Johnny Manziel: 5 NFL teams that would be good fit for former Texas A&M star

4. Arizona Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals have always been one of those teams that experts would predict to surprise people over the last couple of years, but injuries to Carson Palmer (or just poor play from him) always derailed their seasons.

Palmer retired, and the solution so far has been to bring in Sam Bradford and Mike Glennon. Neither of these options are the long-term solution, and it’s very possible the Cardinals could look to add one of the five or six top tier quarterbacks coming out of this year’s draft.

This is the only option on this list that doesn’t have the long-term answer already on its roster. That is not to say Manziel would beat out the likes of Bradford for the job. However, there is certainly a possibility he could make the roster and take over in a year or two.

Bradford’s contract is for two years, $40 million, but the details give the Cardinals a lot of flexibility if (when) Bradford gets hurt and cannot play. His per-game money is only $312k (only…) with the potential to earn up to $5 million in bonuses. Even if he plays all 16 games this year, only $625k counts towards the cap this season and they can save almost $9.375 million if they cut him before next season.

TL;DR: The Cardinals can cut Bradford if the experiment doesn’t go as planned.

There is a window for Manziel to come in and potentially get some regular season action if he’s able to beat Mike Glennon out for the backup job. That doesn’t seem too difficult a task.