The Cardinals have a very potent WR corps and teams better watch out for these guys.  24-year old Larry Fitzgerald is a big guy at 6’3″, 226 pounds and he has a great set of hands.  Fitzgerald played in 15 games for the Cardinals last season and he caught 100 passes for 1,409 yards (14.1 avg) with 10 TD grabs.  Fitzgerald might even have a better season in 2008 if Anquan Boldin doesn’t give it his all this season due to a dispute over his contract.  Fitzgerald has now played in 60 games in his NFL career and he has caught 330 passes for 4,544 yards (13.8 avg) with 34 TD grabs.  He has also carried the ball 16 times for 55 yards (3.4 ypc) in his career.

27-year old Anquan Boldin is also a very physical receiver as he stands at 6’1″, 217 pounds and like Fitzgerald he has a good set of hands.  Boldin is fearless when going over the middle but it sometimes gets him injured.  Boldin played in 12 games for the Cardinals last season and he caught 71 passes for 853 yards (12.0 avg) with 9 TD grabs.  He also carried the football 1 time for 14 yards last year.  Look for Boldin to increase his numbers in 2008 as he will be playing with dollar signs going through his head.  Boldin has now played in 68 games in his NFL career and he has caught 413 passes for 5,458 yards (13.2 avg) with 29 TD grabs.  He has also carried the ball 24 times for 130 yards (5.4 ypc) in his career.

The Cardinals expect 2nd year receiver Steve Breaston to battle for the #3 WR job during training camp.  He played in all 16 games last season and he only caught 8 passes for 92 yards (11.5 avg).  He also carried the football 2 times for 8 yards (4.0 ypc) last year.  Breaston is a outstanding special teams player but he looks to be ready to help out on offense too.

27-year old Jerheme Urban stepped up last season and he should challenge Breaston for the #3 WR job in 2008.  Urban played in 10 games for the Cardinals last season and he caught 22 passes for 329 yards (15.0 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Urban will also have to hold off rookie Early Doucet if he wants to get a few grabs in 2008.  Urban has now played in 21 games in his NFL career and he has caught 35 passes for 597 yards (17.1 avg) with 3 TD grabs.

22-year old Early Doucet reminds a lot of people of Anquan Boldin and the Cardinals hope he can be that good.  Doucet played in 10 games (9 starts) for LSU last season and he caught 57 passes for 525 yards (9.2 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  Doucet should have a good career with the Cardinals but he will have to earn his way up the depth chart starting in training camp.  Doucet played in 47 games (23 starts) at LSU and he caught 160 passes for 1,943 yards (12.1 avg) with 20 TD grabs.

32-year old Sean Morey is part of the ex-Steeler pipeline to Arizona.  He is a great special teams player who can help out a little bit on offense.  Morey played in 15 games with the Cardinals last season and he caught 8 passes for 131 yards (16.4 avg).  He also carried the football 1 time for 13 yards last season.  Morey will likely get most of his playing time on special teams unless the Cardinals suffer a few injuries at WR.  Morey has now played in 62 games in his NFL career and he has caught 11 passes for 168 yards (15.3 avg).

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE 2008 SEASON:  A+

The Cardinals didn’t look too good last night but they were resting some players so it’s hard to really evaluate them.  Matt Leinart started the game and he was solid completing 7 of 8 passes for 91 yards.  Projected #3 QB Brian St. Pierre followed Leinart and he didn’t play too bad.  He completed 12 of 18 passes for 84 yards.  He also carried the ball 2 times for 15 yards (7.5 ypc) last night.  Undrafted rookie Anthony Morelli showed last night why no one picked him last April.  He completed only 2 of 6 passes for 13 yards.  Rookie running back Tim Hightower made a good first impression as he was running the ball very hard last night.  He carried the ball 5 times for 23 yards (4.6 ypc) with 1 TD run last night.  He also caught 2 passes for 11 yards (5.5 avg).  WR Steve Breaston had a good game grabbing 3 passes for 50 yards (16.7 avg) last night. The Cardinals finished up with only 63 yards rushing on 15 carries (4.2 ypc) last night.  They also completed 21 of 31 passes for 165 yards.  The Cardinals had trouble sustaining any long drives last night as they only had possession of the football for 25:49.

The defense looked pretty awful last night.  Linebacker Ali Highsmith led the way for the Saints’ defense last night with 6 tackles. The Cardinals did play good run defense holding the Saints to only 98 yards rushing on 35 carries (2.8 ypc).  But, the Saints were passing all over the Cardinals’ defense last night.  The Saints completed 22 of 30 passes for 285 yards last night and that is unacceptable.  The Cardinals have a lot to work on before September.

The Arizona Cardinals have released running back Marcel Shipp due to the rise on the depth chart of rookie Tim Hightower.  Shipp played in 88 games (28 starts) for the Cardinals in his NFL career and he carried the ball 605 times for 2,197 yards (3.6 ypc) with 11 TD runs.  He has also caught 113 passes for 937 yards (8.3 avg) with 3 TD grabs in his NFL career.  Shipp never really played up to expectations in Arizona and the coaching staff feels that Hightower can do a better job near the goal line and in short yardage situations than Shipp can.  It will be interesting to see if Shipp hooks on with another team or if this is the end of his NFL career.

The Cardinals have signed 26-year old offensive tackle Kelly Butler.  He will likely serve as a backup for the Cards this season and he provides a lot of size at 6’7″, 320 pounds.  Butler did not play a down for the Cleveland Browns last season so he could be a tad rusty.  Butler has 4 years of experience in the NFL covering 22 games (21 starts).  This was a decent pickup for depth along the exterior of the offensive line for the Cardinals.