Offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin works with Will Holden and John Wetzel during Arizona Cardinals OTAs Tuesday, May 16. (Photo by Adam Green/Arizona Sports)

For the Arizona Cardinals to reach their lofty 2017 goals, one thing they will need to do is keep their 37-year-old quarterback upright.

Last season, Carson Palmer was sacked41 times, the second-most in his career.

With multiple ACL surgeries in his past, the play of the offensive lineand the health of Palmer will be a major key to the Cardinals success next season.

[Were] still trying to search for the starting five, Cardinals offensive coordinator Harold Goodwintold Dougand WolfTuesday on 98.7 FM, Arizonas Sports Station. Obviously were missing A.Q. Shipley a little bit, but the young guys have come along. Cole Toner has done a good job this offseason and Evan Boehm is coming along.

This season, the O-line will see some changesas D.J. Humphries is headingto left tackle and veteran Jared Veldheer will make the switch to right tackle.

We still have a ways to go, theyre both still getting comfortable, Goodwin said. The thing with D.J. is he needs to turn it on every day, right now hes a coaster and we told him this last week that he needs to turn it on every day.

I just want to make sure that he doesnt think hes made it, so every day its going to be my foot in his butt, and hes always going to be knee deep. I dont care what happens in his career, hes going to be knee deep as long as hes around me and BA [head coach Bruce Arians] and [assistant line coach] Larry Zierlein.

Humphries is heading into his third seasonafter being drafted by the Cardinals 24th in 2015.

Hehas just 13 games under his belt, all of which came last season. His limited NFL experience at left tackle wasdue to an injury suffered to Veldheer in October.

Veldheer has expressed wanting to stay at left tackle, a position hes been at for all seven of his NFL seasons, but Goodwin and the Cardinals coaches believe it will ultimately benefit the team.

Hes a team player, obviously he said he didnt want to do it, Goodwin said. But at the end of the day its about team, and were giving ourselves the best chance to win and get ourselves in the dance at the end, and so hes been about it, and hes done a good job.

The Cardinals also added O-line depth in the draft with the additions of Pittsburgh guard Dorian Johnson and Vanderbilt tackle Will Holden.

Johnson could possibly compete for a starting job, but as a rookie hehas a steep learning curve when it comes to the playbook.

In college, Goodwin said Johnson may have had to worry about four runs. In Arizona, he may need to know 20 on a given week, Goodwin said.

Hes coming along, I think he would tell you himself that hes struggling a little bit from the terminology to trying to learn everything, Goodwin said. But the kid has talent, hes got a ways to go and hes coming along nicely.

Rookie or veteran, whoever is blocking for Palmer in 2017 will have to improve upon last season and keep him off the ground.

See more here:
Decisions still remain when it comes to Cardinals starting offensive line - Arizona Sports

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June 6, 2017 at 10:56 pm by Mr HomeBuilder
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