Arizona Cardinals offensive line their biggest roster hole according to Football Outsiders

In things that make you say, duh, ESPN and Football Outsiders posted their yearly look at the biggest roster holes for each NFL teams roster.

In something that is a shock to no one, the Arizona Cardinals is their offensive line.

From E$PN In$ider.

Arizona Cardinals: Offensive line

It’s a funny thing about the NFC West -- largely, the biggest holes we identified for each team going into the offseason remain unfilled even after the draft. In February, we wrote about how the Cardinals’ offensive line was ravaged by injuries last year, with every starter on IR or cut by the first week of December. Arizona’s solution to this problem was to trade for Pittsburgh’s Marcus Gilbert (who missed 11 games last year and nine in 2017) and sign J.R. Sweezy (who missed all of 2016 with a back injury and couldn’t stick with Tampa Bay or Seattle since then) in free agency. That duo will start along with D.J. Humphries and right guard Justin Pugh, who have each missed more than 20 games over the past three years, and A.Q. Shipley, who will turn 33 this month and coming off a torn ACL. The draft produced little help save for a pair of late-round fliers. Kyler Murray may soon face the same pressure that pushed Josh Rosen out of Arizona.

Here is the interesting aspect.

Since 2013, the Arizona Cardinals have heavily invested in their offensive line in every single offseason except for 2017.

Think about it.

2013: Jonathan Cooper pick
2014: Jared Veldheer big contract
2015: Mike Iupati big contract, D.J. Humphries signing
2016: Evan Mathis signing
2018: Justin Pugh and Mason Cole

That does not even include all of the smaller deals.

Is the offensive line a strength? No, but have they ignored it or gone cheap in what they have done in the Steve Keim era? No, it has been a consistent focus for the team, just not one they have done a good job of fixing.

Now, do I agree with the fact that the offensive line is still a question mark? Of course, but it is not like they could fix every issue in one offseason.

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