Roundtable: Did Cardinals spend too big on defensive additions?

The Arizona Cardinals didn’t want to get to the NFL Draft with holes left to patch.

General manager Steve Keim attacked aggressively in free agency, signing three players to the front seven on large deals. Tackle Jordan Phillips agreed to a three-year, $30 million contract, outside linebacker Devon Kennard’s deal is for $20 million over three years and inside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell will make up to $8.5 million.

Much of that cash owed is deferred on the salary cap to seasons beyond 2020 — some include automatically voiding contracts.

We asked hosts, producers and reporters for Arizona Sports about what they thought of the free agency frenzy focused on the defensive side of the ball.

What did you think of the defensive additions of OLB Devon Kennard, DT Jordan Phillips and ILB De’Vondre Campbell? Are they worth the money spent?

Doug Franz, co-host of Doug & Wolf: Sometimes the answer to a two-part question is: yes. Do I like the defensive additions and do I think the Cardinals over-spent? Yes.

PHILLIPS: I like the gamble. Someone was going to pay him based on one good season in a contract year. It’s not the end of the world if it was the Cardinals.

KENNARD: Work ethic and intelligence are fantastic. Having two really smart LBs (teaming with Jordan Hicks) is a major upgrade.

CAMPBELL: Campbell is the one that I would disagree with the contract. I like the signing itself but too much money and voidable years. He fits well with the defense but I wouldn’t blast the the 2021 cap for him.

Ron Wolfley, co-host of Doug & Wolf: The Cards signed three new starters on the defensive side of the ball and all of them are box players. With Patrick Peterson, Robert Alford and Byron Murphy as their corner trio, Steve Keim needed to focus on the box. He upgraded the box, improved their pass rush and all but guaranteed the Cards defense will play better in 2020.

Dave Burns, co-host of Burns & Gambo: Most free agent acquisitions represent a game of chance. On the surface there is very little question that all three are a noticeable upgrade from last year. We all get that. But the very nature of free agency suggests that at least one of these players won’t work out very well.

Typically the most talented players in the league never get to free agency so to expect all three players to be great signings is unrealistic. Personally I’d be thrilled if two of them workout. Phillips probably makes me the most nervous given that he got a ton of money off just one great year. I like Kennard but that might be a little local bias leaking through. Campbell is probably the one I’m the least thrilled about just because his contract has so much dead money on the back end.

John Gambadoro, co-host of Burns & Gambo: What I liked about the defensive additions via free agency was the age. Devon Kennard is 28 years old, Jordan Phillips is 27 and De’Vondre Campbell is 26. All three have a chance to play here for a few years. Nothing against signing the aging veterans, but it is more of a crapshoot. Last year it failed miserably with Terrell Suggs.

Sometimes those older players are just searching for one last paycheck. Sometimes you get production like the Cardinals did with John Abraham and Dwight Freeney. But I prefer the players who have a lot left in the tank and aren’t looking at the contract they just signed as their last. Obviously the 9.5 sacks from Phillips along the defensive line is something to get excited about as the Cardinals desperately need help for Chandler Jones with the pass rush. Ditto for Kennard and his 7.0 sacks last year.

Kevin Zimmerman, ArizonaSports.com editor and reporter: Keim was right to bet on internal development of the offense around Kyler Murray, Kenyan Drake and now DeAndre Hopkins. The defense just had to get better.

No doubt, the on-paper results of three interestingly-laid-out contracts should produce a capable defense in 2020, and that gives this team a real fighting chance to contend. As the Los Angeles Rams have shown, windows are small in the NFL.

But 2021 and beyond get problematic with Kennard and Phillips’ multi-year deals hitting the cap $8 million and $12 million opposed to the combined $6.5 million year, per Spotrac. Throw in potential re-negotiating Hopkins’ deal and signing or extending Patrick Peterson, Kenyan Drake and Budda Baker, and things might get a little tight.

It’s a good one-year play. Down the road, it will hamstring things if injuries or poor production happen.

Kellan Olson, ArizonaSports.com editor and reporter: The Cardinals defense last year had some serious holes. General manager Steve Keim tried to fill some of those with his usual one-year prove-it deal to Terrell Suggs, while Darius Philon and Robert Nkemdiche didn’t last for different reasons.

Now, Keim adds some more permanent pieces to those two spots in Kennard and Phillips. Along with Campbell evening out the group of linebackers, Arizona is just about there as far as a balanced defensive group if second-year defensive end Zach Allen is ready to step up.

“Balanced” might not be the right word. Competent is hopefully the descriptor we can use. They don’t have an overwhelmingly glaring weakness in that front seven like they did before.

Phillips was seemingly overpaid, but overall, Keim did well to put out the fire he mostly created last season.

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