Playing time in 2014 has helped Drew Stanton this offseason

By foxsports
Published

For the first time in his career, Arizona Cardinals quarterback Drew Stanton got to start more than three games in a season.

Stanton is benefiting from that extra playing time this offseason.

"It's exciting from my standpoint because this is first time I've really had that opportunity to evaluate myself and take an honest look," Stanton told ESPN. "Now, [I'm] able to take a step back and say, 'What did I do good? What did I do bad? What routes did I throw well? What could I have done different in different situations that could have turned out better for us and helped us win football games?'"

Stanton did miss the final three games of last year after injuring his knee, but is now fully healthy. 

"I can do everything," Stanton said. "I don't have any limitations. There's some stuff that we're going to be smarter on throughout the course of the offseason as far as conditioning and trying to do less pounding on that knee and let it fully recover.

"As far as football is concerned, there will be no limitations. I feel awesome."

Now that Stanton has had a chance to play, he believes everything will slow down for him. He will work this offseason to improve his mechanics.

"Any time you get a chance to play and play for an extended period of time, you get to see where you're at and where you want to progress to," Stanton said. "With each start I was getting more comfortable and doing more within the offense, and the game was slowing down around me. That first game in New York, as soon as the huddle broke, you're trying to identify everything that's going on. Granted, New York was pretty multiple in their fronts in what they did, but it slowed down over that period of time.

"And given a chance now to go back and watch all the film and work on some of those things mechanically and [figure out] what was I thinking going through the read and progression."

Stanton understands his role and knows this is Carson Palmer's team. However, with Palmer still rehabbing from his knee injury, Stanton will get first team reps in training camp and be able to gain even more experience. 

"I realize I'm the backup. Carson's the starter here," Stanton said. "He's going to do everything he can. Whatever he can't do, my goal is to do everything else and go from there. This is a great opportunity again for me to go out here and get these invaluable reps and see everything unfold in front of my eyes."

(h/t ESPN)