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Chandler Jones

Arizona's D gains the one thing it lacked last season

A couple weeks back we pointed out how the Cardinals have been the league's most consistent fantasy defense in scoring systems reliant on sacks, turnovers and touchdowns. They were No. 1 last season and have been in the top 10 each of the last four years. They did that despite ranking 20th or worse in sacks the last two seasons.

This should help. The Cardinals traded a second-round pick and Jonathan Cooper to New England for Chandler Jones. Jones comes off a career-high 12.5 sacks for New England last season, and 30 over the past three years.

Jones may have worn out his welcome due to a bizarre January incident where he was hospitalized after apparently a bad reaction to synthetic marijuana. Or maybe the Patriots just didn't want to give him the kind of contract a year from now that Olivier Vernon just received, and figured they'd get something for him in a trade now. Whatever the case, it looks like a nice get for the Cardinals.

I'm seeing this described as a trade with both teams filling needs, since New England has some offensive line issues (exposed in the playoff loss at Denver). But Cooper has been a bust with Arizona and was moved around and then benched last season. The fact that he's a former No. 7 overall pick doesn't matter anymore. This is a deal (I think) for a second-round draft pick and a flier on Cooper.

Arizona had the league's top-ranked fantasy defense last season (1 point for sacks, 2 points for turnovers, 6 for touchdowns). It just added one of the league's better young pass rushers. Nice get.

--Andy Richardson

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