Kevin Kolb has taken a lot of the heat for his struggles in Arizona, but there are plenty of holes on the Cardinals roster.
The offensive tackles are struggling. The defense is well below average. Some snap count numbers from Mike Sando of ESPN.com helps point out why they are struggling.
Arizona just isn’t getting enough from too many young players.
Linebacker Stewart Bradley sticks out the most. The Cardinals gave him a big contract to start, including a $10 million signing bonus. He’s only on the field of 19.5% of the snaps. That number might be even lower if Darryl Washington wasn’t hurt earlier in the year. The team is playing Paris Lenon over Bradley.
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say Bradley is among the most disappointing free agent pickups in the league.
Young outside linebackers O’Brien Schofield and Sam Acho also haven’t made much of an impact. Schofield is playing 19% of the team’s snaps and Acho is at 9.9%. The aging Joey Porter and Clark Haggans combination is getting almost all the work.
Last year’s first-round pick Dan Williams isn’t playing that much at nose tackle either, splitting time on running downs.
Add it all up, and the Cardinals are relying on too many “get by” guys that aren’t doing a good job of helping the Cardinals get by with a respectable record.