The Pulse: Fans say offensive line overwhelmingly the Arizona Cardinals’ strength
Jun 11, 2015, 7:12 PM | Updated: Jun 13, 2015, 1:20 pm
Wednesday’s answer in our Sanderson Ford Poll Question of the Day was quite surprising.
We asked which unit was the Arizona Cardinals’ biggest strength heading into training camp, and the overwhelming response was offensive line, which took 51 percent of the vote, despite five other options being available.
It’s quite mind-boggling to think that the Cardinals’ offensive line can so easily be identified as their best unit now. For years, the group seemed to be the team’s Achilles heel, like it was a code the front office just couldn’t crack. No matter how good of a quarterback the team got to line up behind them, the O-line always seemed to be a detriment.
But not anymore.
With free agent pickups over the last couple of years like Jared Veldheer and Mike Iupati, and then first-round draft picks over the last three like Jonathan Cooper and D.J. Humphries, the Cards’ offensive line seems to be in good shape heading into training camp and ultimately the 2015 season.
The second-most popular choice in the poll was secondary, which took 101 votes out of 537 overall (19 percent), a far drop-off from the No. 1 result. That unit does count Patrick Peterson, Deone Bucannon and Tyrann Mathieu among its members, after all.
In third and fourth in the poll were wide receivers (13 percent) and defensive line (11 percent).
In fifth was the “Other” option, which garnered 22 votes (4 percent). Maybe those voters were thinking running backs or special teams … or just the kicking unit.
In dead last, with just 11 votes (2 percent), was linebackers. Kevin Minter and Alex Okafor are still looking to prove themselves, but the team did add veterans Sean Weatherspoon and LaMarr Woodley this offseason, although both either played little in 2014 (Woodley) or not at all (Weatherspoon). Arizona drafted a pair of outside linebackers last month — Markus Golden, second round, and Shaq Riddick, fifth round — so maybe one or both of those defenders can help bring the unit to respectability in the upcoming season.
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