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Arizona inks Bradford

Veteran could struggle behind leaky offensive line

Sam Bradford signs with Arizona, and my No. 1 concern is durability. He’s an older, fragile quarterback, and that might not be the best place for him to stay healthy. Arizona had all kinds of offensive line problems last year.

The Cardinals allowed 52 sacks last year, and their quarterbacks were hit 123 times – 2nd-most in the league behind only Cleveland.

Some of these issues, of course, could be solved with the change in offensive scheme. Bruce Arians is gone, and he’s long been a high-risk coach with a love of extensively including deeper passes into his offense. “No risk it, no biscuit,” he liked to say. Under Arians, a quarterback more often has to take deeper drops and hold the ball longer – plays that tend to result in more sacks. The ball should tend to come out sooner this season.

But Arizona has a bottom-5 offensive line right now, and that doesn’t look likely to change any time soon. They don’t have good personnel up front, so chances are their quarterbacks will continue to be hit often.

Bradford has a fragile build and a lengthy history of injuries. Unlikely that he’ll stay healthy for long in that kind of a setup. Bradford did, however, managed to stay in one piece in Minnesota in 2016, and that team didn’t have a good line either.

I expect the Cardinals aren’t done addressing the quarterback position. I imagine they’ll draft one, and that player might start as many games as Bradford in 2018.

QUARTERBACKS GETTING HIT
TeamSacksQB Hits
Oakland2451
New Orleans2058
Baltimore2759
Cincinnati4064
Pittsburgh2465
NY Giants3470
Carolina3570
Tennessee3571
LA Rams2874
LA Chargers1876
Jacksonville2478
Miami3379
Dallas3281
Kansas City3783
New England3584
Chicago3984
Atlanta2487
Minnesota2787
Buffalo4790
Detroit4793
NY Jets4797
Washington4198
Tampa Bay40100
Denver52104
Green Bay51104
Philadelphia36107
Indianapolis56113
San Francisco43116
Houston54117
Seattle43121
Arizona52123
Cleveland50130

—Ian Allan

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