Arizona Cardinals: The 2012 roster is but a distant memory

When Steve Keim was introduced as the Arizona Cardinals’ new general manager on January 8, 2013, he told the assembled media, “I truly believe this is a retool and not a rebuild.”

With the team coming off a 5-11 season that featured one of the worst offenses in recent memory, it may have been a difficult statement to buy into.

But Keim put his tool belt on and went to work, hiring Bruce Arians as head coach and then going to work in changing the roster.

And did he ever.

By the time the season ended, 28 of the 53 players on the roster had not been with the team in 2012. There has been even more roster turnover since, with the team losing some players and gaining others in free agency.

And as we head into the 2014 draft, in fact, just 19 players remain from the 2012 Cardinals. Let’s take a look at the roster (non-Keim players in bold).

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QB: Carson Palmer, Drew Stanton, Ryan Lindley

RB: Andre Ellington, Stepfan Taylor, Jonathan Dwyer, Ryan Williams, Robert Hughes,

WR: Larry Fitzgerald, Michael Floyd, Ted Ginn, Jr., Jaron Brown, Dan Buckner, Brittan Golden, Teddy Williams

TE: Rob Housler, John Carlson, Jake Ballard, Darren Fells, Andre Hardy, Brett Brackett

OT: Jared Veldheer, Bradley Sowell, Bobby Massie, Nate Potter

OG: Jonathan Cooper, Philip Blake, Christian Johnson, Ted Larsen, Earl Watford, Paul Fanaika

C: Lyle Sendlein, John Estes

DE: Calais Campbell, Frostee Rucker

DT: Darnell Dockett, Alameda Ta’amu, Dan Williams, Anthony McCloud

OLB: John Abraham, Sam Acho, Lorenzo Alexander, Marcus Benard, Alex Okafor, Kenny Rowe, Matt Shaughnessy, Adrian Tracy

ILB: Daryl Washington, Kevin Minter, Larry Foote, Kenny Demens, JoJo Dickson

CB: Patrick Peterson, Antonio Cromartie, Justin Bethel, LeQuan Lewis, Bryan McCann, Jerraud Powers, Eddie Whitley

S: Rashad Johnson, Tyrann Mathieu, Tony Jefferson, Curtis Taylor, Orhian Johnson,

ST: Jay Feely, Dave Zastudil, Mike Leach, Danny Hrapmann

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