Cardinals Have Big Shoes To Fill And Moves To Make For 2009

By Adam Fuller

The Arizona Cardinals’ off-seasons are usually full of sweeping changes and dramatic alterations to its personnel and coaching staff that, like it or not, leave the die-hard Cards fans with healthy servings of drama on their plates during the desert springs and summers.

This year is certainly no exception. The team is looking to replace its offensive coordinator Todd Haley who left the team for a head-coaching job on the Kansas City Chiefs and defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast who was fired by the team the same day.

The Cardinals will also need to improve a running game that finished last in the NFL in 2008 while maintaining its high-powered air attack despite the looming possibility of losing star wide receiver Anquan Boldin due to contract disputes.

Not to mention settling in to a new defense, shifting from the hybrid 3-4 system concocted by Pendergast, to what will most likely be a pure, blitz-heavy 3-4 scheme, just the way head coach Ken Whisenhunt likes it.

Standard frantic mode for a team coming off a trip to the Super Bowl. Nervous?

The good news is that the Cardinals still have many of the weapons from 2008 back on the roster, at practice and raring to make another run in 2009. So, especially if they manage to keep Boldin, we should expect most of the explosiveness and excitement on offense to be back as well.

With the addition of running back Chris “Beanie” Wells from the first round of this year’s draft, Whisenhunt is looking to fill that missing cog in the frail running game and provide some semblance of his roots of grind-it-out-on-the-ground football.

Obviously everything is still way up in the air for the Cardinals in 2009.

Big moves, key changes and major drama lurk in the team’s near future. Something Arizona fans have grown accustomed to by now, and are no-doubt licking their chops in anticipation.