By Jordan Long
The Arizona Cardinals have agreed to a contract with wide receiver Michael Crabtree. The deal is for 1-year but the financial terms weren’t announced. To make room for him, Arizona cut receiver Kevin White.
Crabtree is a veteran wide receiver entering his 10th NFL season with Arizona being his 3rd team. He had played for the Baltimore Ravens, Oakland Raiders, and San Francisco 49ers. Crabtree has been productive in the passing game no matter where he has been but only reached the 1,000 receiving mark twice, 2012 with the 49ers and 2016 with Oakland. In his career Crabtree totaled 7,477 yards and 54 touchdowns. His average yards per catch is 11.8 yards.
Adding Crabtree should make this offense more dangerous. He ought to be lined up as the 2nd wide receiver on the opposite side of Larry Fitzgerald. It takes the pressure off of Fitzgerald to be the only veteran wide receiver to make plays.
When Crabtree catches the football, those receptions can go for 1st downs or longer which will move the chains for the Cardinals. In the red zone quarterback Kyler Murray should look his way. His size at 6 foot 1 inch will help him outjump a defensive back to catch the football in the back of the end zone. This is an upgrade for the Cardinals at wide receiver.
For Kevin White, it is another failure at the NFL level. Arizona signed him in March hoping his injury history was behind him. In his 3-years in the NFL, White appeared in 14 games for the Bears. He hasn’t done much with 285 receiving yards. During training camp with Arizona, White suffered a hamstring injury which kept him out. White didn’t appear in preseason games for them to this point. Arizona didn’t see what White could do.
White may not have another shot at the NFL. He hasn’t been healthy enough to allow him to showcase why the Bears drafted him #7 overall in the 2015 NFL Draft. It might be time for him to walk away from the game but he is young at 27 years old. It is still possible a team could give him a chance. For Arizona they made the right decision to swap Crabtree for White. ffffffff
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