Cardinals aren’t done, destination Arizona and other notes

TEMPE, Ariz. — The Arizona Cardinals got off to a fairly quiet start in free agency, with safety Tyvon Branch being the only player they wooed away from another team during the period’s first few days.

It was a nice addition, for sure, but not one that really moved the meter.

Then the week turned, and the Cardinals started making noise.

Tuesday, the team added Pro Bowl pass rusher Chandler Jones, and then Wednesday it added guard Evan Mathis on a one-year contract.

All three players the team has added would seem to have upgraded a team that won 13 games and reached the NFC Championship game last season, and if that was the extend of the team’s free agent haul it would be small, but impactful.

But rest assured, the Cardinals are not done.

“I think we’re at a point where you let it come to you,” general manager Steve Keim said Wednesday. “As I’ve done in the past and we’ve done as an organization, I think you let things settle and you let it come to you.

“Again, using patience, knowing that — I know we could go into the season right now and produce and have an exciting team, yet at the same time, probably focus a little more of our attention to the draft process. But, again, if there are opportunities, we’ll take our shot.”

Other players linked to the Cardinals include offensive linemen Andre Smith and Amini Silatolu, though the addition of Mathis may decrease the likelihood that either ends up in Arizona.

Outside of those players, it probably makes sense to keep an eye on some of the team’s own free agents, with Rashad Johnson, Jerraud Powers and Tony Jefferson among the players who are still out there waiting for a new contract.

And at center…

Lyle Sendlein is a free agent and Jonathan Cooper, who had been rumored to be moving to center, is a New England Patriot.

With Jared Veldheer at left tackle, Mike Iupati at left guard, D.J. Humphries penciled in at right tackle and now Mathis for the right guard spot, that leaves just one opening along the line.

So, who will man the middle of the line?

“Right now, A.Q. Shipley, and there’s some other guys that can play that position,” Keim said. “So again, I think that the physicality up front is going to continue to grow and get better.”

It wasn’t you; it was us

There’s little doubt the Cardinals had become a bit frustrated with Jonathan Cooper, as the former first-round pick had yet to recover the form that led to the team choosing him seventh overall in the 2013 NFL Draft.

So, when the team traded him to New England as part of the Jones deal, it was believed the organization may have breathed a bit of a sigh of relief because he was no longer their project.

Perhaps that played a role in the team’s willingness to part with the guard, but Keim said they were not necessarily looking to trade him away.

“I think it was more about the ability to strike a deal for Chandler,” he said. “Again, I think there was no secret that we were looking for a pass rusher. Although there were a lot of names that were attached to us … the fans are so thirsty for information, they’ll settle with misinformation, so you guys do a good job with that. But, it makes it fun. The fans being that excited about our game and about this team, that’s what we’re in this business for.”

Destination Arizona

By now it’s clear these are not the same Cardinals that trudged their way through the 90s and early part of the 2000s.

No, the organization has graduated into one that is highly regarded and viewed as one of the NFL’s very best. The change was gradual, but it’s also noticeable.

“There is no question,” Keim said when asked if the Cardinals have become a destination franchise. “The culture has really shifted; just going back three years ago into my first year as the GM versus now, the amount of calls that I get from agents that are recruiting us to talk to their players. That was the goal in mind three years ago when we set this thing in place, was why not Phoenix? We have the weather. We have the facilities now. Michael (Bidwill) has put the resources into this building.

“And, we have a really good team, and play in one of the top five stadiums, in my opinion, in the NFL. So, when you bundle all that with the cost of living, the community, the fan base, I feel good about our ability to recruit with the best of them.”

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