The Cardinals are going to be running the ball a lot more in 2010 due to Matt Leinart being under center instead of Kurt Warner.  21-year old Chris Wells will be sharing time with 24-year old Tim Hightower in the backfield.  Wells played in 16 games (0 starts) as a rookie last season for the Cardinals and he carried the ball 176 times for 793 yards (4.5 ypc) with 7 TD runs.  He also caught 12 passes for 143 yards (11.9 avg) last season.  I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Wells goes over 1,000 yards rushing in 2010.

Tim Hightower is more of a power back than Wells is.  Hightower is also light years better as a receiver out of the backfield.  He played in 16 games (all starts) for the Cardinals last season and he carried the ball 143 times for 598 yards (4.2 ypc) with 8 TD runs.  Hightower also caught 63 passes for 428 yards (6.8 avg) last season for the Cards.  He has now played in 32 games (23 starts) in his two years with the Cardinals and he has carried the ball 286 times for 997 yards (3.5 ypc) with 18 TD runs.  Hightower has also caught 97 passes for 665 yards (6.9 avg) in his career.  Look for Hightower to also have more yards rushing than he did last season.

23-year old LaRod Stephens-Howling was quite a find for the Cardinals last season late in the draft.  He played in 16 games (2 starts) as a rookie for the Cardinals last season in which he carried the ball 6 times for 15 yards (2.5 ypc) and he also caught 10 passes for 83 yards (8.3 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Stephens-Howling earned his money on special teams last season as he returned 52 kickoffs for 1,257 yards (24.2 avg) with 1 TD return.  Don’t look for him to put up many offensive numbers unless Tim Hightower or Chris Wells get injured.

27-year old Jason Wright will have to play well this training camp to beat out Stephens-Howling for the #3 RB job in 2010.  Wright played in 16 games (0 starts) for the Cardinals last season in which he carried the ball 3 times for 17 yards (5.7 ypc) and he also caught 9 passes for 53 yards (5.9 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  Wright has now played in 65 games (4 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 162 times for 605 yards (3.7 ypc) with 2 TD runs.  He has also caught 64 passes for 539 yards (8.4 avg) with 3 TD grabs.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CARDINALS RBs in 2010:  B+

Kurt Warner retired this spring leaving the Cardinals without much of a safety net if 27-year old Matt Leinart fails as the starter as he has in the past.  The Cardinals will probably run a lot more than they have in recent years to attempt to protect Leinart.  Leinart played in 8 games for the Cardinals last season and he completed 51 of 77 passes (66.2%) for 435 yards with 0 TD passes and 3 INTs (64.6 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 9 times for -6 yards (-0.7 ypc) last year.  Leinart has now played in 29 games in his career with the Cardinals and he has completed 340 of 595 passes (57.1%) for 3,893 yards with 14 TD passes and 20 INTs (70.8 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 46 times for 90 yards (2.0 ypc) with 2 TD runs in his career to date.  The Cardinals have a 7-10 record (41.2%) in games started by Matt Leinart.  He will have to improve his overall game or Derek Anderson will replace him at some point.

26-year old Derek Anderson has had two rough years in a row with the Browns.  But he was a Pro Bowl QB in 2007 and he definitely has big time ability as he has a strong arm and good feet to buy time.  He often throws the ball where he shouldn’t though and that’s the reason the Browns gave up on him.  If he can protect the football he could beat out Matt Leinart for the starting job in 2010.  Anderson played in 8 games for the Browns last season and he completed 81 of 182 passes (44.5%) for 888 yards with 3 TD passes and 10 INTs (42.1 QB Rating).  Anderson also carried the ball 10 times for 8 yards (0.8 ypc) last season.  Anderson has now played in 39 games in his NFL career and he has completed 587 of 1,109 passes (52.9%) for 7,083 yards with 46 TD passes and 45 INTs (69.7 QB Rating).  Anderson also has carried the ball 71 times for 180 yards (2.5 ypc) with 5 TD runs in his career to date.  Anderson has a 16-18 (47.1%) record as a starting QB in the NFL.

22-year old John Skelton was picked in the fifth round out of Fordham this past April and he will be the Cardinals’ #3 QB in 2010.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE CARDINALS QBs in 2010:  C-