Arizona Cardinals have decision to make with receiver Michael Floyd
Apr 13, 2015, 6:07 PM | Updated: 6:07 pm
The Arizona Cardinals have a decision to make with receiver Michael Floyd.
The 13th pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, Floyd has showed flashes of stardom, coming down with difficult catches and producing big games.
In 2013, he led the team with 1,041 receiving yards on 65 catches, and generated talk about maybe taking over as the team’s No. 1 option in the passing game.
He regressed in 2014, though, catching just 47 passes for 841 yards, albeit with a career-high six touchdowns.
Floyd is under contract for the 2015 season, but the Cardinals will have to decide by May 3 if they want to exercise an option to keep him for 2016.
ESPN’s John Clayton writes that the team should pick up the option on the 6-foot-3 receiver, noting that if a team isn’t quite sure on whether or not a player is worth it, the trend is to keep him around and let things play out.
Regardless of the option, though, the Cardinals are expecting more from Floyd in his fourth NFL season.
“I think Mike was a victim, of all people, of the quarterback situation last year,” Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said when asked about the wideout’s progresion. “And I think some frustration went into his play at times. But he still needs to hit a consistency level.
“He’s a 1,000-yard player every year. He should have had a thousand, easily, last year. There were some balls that we expect him to come down with in the end zone that he didn’t come down with last year. That’s what’s holding him back from being elite. The game he had, the last game of the year in ‘Frisco, he’s proven what he can do to make big plays for us.”
That game, in Week 17, saw Floyd catch eight passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns. Unfortunately, games like that were rare in 2014.
Last season (not including playoffs), Floyd topped the 100-yard mark in a game three times, but just once after the third week of the season. He was held to two or fewer catches eight times, and eight times failed to reach 50 receiving yards.
There is little doubt the team’s issues at quarterback — where injuries forced the team to turn to four different options — limited Floyd, as it negatively impacted the offense as a whole. However, the expectation is with a healthy Carson Palmer back under center Arizona’s offense will take off, and Floyd will be a big part of it.
