The teams/arizona-cardinals/355" target="_blank">Arizona Cardinals made a small roster move on Thursday, adding veteran defensive back Isaiah Oliver. Oliver has been in the league since 2019 and has played for the Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets.
He has experience starting. He has experience at both cornerback and safety. He also has played a lot on special teams, logging a career-high 300 special teams snaps last season.
This adds intrigue for the roster battle at safety.
There are three guys who seem to be locks to make the final roster:
- Budda Baker
- Dadrion Taylor-Demerson
- Andrew Wingard
Baker is a stud. Wingard was signed in free agency this offseason and Taylor-Demerson saw his role grow last season and could see a full-time role replacing Jalen Thompson.
It appears that there is one roster spot left at safety, depending on whether they keep four or five on the roster. One is undrafted rookie Wydett Williams, who is a long shot to make the roster.
The other three are similar because of their work on special teams:
- Isaiah Oliver
- Joey Blount
- Kitan Crawford
Blount is a longtime special teams ace. Crawford enters his second season. He was an elite special teamer in college and played well on special teams as a rookie. Neither has much defensive experience in the NFL. Blount has played 45 snaps on defense in his career. Crawford logged 142 last season while Taylor-Demerson missed five games with an ankle injury.
Oliver has logged over 1,000 career special teams snaps, he has started 53 games and has played over 3,000 career snaps on defense.
He suddenly looks like a guy who could not only add value on fourth down but also valuable depth.
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This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: Addition of veteran DB adds competition to Arizona Cardinals safeties
