There are plenty of changes in Cardinals camp this year, and they extend to the base defense.
Via Kent Somers of the Arizona Republic, Cardinals coach Steve Wilks said they would be a base 4-3 defense.
That distinction isn’t as important as it used to be, given the number of snaps played by sub packages.
But Wilks said the primary factor was that he wanted outside linebackers Chandler Jones and Markus Golden able to rush the passer on every down, rather than having one drop into coverage.
Considering Wilks’ background working for Ron Rivera, it’s not a surprise. And if Golden can get healthy after last year’s torn ACL, the idea of pairing a 12.5-sack guy from 2016 with Jones (who had 17.0 last year) is a good place to start as Wilks tries to rebuild the defense.