The Arizona Cardinals locked down one of their biggest potential unrestricted free agents by placing the non-exclusive franchise tag on outside linebacker Chandler Jones.
The team may have problems re-signing a handful of other pivotal players it would love to have back, however.
“We could lose two or three guys,” coach Bruce Arians said upon arriving at the scouting combine in Indianapolis. “We feel like we’ve got young players ready to go and some guys injured who are coming back and then we’ll fill in.”
Two of those players that may fly the coop are longtime defensive lineman Calais Campbell and high-energy safety Tony Jefferson, originally an undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma. He has proven his worth at every turn and now can test the open market.
The Cardinals also have three key starters also set to become unrestricted when free agency starts on March 9 — inside linebacker Kevin Minter, cornerback Marcus Cooper and safety D.J. Swearinger.
“That’s the hard part of the business,” general manager Steve Keim said Wednesday. “You get so attached to these guys, you drafted them, signed them as a college free agent. To have a situation where you could potentially lose some players, it’s a tough part of the business.
“We all understand the salary cap, and the situation we are in, it’s a big piece of the pie. There are only so many slices to go around. We’d like to have all of those guys back, but the reality is, there are tough decisions to be made. That’s why you have to continue to draft well.”
Though the Cardinals are said to be meeting with Campbell’s representatives this week, the team has already been preparing for his eventual exit. Arizona drafted defensive tackle Rodney Gunter in 2015 and followed that up by drafting defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche with a first-round pick last year.
Arians said Gunter could see his average snap participation easily rise from 14 per game to 40 and that he projects Nkemdiche, who was limited as a rookie due to injuries and inconsistencies, to roar into a potential starting role this season.
“I expect the same jump as D.J. Humphries had,” Arians said, comparing Nkemdiche to the offensive tackle they picked in the first round in the 2015 draft. (Nkemdiche) was not healthy and all year. His work ethic was fantastic but that ankle just bothered him all year and he got frustrated. He showed everything we drafted — athletic, big, strong, fast, physical, so I think he’ll be fine.”
Arians, it should be noted, rarely threw any praise at Nkemdiche last season. Mostly, the coach said Nkemdiche was ill-prepared and lacked maturity. The rookie finished with just three tackles in five games. That’s not going to replace what Campbell has brought to the team for the past decade.
But if Arians is right and Nkemdiche has a breakout season and Gunter can provide more disruption up the middle and off the edge, the Cardinals might not be so damaged if Campbell were to sign elsewhere.
Regardless of what happens there, the Cardinals at least know they’ll have Jones on the roster in 2017. He finished with 11 sacks in his debut season with Arizona and the team has until July 15 to work out a long-term deal with him or settle for the franchise-tag salary, which will be around $15 million.
–RT D.J. Humphries could switch to starting left tackle after moving there toward the end of last season to replace the injured Jared Veldheer. Veldheer has indicated he would prefer not to move to right tackle, but Keim said the team is “leaning” toward using Humphries at left tackle.
“Which is why we drafted him,” Keim said. “When we watched him coming out of Florida, we thought he was a natural left tackle. He’s got the feet, the length, the athleticism, the movement skills — all the necessary tools to be a very good left tackle in this league.
“And he has brought a particular temperament to our offensive line. When you talk about your ability to roll your hip and finish in the run game, we don’t have a guy on our offensive line who can block like he does.”
–With running backs coach Stump Mitchell leaving the Cardinals’ staff to accept the same position with the Jets, the Cardinals moved quarterbacks coach Freddie Kitchens to running backs coach and that Byron Leftwich has been named the team’s new quarterbacks coach.
Kitchens has been with the Cardinals since 2007, spending the past four years as the team’s quarterbacks coach after working for six seasons as the Cardinals’ tight ends coach.
Leftwich joins the Cardinals after working last season as an intern with the team. He played 10 seasons in the NFL with four different teams.
–RG Evan Mathis has decided to retire after 12 NFL seasons. Mathis battled ankle, foot and toe issues for most of all last season and told the team’s flagship radio station, “I could not keep going if I wanted to, probably.”
–The Cardinals received an additional fifth-round pick in this year’s draft, a compensatory pick which is to be the 181st selection overall.
The pick was determined under the formula used by the NFL Management Council and took into effect the team losing free agents such as safety Rashad Johnson, defensive back Corey White, linebacker Sean Weatherspoon and offensive linemen Ted Larsen, Bobbie Massie and Bradley Sowell, in addition to the Cardinals signing two free agents — safety Tyvon Branch and guard Evan Mathis.
–Arians will have surgery to repair a torn right rotator cuff on March 10. Arians suffered the injury when wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald ran up and gave the coach a celebratory bear hug following a late-season win at Seattle.