Despite a strong start to the preseason, the Arizona Cardinals quickly found out they have a problem.
Friday night Rondale Moore, Zaven Collins, Christian Kirk, Eno Benjamin and Marco Wilson all offered reasons for preseason optimism against the Dallas Cowboys with only Isaiah Simmons drawing attention for the wrong reason.
By Saturday night, the Cardinals preseason momentum ended when we all got a look at their division rival, the San Francisco 49ers.
The Cardinals problem isn't Trey Lance. Yet. In fact, every Cardinals fans should create a burner social media account to join the social media mob coming to pressure head coach Kyle Shanahan to start Lance Week 1. If the 49ers have to ride the roller coaster of a rookie QB for 17 weeks, it might create an opening for the Cardinals to sneak into the postseason. Lance is coming to make life very difficult for the Cardinals and every other team in the NFC West, just not right away.
The Cardinals don't have a Trey Lance problem yet but they do have a Trent Sherfield problem.
Shefield isn't going to explode onto the scene and put up 1,000 yards but he's going to make the team and contribute, which might be more than Isabella or KeeSean Johnson can say.
The Cardinals keep compounding their 2019 draft day mistakes instead of trying to correct them.
A special teams dynamo with the size and talent to stick as a bottom of the rotation starter, Sherfield is the kind of roster depth that quality teams value. He bolted Arizona for the Bay Area on a one year, $920,000 deal and the Cardinals are left trying to cobble together a WR room from the usual, failed suspects.
This is classic Steve Keim. Instead of valuing a hard working, valuable role player Keim continues to double down on his own arrogance. After two years, it's obvious to anyone with eyes that Isabella and Johnson are not NFL WR's nor do they offer as much on special teams as Sherfield.
The Cardinals have succeeded in upgrading their starting lineup but quality depth remains elusive, based largely on the Cardinals own miserable draft track record in recent years.
With a 17th regular season game, an intensely competitive division and a top heavy roster featuring new high priced stars in JJ Watt, AJ Green and Rodney Hudson the Cardinals are going to need depth more than ever.
It's not always about finding stars or hidden gems that prove your GM is the smartest person in the room; sometimes it's about finding players that can just contribute.
The Cardinals don't have many of those players and even fewer now that Trent Sherfield is a 49er.
Thats a problem now and for the rest of the season for Arizona.