Arizona Cardinals: Team behind in NFC West quarterback race

The NFC West is suddenly loaded with young and talented quarterbacks. But the Arizona Cardinals are a little behind when it comes to this arms race.

Earlier this week, Arizona Cardinals’ owner Michael Bidwill spoke on 98.7 Arizona’s Sports Station. The topics included the hiring of new head coach Steve Wilks and the recent contract extension given to general manager Steve Keim.

Of course, there’s this other little matter that needs to be addressed. Carson Palmer announced his retirement and both Drew Stanton and Blaine Gabbert are potential free agents. So what will the team do when it comes to someone leading the offense?

"“The quarterback thing will come,” said Bidwill (via Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com). “I don’t want to sound like we’re being cavalier about it but we’ve got to wait for free agency to start to see who is out there…I know we’re going to be aggressive, we’re going to have a plan.”"

For the sake of the franchise, that needs to be true. And considering the other three teams and their situations behind center, the Cards need to hit a home run in this area. Consider the following:

Los Angeles Rams’ quarterback Jared Goff comes off a season in which he was at the helm of the highest scoring team in the NFL. What was impressive was the jump the first overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft made in one year. This past season, he completed 62.1 percent of his passes for 3,804 yards and four times as many scores (28) as interceptions.

All told, Goff was sacked just 15 times in his 15 regular-season appearances. During his rookie campaign, he connected on only 54.6 percent of his throws for 1,089 yards, five touchdowns and seven picks. The second-year pro was sacked 26 times in his seven outings.

Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks come off a 9-7 season and missed the playoffs for the first time in his six NFL campaigns. Despite the lack of a ground game and a problem-plagued offensive front, the talented pro threw for 3,983 yards and an NFL-best 34 scores compared to only 11 interceptions. The six-year stalwart has still yet to miss a start during his pro career.

Finally, there’s red-hot San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. The one-time New England Patriots’ backup brought his A-game to the Bay Area and helped the team win its final five regular-season games to close the season. His numbers for the season with the Niners shows he threw seven touchdown passes compared to five interceptions. But he also connected on an impressive 67.4 percent of his throws. San Francisco averaged 28.8 points per game the final five week of 2017.

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So who do the Arizona Cardinals have in mind? The 2018 quarterback free-agent class could include Washington’s Kirk Cousins, the Minnesota Vikings’ trio of Case Keenum, Sam Bradford and Teddy Bridgewater, Cincinnati’s A.J. McCarron and very-seasoned veterans Josh McCown (New York Jets) and Ryan Fitzpatrick (Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Yep, things are going to be interesting in the desert come mid-March.