For the first three years of Justin Bethel’s career with the Cardinals, he was mostly used on special teams and the results were good enough that he made the Pro Bowl in 2013 and 2014.
Bethel went to the Pro Bowl again last year for his special teams work and began to see more time at cornerback as the team expanded his portfolio. Bethel, who signed an extension last December, has continued to see time at corner this season, but the results have not been good.
Bethel had a rough game against the Dolphins in Sunday’s loss, which led to a question for coach Bruce Arians on Monday about whether Bethel was still a work-in-progress as a defensive back. Arians went the blunt route with his response.
“Failure in progress,” Arians said.
General Manager Steve Keim said on Monday that the next three games will be used to see which players the team wants to hold onto for the 2017 season. It would seem to be a good time for Bethel to step things up if he’s going to be part of that group.