Name: Following Cardinals' strong offseason, most of the pressure is now all on Vance Joseph
Brand: azcentral.com
SKU: azcentral-com-27
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Following Cardinals' strong offseason, most of the pressure is now all on Vance Joseph

preview

Arizona RepublicView CommentsIf the NFL offseason were an Olympic relay event, then Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim just ran the best penultimate lap of his life.Now it’s time to pass the baton on to Arizona defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and just hope he doesn’t have fumble fingers or trips over a hurdle and breaks his neck.Not that there’s any pressure or anything on Joseph, but if the Cardinals’ restocked and reloaded defense flops in 2020 like it did last season, it will no longer be Keim’s rear end sitting on the hot seat. It will be Joseph’s – and the coals are already burning white-hot.Asked how much pressure he feels he may be under this year, Joseph replied during a video conference chat with reporters on Tuesday, “A lot!”“It’s always pressure," he said.&nbsp;"And it’s pressure from me. I want to be the best, obviously, and I want us to play top 10 defense. The pressure is always there. But the pressure is always solved with having four draft picks here, having your two corners starting out Week 1 for you. Everyone feels pressure in this business, but that’s part of it.“Nothing’s guaranteed, but the pressure is always there. I have no problem with pressure.”The burden on Joseph’s shoulders goes well beyond just devising the perfect plan on how to use first-round draft pick Isaiah Simmons, although that should occupy plenty of his time and thoughts.&nbsp;Joseph, however, also must transition all the other fresh faces into the mix and find a way to make things as seamless as possible for new starters such as defensive lineman Jordan Phillips and outside linebacker Devon Kennard, not to mention another free-agent acquisition in inside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell as well as rookie defensive tackles Leki Fotu and Rashard Lawrence and linebacker Evan Weaver.In those players and the stalwarts that return such as Chandler Jones, Patrick Peterson, Budda Baker and Jordan Hicks, Keim gave Joseph all the tools and supplies to build a bigger, better and far more imposing defense. If it turns out looking more like an unstable piece of furniture like some knockoff from IKEA, there’s going to be hell to pay.Don’t forget just how bad his defense was a year ago:— It ranked last in the league in yards allowed per game (402.0), receptions allowed (421) and total interceptions (7).— It ranked second-to-last in passing yards per game (284.4), completion percentage (70.1) and touchdown passes (38).— It ranked 30th in opponent’s third-down efficiency (46.7 percent).— It ranked 28th in points allowed per game (27.6).Joseph clearly knows things must improve – immeasurably. Just in case he didn’t, Keim issued a subtle reminder of that following the draft:“We’re not there yet and we haven’t even played any football,” Keim said. “I can’t tell you it’s ultimately a success, but on paper, I feel like we’ve done some good things. The way the board fell and getting those defensive players I felt is really going to help us and put Vance in a good spot. Last year, I felt bad for coach Joseph because in some situations we just didn’t have the right players, or we endured some injuries that put him in a tough spot.”It’s true that Joseph was coaching with a disadvantage, going the full season without one of his starting cornerbacks in Robert Alford due to a fractured leg and being forced to play without his best one for the first six weeks due to Patrick Peterson’s suspension. Joseph also quickly realized he wasn’t going to get much production out of veteran edge rusher Terrell Suggs, despite all the hype surrounding his signing last spring.Joseph said Keim “kickstarted” the defensive turnaround with the additions of Phillips, 27, Kennard, 28, and Campbell, 26, and he offered a quick synopsis of each of them on Tuesday.“We needed a defensive lineman in free agency and went out and signed Jordan Phillips,” he said. “Jordan, I had in Miami as a young guy out of Oklahoma … and Jordan is looking forward to getting better. I think Jordan hasn’t hit his ceiling yet. He’s looking to prove everyone wrong that he can be a top 10, top 15 D-lineman. He’s 6-7, he’s 340 pounds and he’s a dancing bear.“Kennard is a guy I’ve been watching for four or five years as a SAM ‘backer. He’s ideal. He’s heavy-handed. He’s a dominant run stopper. He’s averaged seven sacks a year as a dropper, so he should be hopefully better than that for us. But a smart, tough football player who’s going to be accountable on every snap for us.“And Campbell was our top guy in free agency that we thought we couldn’t get because his money was going to be so big, but he came back to us and took a one-year deal just to prove himself. … All three guys have played on really good defenses. They all bring size and speed and toughness to our defense and that’s what we’re looking for.” As for how to best utilize Simmons, the former Clemson linebacker who played and starred at multiple positions in college, Joseph said the initial plan is to use him as a weakside linebacker, who will have at least a couple other special roles defending on the opponent. That could include dropping back as a safety or extra corner in sub-packages, but probably never in a full-time role.Joseph needs to keep an open mind about how he deploys the 6-4, 238-pound Simmons, who runs a 4.39 40. As Raiders General Manager Mike Mayock so brilliantly reminded reporters about Simmons at the scouting combine, “The only limitations on him are whatever the defensive coordinator puts on him.”We know Simmons will be there to cover, defend and shut down opposing tight ends, something the Cardinals need as desperately as a perennial playoff run after four consecutive non-winning seasons. But Joseph can be creative by moving Simmons around and keeping offensive lines guessing. As Joseph remarked on Tuesday, Simmons can be so deceptive that even when watching his game tape, you’re not sure exactly where he is when the play starts.So, expect to him line up almost anywhere, maybe even at strong safety.“It’s very possible. It’s very possible,” Joseph said. “With this kid’s skill set, he can do a lot of things, but until we touch him, until we game plan, I can’t guarantee where he’s to be. … If it’s a job we think he can do, we will put him out there. That’s why he was drafted. I want Isaiah to be Isaiah.“What we saw him do on Clemson tape, I want to do all those things if possible. If they’re not possible we’ll move on somewhere else, but if they’re possible, we’re going to use him to win games and to be a problem-solver for us and be an eraser on our defense.”View Comments

Arizona RepublicView CommentsIf the NFL offseason were an Olympic relay event, then Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim just ran the best penultimate lap of his life.Now it’s time to pass the baton on to Arizona defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and just hope he doesn’t have fumble fingers or trips over a hurdle and breaks his neck.Not that there’s any pressure or anything on Joseph, but if the Cardinals’ restocked and reloaded defense flops in 2020 like it did last season, it will no longer be Keim’s rear end sitting on the hot seat. It will be Joseph’s – and the coals are already...

public

Bob McManaman

Award-winning local news from Arizona and metro Phoenix | The Arizona Republic in the streets 🗞️,  @azcentral  in the tweets (and online) | Instagram: azcentral

Following Cardinals' strong offseason, most of the pressure is now all on Vance Joseph

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS