Arizona Cardinals: Who to blame for Isaiah Simmons’ limited snap count?

The head coach of the defense holds the largest blame for Simmon’s misuse.

Joseph has shown continuously that he will stick to any statement he makes to prove a point. He has done this with multiple players including placing Haason Reddick in a position to fail for an entire year, by not allowing Byron Murphy to play in a position of strength as a rookie and continually holding Simmons on the sideline for the likes of Curtis Riley, who was cut after out snapping Simmons.

To put this into context Riley has played on five teams during his five years in the NFL. During his last three season with the Giants, Raiders, and Cardinals he has a missed tackle percentage of 19.4, 12.8, and 20 percent respectively, via Pro Football Reference.

He has continued to show an inability to tackle at this level of competition a trait that Simmons did not struggle with in college. Even with the lack of tape showing a change in Riley’s game, he out-snapped Simmons 60 to 9 in Week 4 prior to being cut by the team.

The defense this offseason was put in a position to succeed by using almost all of the Cardinals cap space and draft capital toward defensive players. Even with all the new additions, the Cardinals were planning on Simmons having a role day one.

Although they planned on his role being at linebacker a player with his position versatility has to be an option when you are given a hand that includes multiple injuries at safety. A team and specifically a defensive coordinator has to understand what gives them the best opportunity to succeed.

This is a concept that continues to evade Joseph and is being seen by the increasing backlash from fans. If Joseph can’t find a way to get Simmons included in the gameplan soon the Arizona Cardinals need to think about what many fans, talk show hosts and commentators have been mentioning since last year in finding his replacement at defensive coordinator.