The Arizona Cardinals were one of the most surprising teams in the National Football League last season, barely missing out on the playoffs with a 10-6 record. They now look to take that next step in the toughest division in football. With a stellar defense, it's all about improving their offense.
Here is how Arizona's offense looks with just two handfuls of days remaining until the 2014 NFL draft.
New Starter: Jonathan Cooper
Cooper, a top-10 pick last April, broke his leg in the preseason and was immediately placed on season-ending injured reserve. It was a major blow for a Cardinals offense that was looking to get much better play from their offensive line. However unfortunate that injury might have been, Cooper's addition to the 2014 roster is going to be huge.
He's an athletic pulling guard that does a tremendous job getting to the outside. Not only is Cooper going to be great in protection of veteran Carson Palmer, he's going to help open even more holes for stud running back Andre Ellington. What isn't necessarily an addition to the roster, is going to probably end up being the biggest offseason addition for the Cardinals heading into 2014.
Areas of Improvement
I was going to go with pass protection here, but the addition of Jared Veldheer from the Oakland Raiders changes that. Instead, I am going to point directly at Carson Palmer. He simply cannot continue to make big game-changing mistakes if the Cardinals are going to have a shot in the ridiculous NFC West.
Just think about it this way. Do you have confidence in Palmer going up against the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers of the world? I didn't think so. He threw nine interceptions in four games against those two teams last year. That's just not sustainable. It's possible that the continued growth of Ellington and Arizona's running game may take some pressure of fPalmer. Outside of that, it's not realistic to believe that he's going to change that drastically this far into his career.
Potential Breakout Star
Andre Ellington was absolutely ridiculous as a rookie. He averaged 6.5 yards per touch, including a league high 5.5 yards per attempt. Unfortunately for fans in Arizona, the Cardinals relied too much on veteran Rashard Mendenhall. Ellington averaged less than 10 touches per game.
With Mendenhall now in retirement, we can expect Ellington to get a vast majority of Arizona's rush attempts as a sophomore in 2014. While it's not realistic to expect him to put up those average with more of a work load, Ellington figures to be one of the most productive running backs in the NFL next season.
On His Way Out
Look for Arizona to draft an eventual replacement for Carson Palmer in the draft next month. Whether it's someone like Derek Carr in the first round or Zach Mettenberger later, Palmer will be replaced in the not-so-distant future. With that said, he's pretty much locked in to be the starter in 2014.