Though Beanie Wells had what was called minor knee surgery way back in January, he has yet to play in a preseason game. An injury prone player who apparently is a slow healer, Wells is reportedly still struggling to cut in practice, according to XTRA 910 Arizona’s Mike Jurecki. In spite of this, Wells is expected to suit up for his 1^st preseason game this week, but will see limited reps like Ryan Williams, also coming off a knee injury, did last week.

Wells is definitely no sure thing to play all 16 games this season and with a talented backup in Ryan Williams behind him, it’s definitely possible he could lose his starting job or at least significant carries this season, possibly even early in the season. Williams, a 2011 2^nd round pick coming off a knee injury that cost him all of 2011, has looked very good in practice and rushed for 25 yards on 5 carries last week in his first preseason action. He’s a nice fantasy sleeper in the mid to late rounds if you can get him there. Wells, meanwhile, is being overdrafted with a 7^th round ADP.

If you’re interested in doing a fantasy football league with me, here’s the link (no draft date set yet, currently standard, with the option to become PPR with group vote). http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasy/football/commissioner/Registration/Private.aspx?league=55086&password=FanSpot2

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The Cardinals allowed the 2^nd most sacks in the league last year, allowing 54, and now they have been dealt a huge blow to their offensive line as Levi Brown could be out for the year after tearing his triceps. Brown has been described as “right on the margin” to return this season after undergoing surgery and if the Cardinals are out of the playoff race late in the season, very possible, they won’t bring him back. With no guaranteed money left on his recently restructured 5 year, 30 million dollar contract after the season, it’s very likely that the 2007 5^th overall pick has played his last snap for the Cardinals.

However, this may end up being a blessing in disguise for the Cardinals. Their backup offensive tackles might not be any better, but it would be hard for them to be worse. Brown has been horrendous since taking over a full time starter in 2008, allowing 41 sacks, 45 quarterback hits, and 150 quarterback pressures in 4 seasons. A solid run blocker yes, but this is a passing league and Brown has the league’s 2^nd worst pass blocking efficiency over the last 3 seasons (sacks allowed + .75 hits allowed + .75 pressures allowed/passing snaps played).

In his absence, the Cardinals will either play DJ Young, a 2011 undrafted free agent who has never played a snap, or Jeremy Bridges, who recently lost the right tackle battle to 4^th round rookie Bobby Massie. Bridges, the veteran, has allowed 8 sacks, 13 quarterback hits, and 26 quarterback pressures in 17 regular and postseason starts over the last 3 starts, both on the right side and the left side, as the Cardinals’ primary swing tackle. Massie, who has won the right tackle job, could also be a candidate to move to the left side this season as he’s probably their most talented offensive tackle. Even though he was a 4^th round rookie, he was widely regarded as a steal. Their offensive tackle play probably won’t be quite as bad it was last season.

Another thing that will help out the Cardinals’ offensive line is the presumed decision to start John Skelton over Kevin Kolb. Kolb’s awful pocket presence was part of the reason why the Cardinals allowed so many sacks last season as Kolb took a sack on 26.1% of pressured snaps last season, tied for 2^nd worst in the league. Skelton, meanwhile, took a sack on 19.2% of pressured snaps last season. While Kolb took 30 sacks, Skelton took “only” 23 in roughly as many pressured dropbacks. The Cardinals’ offensive line should be one of the worst in the league again this year, but they probably won’t be as bad as they were last year and Brown’s injury is not that serious because he’s atrocious in pass protection.

If you’re interested in doing a fantasy football league with me, here’s the link (no draft date set yet, currently standard, with the option to become PPR with group vote). http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasy/football/commissioner/Registration/Private.aspx?league=55086&password=FanSpot2

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Heading into their 4^th preseason game, the Cardinals still have not announced a starting quarterback. However, they have announced that John Skelton will start and play into the 3^rd quarter this week. The Cardinals played in the Hall of Fame game to start the Preseason so they have 5 Preseason games instead of 4, so this 4^th preseason game will essentially be used like their 3^rd preseason game.

Typically, the 3^rd preseason game is your dress rehearsal for the regular season. Teams have typically decided all of their starters by this point and will play them into the 2^nd half. Though the Cardinals have not officially named Skelton the starter, he will essentially be doing everything a starting quarterback normally would this week and, barring a complete meltdown during the game, he should be their week 1 starter.

