Newly extended Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim is going to have his hands full this offseason. It starts and ends at the quarterback position after Carson Palmer announced his retirement following the 2017 campaign.
The Cardinals had previously addressed their need for a quarterback publicly, but there wasn’t any real idea where the team might look to get its next signal caller.
That has changed a tad recently, with Keim being more open about the Cardinals’ plans.
“You have to have Plan A, B, C and D,” Keim said, via the team’s official website. “Whether that is a, addressing it with a free-agent quarterback, B, trade option, C, draft, or all of the above … but at the end of the day you can’t get caught on (Plan) ‘A’ because there are factors that go into decisions by a free-agent quarterback (or) any trade process that you can’t put your finger on.
Based on these comments, it seems that Keim and the Cardinals are looking at free agency as their best bet to add a starting quarterback. That doesn’t mean the team isn’t going to double down at quarterback in the draft. Maybe, Arizona looks for a stopgap option in free agency and adds a potential franchise signal caller via the draft.
The good news here is that there seems to be some solid options in free agency. The class is obviously headlined by Pro Bowler Kirk Cousins after his Washington Redskins team traded for Alex Smith. After that, Sam Bradford, Case Keenum and Teddy Bridgewater of the Vikings are all starter-caliber options on the market. The same can be said about Bengals quarterback A.J. McCarron and Tyrod Taylor of the Bills (should he be released).
Larry Fitzgerald’s decision to return for the 2018 season could have very well hinted that the Cardinals will look for a veteran quarterback. Keim’s recent comments only add to that.
It will be one of many stories to follow as the quarterback carousel plays out around the league this spring.