The Cardinals have signed outside linebacker Matt Stewart.  Stewart didn’t play last season as he was recovering from shoulder surgery.  Stewart has played in 93 games in his NFL career and he has made 295 tackles, defensed 8 passes, has 8 sacks, forced 4 fumbles and intercepted 1 pass.  Stewart will help the Cardinals in a reserve role and he is also an outstanding special teams player.

The Cardinals have signed 33-year old DE Bryan Robinson.  Robinson played in 16 games for the Bengals last season and he made 20 tackles, defensed 2 passes, had 1.5 sacks and forced 1 fumble.  Robinson has now played in 158 games in his NFL career and he has made 354 tackles, defensed 35 passes, has 22 sacks and he has forced 7 fumbles.  Robinson will likely be a backup for the Cardinals in 2008.

The Arizona Cardinals found a couple of nice players in last years’ NFL Draft but they also missed on a couple of players.  In the first round the Cardinals selected OT Levi Brown and he played in 13 games and started 11 of them for the Cardinals.  He looks like he could develop into a very nice player in the near future.  In the 2nd round the Cardinals selected DT Alan Branch.  Branch played in 11 games (0 starts) for the Cardinals last season and he made a whopping 9 tackles.  Branch better get motivated soon or he will have to find a new line of work.  3rd round pick OLB Buster Davis was a huge flop as he was cut before the season even started!  In the 5th round the Cardinals found a nugget in WR/KR Steve Breaston.  Breaston played in all 16 games for the Cardinals last season and he carried the ball 2 times for 8 yards (4.0 ypc) and he also caught 8 passes for 92 yards (11.5 avg).  But, Breaston was a game changer on special teams for the Cardinals last season.  He returned 62 kickoffs for 1,391 yards (22.4 avg) and he also returned 42 punts for 395 yards (9.4 avg) with 1 TD….a 73-yarder to burn the Steelers.  7th round pick Ben Patrick took a while to show what he could do, but he has the potential to eventually be a starter for the Cardinals.  Patrick played in 8 games (3 starts) last season for the Cardinals and he caught 7 passes for 73 yards (10.4 avg) with 2 TD grabs.

GRADE FOR THE 2007 SEASON:   C

GRADE FOR THE FUTURE:  B

The Cardinals have added another former Steeler as they have signed linebacker Clark Haggans to a 1-year contract.  Haggans played in all 16 games for the Steelers last season and he made 58 tackles, defensed 1 pass and had 4 sacks.  Haggans has now played in 105 games in his NFL career and he has made 372 tackles, defensed 17 passes, has 32.5 sacks, forced 12 fumbles and he has picked off a pass.  This was a solid signing for the Cardinals as Haggans will likely step right into the starting lineup.

The Cardinals have signed QB Brian St. Pierre as the Steelers’ pipeline continues to flow to Arizona.  St. Pierre is a big QB at 6′3″, 230 pounds but he doesn’t have much experience.  He has only played in 1 game in his NFL career and he threw 1 incomplete pass.  He also carried the ball 4 times for -3 yards (-0.8 ypc).  St. Pierre will be nothing more than the #3 QB for the Cardinals in 2008.