The Cardinals won’t be as good as last year, because of lowered ability in the veterans, but new signings will help prevemnt disaster.  A much better squad of linebackers on defense, and add-ons of Chris Johnson and Jermaine Gresham on offense.

Training Camp & Fantasy Preview

QB

Carson Palmer should be OK as he returns from his season ending 2014 injury, but threat of re-injuring his knee is moderate to high still.  So, the Cards held onto Drew Stanton and Logan Thomas as their trusty backups.  But if they lose Carson Palmer, the window of opportunity in Arizona will begin to close.

RB

Andre Ellington has more backup if he gets hurt again.  Ellington should be fine alone, but the additional pressure of Chris Johnson makes the Cardinals running game much improved.  Plus, if needed, they still have more backups in Stepfan Taylor, Marion Grice, Kerwynn Williams, even Robert Hughes, and they drafted David Johnson.

WR

I see a comeback year for both Larry Fitzgerald and Michael Floyd.  That closes the window for John Brown, Jaron Brown and Ryan Spadola.  Although they still are good, Fitzgerald and Floyd should return to leading the team in reception yards.

TE

After losing Rob Housler to Cleveland, Arizona couldn’t just count on Troy Niklas to be the starting tight end.  So they signed Jermaine Gresham from the same state, but from the Bengals in Cincinnati.  The Bengals were fine, as they should depend on Tyler Eifert, on IR all season in 2014 after his 2013 rookie breakout.  Gresham really helps the Cards, and is a much better starter than Housler, although they could’ve used Housler as a backup.

Def.

As I mentioned before, additions and resignings of line backers Sean Weatherspoon, Matt Shaugnessy and LaMarr Woodley is great, and resigning Patrick Peterson.  Plus, the small defensive signings just means more pressure vs this improved D.  But the defensive line and rest of the secondary is still weak, like last year’s Cardinals defense as a whole.