7 Offseason Moves the Arizona Cardinals Must Make to Compete

The Arizona Cardinals went into the offseason earlier than expected. Instead of playing in a Wild Card Game, the Cardinals missed the playoffs by one game, but still finished the season at an impressive 10-6 mark.

Arizona became the toughest defense to run on in the league and was a top-10 defense for the season, but the offense let the team down as quarterback Carson Palmer threw a career-worst 22 interceptions.

It was a five-game improvement over last season’s 5-11 mark, with an epic failure after a 4-0 start, but it still leaves fans wanting more.

Start the slideshow below and see the seven moves the Cardinals must make this offseason to compete in a very tough NFC West.

Find an Offensive Tackle

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The Cardinals traded away Levi Brown to Pittsburgh midseason, and that forced Bradley Sowell to step up into the starting gig. Sowell was okay at best this season, and okay doesn’t cut it in the NFL. Arizona needs to find a starting left offensive tackle.

The Cardinals got a better effort out of the offensive line as they allowed fewer sacks than last season, but letting the quarterback get dropped more than 200 times in the last four seasons is far too many. The left tackle is needed to give protection in the passing game, give Arizona a different direction to run in and keep defenses guessing.

It remains to be seen if they can find the tackle in free agency or in the NFL draft in May, but this is a top need.

Find a Third Wide Receiver And/or a Pass-Catching Tight End

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The Cardinals will see Andre Roberts potentially exit the team as an unrestricted free agent. Starting tight end Rob Housler is also a free-agent-to-be, so the Cardinals need receiving threats.

The year Arizona went to the Super Bowl, the Cardinals had three receivers each with more than 1,000 yards receiving in Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston. Fitzgerald has the talent to do it consistently. Michael Floyd just finished his first 1,000-yard season. Defensively speaking, teams will roll coverage on Fitzgerald and maybe leave Floyd alone in man-to-man coverage.

The downside to that is the Cardinals don’t have a tight end threat like the elite options in the league. They don’t have that third receiver who can make plays when called upon, and Roberts was very inconsistent this season.

The point is that Arizona needs more weapons in the passing game to keep defenses guessing. The tight end spot has been underutilized by the Cardinals in the last few years because of the weaknesses in the offensive line.

Finding players to help in the passing game will be a big task over the next few months.

Find a Lead Running Back

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The running back situation was frustrating this season for Arizona fans. On one hand, they had Rashard Mendenhall, who posted 687 yards and eight rushing touchdowns this season. On the other hand was rookie Andre Ellington; Ellington had 652 yards and three touchdowns on 99 fewer carries.

Mendenhall still got more carries than Ellington despite Ellington’s 154-yard performance against the Atlanta Falcons. That came when he got the start and Mendenhall was out for that Week 8 game with an injury.

Either way, the Cardinals need to figure out who their lead back will be. They don’t have a guy on the roster who can carry the ball 33 times in a game, but they have Ryan Williams, who was a healthy scratch in all 16 games this season. The way running backs were managed this year leaves some questions about next season and how the backs will be used.

There’s also the issue of Mendenhall being a free agent and whether or not Arizona will keep him on the roster in 2014.

Re-Sign Karlos Dansby

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There are two real solid reasons why the Cardinals need to re-up with Dansby. First, he posted 122 tackles, six sacks, four interceptions and a pair of touchdowns. His results were strong, and Arizona definitely needs that kind of production out of its linebackers with how much teams like to run in the division.

Second, the Cardinals have to make a tough decision on fellow linebacker Daryl Washington. He’s due a $10 million roster bonus on March 11. It’s harder to decide what to do, as Washington also had an arrest in the offseason over alleged domestic violence. He might be facing additional discipline from the league over that. He also missed the first four games of the 2013 campaign after getting suspended for a violation of the league’s substance abuse policy.

The risk and money involved with Washington make signing Dansby a must-have.

Keep the Passing Game Short

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Palmer had issues with under-throwing deep passes, and it led to interceptions. When the Cardinals hosted Seattle in Week 7, Arizona went to a short passing game and the results paid off.

The offense took off and had six straight games with at least 330 yards of offense. A simpler dink-and-dunk instead of a vertical passing attack made Palmer more effective; his game logs on Pro-Football-Reference.com show this. He was able to increase his completion percentage and didn’t throw an interception in four out of five games later in the season.

A quick, high-percentage passing attack benefits Palmer, the receivers and the offensive line.

Make Tough Salary-Cap Decisions

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According to Spotrac.com, Arizona has more than $50 million tied up in its top five guys for the season. It might work for this season, but that’s a big chunk of the cap to keep so few veterans.

The Cardinals also have to factor in about $9 million in 2014 for dead money as well. That eats up cap space, too, and Arizona needs to be concerned with it.  

Arizona is going to have 16 free agents in the offseason, and the Cardinals have to figure out who to keep and who to cut. Each of those decisions comes with a financial impact, and the choices made will impact the team for a couple years.

Start to Develop the Next Franchise Quarterback

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Arizona needs to look to the future now and find its next franchise quarterback. Palmer might not stick around after next season, and the Cardinals need to have someone in place who can produce solid results.

Backup quarterbacks Drew Stanton and Ryan Lindley didn’t throw a pass this season, so there are questions about the ability of the backups should Palmer leave the team or go down hurt. Stanton hasn’t thrown a pass in the regular season since 2010 with Detroit. Lindley has no touchdown passes and seven interceptions for his career.

Arizona needs to find an identity under center for the future. It won't be University of Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (pictured) because Arizona drafts 20th in the first round and there's virtually no chance of him being available at that position. 

Starting to find it now will ensure the team has the tools to keep being competitive and not be a one-hit wonder.