Cardinals training camp: D-line competition will be stiff, difficult

USA Today

7 days ago

They entered camp with eight players who should be locks for the roster but with six or seven spots available.
The Arizona Cardinals have a number of notable position battles as they have begun training camp. Some battles are for starting jobs, while others are for key reserve spots. A pair of positions believed to have key battles — right guard and "Mike" linebacker — seem to be set with new starters.
Others, though, have intrigue.
Cardinals training camp position battle: Defensive line
The defensive line battle will be fun because it is loaded. Before camp started, there were eight players who should be on a roster — Calais Campbell, Dalvin Tomlinson, Justin Jones, Bilal Nichols, 2024 first-round pick Darius Robinson, 2025 first-round pick Walter Nolen III, Dante Stills and L.J. Collier.
They will only keep six or seven.
Now, Nolen has a calf injury that will keep him out of most, if not all, of training camp, and he could start the season on PUP, and Nichols has not yet fully recovered from the neck injury he suffered last year. Maybe that is enough to make the roster formation easy.
As for playing time, the Cardinals love to rotate their players, so most will get to play. Campbell and Tomlinson will certainly start, as Campbell leads all NFL players with 242 career starts and Tomlinson has started all 125 games he has played in his career.
But who will be the third starter? Will it be Jones, signed last offseason and who has started every game he has played after his rookie season? Will it be Robinson?
Stills and Collier were the Cardinals' two most productive defensive linemen last year. Now they are the two at the bottom of the depth chart in the eight mentioned.
Will there be any room for undrafted rookie Elijah Simmons, who impressed in the spring?
Injuries have rocked the Cardinals' defensive line over the last several seasons. Ideally, it will be competition and not attrition that makes the decisions for the coaches.
But it is a group to watch during practices and the preseason.
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