Along with his scene-stealing sideline celebration against the Seahawks last season, Drew Stanton is best known for helping the Cardinals to the 2014 playoffs after Carson Palmer tore his ACL. But Arizona may be entertaining the idea of Stanton succeeding the 36-year-old Palmer as the starter when his career concludes.
Stanton told Alex Marvez of Fox Sports (Twitter link) he’s spoken with the Cardinals’ brass about having the chance to start once Palmer retires. That influenced the 32-year-old reserve’s decision to re-sign with the team, Marvez reports.
Signed to a two-year, $6.5MM deal, Stanton said earlier this offseason the Cowboys, Colts, Dolphins and Titans showed interest in bringing him aboard as a backup. He started eight games for the Cardinals in 2014, piloting them to a 5-3 record.
Here’s the latest from around the NFC.
- The Giants brought back Jason Pierre-Paul on a one-year, $10MM contract, but Paul Schwartz of the New York Post believes the former first-team All-Pro would have commanded a megadeal similar to Olivier Vernon‘s with either Big Blue or another team had the fireworks accident not derailed his career on July 4, 2015. Pierre-Paul put together a 12.5-sack season in 2014 and was offered a $60MM pact as a franchise-tagged player before recording just one sack in eight games during a ’15 campaign defined by his hand injury.
- As of Sunday, the Lions hold more than $14MM in cap space, and Bob Quinn told Sirius XM Radio (via Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com) the team may not be done adding help this offseason. “I think there’s a chance that we could add some players here between now and (the start of training camp),” Quinn said. “… There are certain veteran free agents that we have spoken to over the last couple months that we’re keeping tabs on. I’m never going to say never about acquiring a good player.” Detroit’s roster sits at 89 players. The Lions hosted Anquan Boldin on a visit last month, and PFR’s Dallas Robinson reported Denarius Moore worked out for the team this offseason as well. Roster Resource reveals a potential need at defensive end as well, with Devin Taylor and Wallace Gilberry competing for a spot opposite Ziggy Ansah.
- When Dom Capers assessed the Packers‘ inside linebacker position, he included Jake Ryan, Sam Barrington and Blake Martinez as the candidates to step in this season, Michael Cohen of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Green Bay’s DC omitted Carl Bradford in this discussion after the linebacker who was given a chance to win a job in 2015 ended up on the practice squad. The Packers appear to be slotting their fourth-round picks from the past two drafts — Ryan and Martinez — into position to earn the spots. Cohen notes this is likely the final chance for Bradford, their 2014 fourth-rounder, to make an impact in Green Bay.
- Although the Bears ended up claiming Connor Shaw earlier this week, the Seahawks attempted to add the ex-Browns passer to a thin stable of backup options.