NFC Notes: Cardinals, Lions, Rams, Saints

Cardinals

Cardinals HC Bruce Arians announced Tuesday that Drew Stanton will be their No. 2 quarterback behind Carson Palmer.

“Decision’s made; Drew’s our backup,” Arians said with Bickley and Marotta on 98.7 FM, via Arizonasports.com.

As for Blaine Gabbert, Arians did say he’s been a “great surprise.”

“Blaine’s been a great surprise,” Arians said. “. . . It was a no-risk proposition. Is he ready to be our No. 2 in the season? I doubt it just because he doesn’t know the offense well, and he’s seeing a lot of vanilla stuff out there.”

For what it’s worth, Darren Urban expects the Cardinals to keep three quarterbacks on their 53-man roster.

Lions

Lions HC Jim Caldwell said he’s optimistic that DE Ziggy Ansah will be available for the start of the regular season, even though he remains on the team’s PUP list.

“I’m not soothsayer, I’m not a prognosticator,” Caldwell said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I can’t tell the future, I can’t predict that. But I feel good about it, but anything can happen these days. You just don’t know.”

Rams

During the offseason, the Saints were interested in trading for Rams franchise CB Trumaine Johnson, but he declined to sign a long-term extension with New Orleans as part of the deal.

“I wanted to be here,” Johnson said, via Alden Gonzalez of ESPN. “I wanted to continue to be here with my teammates, and continue to build chemistry with my teammates and new coaches. I started with the Rams and I wanted to be here with the Rams; my loyalty’s with them. But things didn’t happen.”

Johnson added that he’s just focused on what he can control right now.

“Just controlling what I can control, being positive through it all,” Johnson said. “The biggest thing was that I wanted a big contract. It didn’t happen. But I wasn’t going to be sad or mad about it. Just looking at the big picture, I want to win games. And that’s my overall goal right now.”

Saints

• The New Orleans Saints are working out a handful of long snappers on Wednesday. (Josh Katzenstein)
• The Saints have already cut multiple long snappers and re-signed Justin Drescher. (NFLTR)