Skelton hasn’t exactly set the world on fire with his play this Preseason, completing 10 of 15 for 90 yards, a touchdown, and an interception, but he’s basically won the job by default over Kolb, who has continued to make the Cardinals look foolish with his play this season. Kolb went 3-6 as a starter last season, 2-6 in games where he led the team in quarterback snaps, after the Cardinals gave up a 2^nd round pick and a starting cornerback for him and gave him a large contract last offseason. This offseason, they kept him and paid him his 7 million dollar bonus, rather than cutting him, and Kolb responded by going 5 of 15 for 47 yards and a pick this Preseason. Now it looks like he will become the league’s most expensive backup quarterback.

Skelton was actually the inferior of the two quarterbacks last season. He led 100 drives last season and the Cardinals scored 16 touchdowns and 11 field goals (129 points, 1.29 points per drive) on those 100 drives. Kolb led 91 drives, leading to 20 touchdowns and 6 field goals (138 points, 1.52 points per drive). Kolb also outplayed him statistically. He completed 146 of 253 (57.7%) for 1955 yards (7.7 YPA), 9 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions. Skelton completed just 151 for 275 (54.9%) for 1913 yards (7.0 YPA), 11 touchdowns, and 14 interceptions. Skelton did rush for 128 yards as opposed to 65 for Kolb and took just 23 sacks as opposed to 30 for Kolb.

Skelton was 6-2 in the 8 games he played the majority of the snaps, while Kolb was 2-6, but Skelton had the luxury of playing most of his games supported by better defensive play. In Skelton’s 8 games, the Cardinals allowed 19.0 points per game and in Kolb’s they allowed 24.5. All that being said, neither of them played very well at all and Skelton definitely outplayed him this offseason and this preseason. Either way the Cardinals figure to struggle mightily in 2012. Kolb’s 1.52 points per drive was equal to Washington’s last season and they ranked 22nd, while Skelton’s 1.29 was between Denver’s (1.38) and Indianapolis’ (1.24). They ranked 27th and 28th respectively last season.

For fantasy purposes, you can do a lot better than Skelton as a QB2. In 11 career starts, he’s thrown for 2248 yards, 10 touchdowns, 14 interceptions, while rushing for 153 yards. Over 16 games, that’s 3270 passing yards, 15 touchdowns, 20 interceptions, and 223 rushing yards. He was pulled in two of those games and has thrown for 2057 yards, 9 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, while rushing for 144 yards. Over 16 games, that’s 3657 passing yards, 16 touchdowns, and 17 interceptions, while rushing for 256 yards. He’s got a good receiving corps, but those mediocre numbers are what you can expect if he plays all 16 games. Plus, there’s no guarantee he won’t be benched midseason or anything like that.

If you’re interested in doing a fantasy football league with me, here’s the link (no draft date set yet, currently standard, with the option to become PPR with group vote). http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasy/football/commissioner/Registration/Private.aspx?league=55086&password=FanSpot2

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According to the Associated Press, the Cardinals have approached Daryl Washington about a long term extension and that the two sides have “talked back and forth,” though no official offer has been made. Washington, a 2010 2^nd round pick, still has 2 years left on his rookie contract, but, with no players of note heading into contract years, it appears the Cardinals are looking to get a head start on negotiations with Washington.

Washington was Arizona’s leader in tackles last season and graded out as ProFootballFocus’ 10^th ranked middle linebacker, grading out above average against the run, in coverage, and as a blitzer, adding 6 sacks, 5 quarterback hits, and 19 quarterback pressures. Heading into his 3^rd year in the league, he has a good chance to make his first Pro Bowl in 2012.

I don’t expect the two sides to reach a deal this offseason though, as it’s more likely that the Cardinals are just having preliminary talks with him so there’s less to do next offseason, when he becomes an obvious extension candidate. The Cardinals likely want to see him prove it again and they have him under contract for 2 years at just over a million dollars combined. It’s very rare to see a player extended after just two seasons. Antonio Brown and Rob Gronkowski are obvious exceptions from this offseason, but Brown would have been an unrestricted free agent in 2013 and Gronkowski is just on another level.

