Arizona Cardinals: 4 Players Impressing Early in 2012 Offseason

The Arizona Cardinals have been in a rebuilding stage over the past two offseasons, and almost every move that they have made has had some sort of an impact on where the team is today.

A few long months ago, Rod Graves and the Cardinals front office did what they could to bring in players that they think will help the team going forward. Now it is up the players to transfer their momentum from the end of 2011 over to 2012.

There are several very interesting position battles to be won going into the season, and now is the time to get a leg up on the competition.

This article will highlight four Arizona Cardinals who have been impressing early this season.

Daryl Washington

Inside linebacker Daryl Washington has used each of his three offseasons with the team to work on becoming a better player.

In addition, he has tacked on almost 10 pounds this offseason alone and has gained 15 since entering the league in 2010.  

Despite putting up great numbers last season (107 tackles and five sacks), Washington is only looking to improve.

The 25-year-old is starting to take over as the leader of the Cardinals defense and is one of the players who has impressed during OTAs and minicamp.

Todd Heap

After spending all of his 10 professional seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, Todd Heap was looking for a new home in 2011 after he was released by the team.

The Arizona Cardinals gave him a chance, but he missed six games due to injury and caught only 24 passes.

Going into 2012, Heap knows that he has to step up this season or he will likely be without a job.

Being released by Baltimore was an eye-opener for him. In an interview following OTAs, Heap said “I thought I had a contract going into last year, but obviously it was a contract year the year before that.” He continued by saying “Every year you have to prove yourself, show what your value is.”

This is definitely true in today’s NFL. Heap knows what he is up against this season and has looked good so far.

Greg Toler

The Arizona Cardinals were incredibly thin at cornerback going into 2011, and a lot of people (myself included) were hitting the panic button when Greg Toler tore his ACL in the preseason.

This is a tough injury to come back from, but as Kent Somers of Arizona Republic said, his rehab does appear to be going well.

Toler has worked a ton to get his knee back to where it needs to be, and most people in the organization should be impressed by what he has been able to do during OTAs even with the injury.

Ryan Williams

Another player on the road to recovery in Arizona is second-year running back Ryan Williams.

Williams looked very promising prior to suffering a ruptured patella tendon in the preseason.

This was a huge blow for Arizona, as the run game could have used a ton of help throughout the season.

With the status of Beanie Wells still unknown, it is nice to see that Williams has been participating in at least some of the OTA drills.

It is pretty impressive anytime a guy can come back strong from such a major injury, and that is why Ryan Williams cracks this list.