Free-agent losses are positive sign

Losing five defensive starters in free agency normally wouldn’t be an encouraging vital sign in determining the health of an NFL team’s personnel and coaching departments.

Yet, that’s how General Manager Steve Keim views the departures of tackle Calais Campbell, safety Tony Jefferson, safety D.J. Swearinger, cornerback Marcus Cooper and inside linebacker Kevin Minter.

Bear with Keim as he explains.

“You can see we’ve obviously done a good job of identifying players,” Keim said before a fundraising dinner Wednesday night for Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation. “When guys like Marcus Cooper get five-plus million dollars (from the Bears) or D.J. Swearinger are getting big contracts, These are guys we took off the street that nobody else wanted. Our personnel department does a fantastic job and our coaches do a good job of developing these guys and getting them ready.”

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The Cardinals traded a seventh-round pick last year for Cooper. They signed Swearinger in December 2015 after he’d been cut by two teams. Jefferson was signed as a rookie free agent four years ago. Campbell and Minter were draft picks.

Implicit in the above quote by Keim is that the Cardinals have found players before, they’ll do it again. So the beads of sweat on the shaved heads of Keim and Arians Wednesday night were caused by the sun, not concern over losing nearly half the starting defense.

The team has known for two years that it probably wasn’t going to re-sign Campbell, Arians said, and it was clear during last season that Jefferson was going to command more than the Cardinals wanted to pay.

So it was no surprise Campbell left for Jacksonville for an average of $15 million a year (provided he plays out the contract), or that Jefferson went to Baltimore for $19 million guaranteed.

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“At the end of the day, we’ve got to continue to stack this roster and put in place guys who can make a difference not only on the field, but off the field,” Keim said.

That was the main factor in the Cardinals’ decision go with age over youth in signing free agents from other teams.

New safety Antoine Bethea turns 33 this summer. Inside linebacker Karlos Dansby turns 36 in November and kicker Phil Dawson is 42.

It’s the second consecutive year in which the Cardinals have made significant changes in the secondary. A year ago, cornerback Jerraud Powers and safety Rashad Johnson left via free agency. Safety Tyrann Mathieu struggled all last season to come back from ACL surgery.

Signing Bethea, who was with the Colts when Arians was an assistant there in 2012, stabilizes the group, Arians said.

“Antoine, I’ve known forever,” Arians said. “We needed more leadership out of our safety position. Ty couldn’t be Ty last year so he couldn’t lead, either.”

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Dansby is expected to do much the same thing at linebacker, and for the defense as a whole.

This is Dansby’s third stint with the team. When Dansby entered team headquarters to sign his contract two weeks ago, Keim detected sort of an electrical surge.

“There was an energy in our building that was missing in some degree,” Keim said. “It was exciting to have him back; he couldn’t shut up.”

But signing players older than 30 carries risk. They tend to break down and miss practices and games. Age was one factor in the Cardinals’ decision not to re-sign Campbell to another large, multiyear deal. He turns 31 in September.

But Keim and Arians reasoned that the leadership Bethea, Dansby and Dawson will provide was worth the risk of moving forward without Campbell.

The upcoming draft is deep in safety and inside linebacker talent, so the Cardinals could add rookies who will study under proven mentors, Arians said.

Paying big money to quarterback Carson Palmer, receiver Larry Fitzgerald, cornerback Patrick Peterson and Mathieu means there “are only so many slices of pizza to go around,” Keim said.

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Campbell and the others found ample slices elsewhere, and Keim wished them luck.

“I’m proud of them,” he said, referring to Campbell and Jefferson. “Good for them. That’s the business and those are the tough decisions we have to make.

“Unfortunately for our fan base they won’t see ‘93’ and ‘22’ out there any more, but you never know when there is going to be a chance. We got a guy back for the third time this year.”