Pair of Arizona Cardinals land on Gil Brandt’s 2014 All-Rookie Team
Jan 14, 2015, 8:56 PM | Updated: 8:56 pm
The Arizona Cardinals got big-time contributions from many different players in 2014 on their way to an 11-win season as well as a playoff berth.
Two of those players, safety Deone Bucannon and kicker Chandler Catanzaro, made impacts as rookies, which is why they landed on NFL.com writer Gil Brandt’s 2014 All-Rookie Team.
On Bucannon, the team’s first-round pick, Brandt writes:
Bucannon is an in-the-box type safety who makes a lot of tackles (81) and is very aggressive. He’s more of a run-stopper than he is a space player, but in the type of defense the Cardinals played in 2014, that was fine. Bucannon might not be a perennial Pro Bowler, but he’ll start and play well for a number of years.
Bucannon also tallied two sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery while playing the “Dollar” linebacker role for Arizona.
Then there’s Catanzaro, an undrafted free agent about whom Brandt wrote:
He hit 29 of 33 field-goal attempts (87.9 percent), which is outstanding for a first-year pro. The strong-legged Catanzaro hit his first 17 field-goal attempts, tying an NFL record for consecutive field goals made to start a career.
Catanzaro also made all 27 of his PAT attempts while regularly placing his kickoffs deep into the end zone.
