agents.
After the signings of Robert Alford and Brooks Reed, the Arizona Cardinals have just over $41-million in cap space. Of course, the Cardinals could create additional cap space by cutting players or restructuring contracts but as of now, they have the 12th most cap space in the NFL.
So who should be the top targets for the Arizona Cardinals? Here are the top 4 players for Steve Keim to lock down and try to correct his free agency mistakes from the last few years.
1) CJ Mosely - He’s started 77 out of the possible 80 games in his NFL career after being a first round pick out of Alabama. What better way to fix the Cardinals ongoing LB issues than importing the anchor of the top ranked defense in football last year. If he’s not franchised, he could approach Luke Kuechly money but for a Cardinals team that has been scrambling at ILB since the Daryl Washington saga, it would be money well spent.
2) Ja’Wuan James - A former first round OL with a history of some injuries? Sounds like the perfect Steve Keim free agent. James has missed more than half of 2 seasons and been a rock in his other 3. James would be the best RT the Cardinals have had in years and represents a massive upgrade over Andre Smith and allows Korey Cunningham to be valuable depth as opposed to a starter.
3) Ramon Foster - He’s a 33 year old G that may the key for the Cardinals offseason. Why? He played for Sean Kugler for 3 seasons and started 38 games under the Cardinals new OL coach. Kugler told me last year he considers it a priority to add a few players who know his style that can help accelerate the learning curve for the rest of the offensive line. Foster was ranked as the 6th best LG in football last year per PFF and over his career has made 131 starts. With the potential additions, the Cardinals would have a starting OL of Humphries/Foster/Cole/Foster/James with Shipley/Cunningham/Wetzel as the primary backups. Not too shabby.
4) Tyrell Williams - A 6’4, 205 WR with 4.4 speed, Williams would be the perfect long term compliment to Christian Kirk. A vertical threat who for his career has averaged over 16 yards per catch, Williams will be 27 next year and would give the Cardinals their best big down field threat since a sober Michael Floyd. The downside? He may be in line to be overpaid because of a shallow WR free agent pool. Still, you could make a case for this Cardinals WR group, he’d be worth the over pay.