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S Kerry Rhodes

I only list Rhodes because the Cardinals don’t have another even remotely good candidate for the tag. Safeties have been franchised 4 times in the last 2 seasons because of how cheap the safety franchise tag is (just 6.2 million in 2012). However, Rhodes isn’t the level of Michael Huff, Tyvon Branch, Dashon Goldson, and Michael Griffin, all of whom have been franchised in the last 2 seasons, at least not anymore. He’s no longer the same player the Jets gave a 5 year, 33.5 million dollar deal to in 2008. Heading into his age 31 season in 2013, Rhodes isn’t getting any better.

Likelihood: Very unlikely

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Dan Williams was the 26^th pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, but has struggled thus far in his career with a combination of weight and injury problems. With injury problems no longer an issue, Williams showed up at Training Camp weighing 314 pounds, which is right where the Cardinals want him. Williams is heading into a pivotal 3^rd year, one that could end with him being cut if he doesn’t get his act together, but he’s still got time to make good on his potential.

The Cardinals defense is obviously a lot better if Williams can be the player they thought they were drafting. With Calais Campbell and Darnell Dockett, the Cardinals have the best 3-4 defensive end duo of any team other than the San Francisco 49ers, but nose tackle has been a weak spot for them. Last year, Williams played a disappointing 244 snaps there, leaving the undersized David Carter and the terrible Nick Eason to fill in the rest of the snaps. A healthy and in shape Williams would allow Carter to provide above average depth at all 3 spots and give the Cardinals one of the best defensive lines in the league.

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With the Cardinals opening camp, the team has placed running back Beanie Wells on the active/PUP list. Unlike the reserve/PUP list, which is for the regular season, Wells can be activated at any time and will not have to miss 6 games. However, he will not practice and it’s a very bad sign for someone who had what was described as “minor” knee surgery way back in January.

Wells assured everyone that he would be ready for week 1, but called himself 75% right now, which is not promising. Head Coach Ken Whisenhunt said that Wells would not be out for an “extended” period of time, but Wells’ comments do suggest that he expects to miss at least a week or two of Training Camp, while Whisenhunt’s comments are pretty vague.

I’ve already got Wells pretty low on my fantasy board because of his history of injuries and because of the glowing reports about his backup, 2011 2^nd round pick Ryan Williams. I’ll drop Wells even lower if he starts missing preseason games. At his current ADP in the 6^th round, he’s overvalued, while Williams is a good value in the 9^th round.

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According to multiple sources, including Pro Football Weekly, the Arizona Republic, and the Sports Xchange, Cardinals’ rookie receiver Michael Floyd, the 13^th overall pick, is expected to start Training Camp as the #4 receiver and likely will begin the season there as well. This seems a little weird because he was seen as pretty NFL ready coming out of Notre Dame and they brought him in to take the bracket coverage off of Larry Fitzgerald, possibly even at Fitzgerald’s urging. Floyd also showed up for Fitzgerald’s wide receiver camp, albeit after being called out by Fitzgerald, who has taken a personal interest in Floyd’s developmental.

However, the Cardinals reportedly are not impressed with Floyd, as he tries to adjust to an NFL work ethic. They’re also an organization that traditionally likes to make their rookies earn their way up the depth chart. On top of that, rookie receivers take at least a year typically to adjust to the speed of the NFL. Discounting Julio Jones and AJ Green (the exceptions), since the 2005 NFL Draft, 22 receivers have gone in the 1st round of the NFL Draft. In their rookie years, they have averaged 37 catches for 524 yards and 3 touchdowns.

That group is not a group of busts. It includes, among others, Dez Bryant, Demaryius Thomas, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Michael Crabtree, Percy Harvin, Hakeem Nicks, Jeremy Maclin, Kenny Britt, Calvin Johnson, Dwayne Bowe, Robert Meachem, Santonio Holmes, Braylon Edwards, and Roddy White. The leader in rookie production among those 22, strangely Dwayne Bowe, who caught 70 passes for 995 yards and 5 touchdowns in 2007.

Expect Floyd’s impact to be made in 2013 and beyond, when, hopefully, the Cardinals will have a quarterback capable of getting the most out of Fitzgerald and Floyd. Andre Roberts and Early Doucet are expected to be the #2 and the #3 receivers respectively, though Floyd could work his way up the depth chart during the season. He’s not draftable in redraft leagues in fantasy football.

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