The Arizona Cardinals have been the worst rushing team in the NFL this season and are likely to move towards the future without starting running back Beanie Wells. On Monday, Wells spoke about his future with the team and said that he plans on using Sunday's regular-season finale as an "audition for a job somewhere else."
"That's my mindset," Wells said, according to the Arizona Republic. "I'm just going to go out there and put my best foot forward for all the 31 other teams that's watching."
According to the running back himself, although he is still signed for one more season, his time with the Cardinals is likely up. "Oh, without a doubt. It's inevitable," he said.
Wells was benched during last Sunday's 28-13 loss against the Chicago after fumbling the ball at Arizona's own goal line. The ball was recovered by the Bears and returned for a touchdown.
Head coach Ken Whisenhunt spoke about the turnover issues on Monday to reporters.
"If you have the ball, that's your responsibility," Whisenhunt said to AZCentral.com. "You can't turn it over. I don't care who you are, I don't care what position you play. In the NFL, if you turn the ball over you're not going to play. That's the way it goes, and that's been through history. There have been guys that have been good players that couldn't hold onto the football, and turnovers are something that are hard to overcome and you can't do that."
On Sunday he rushed for just three yards on four attempts before being benched. This season he has rushed for 234 yards and five touchdowns on 88 attempts for an average of 2.7 yards per carry,
"This is a performance-based business, and I don't know if I've done things up to our organization's standards here," he said. "Maybe it's a discussion that we'll have later on, but who knows?"
Wells has missed seven games this season while spending time on the recallable injured reserve list with knee issues and a turf-toe injury. Health has been a problem for Wells since being drafted out of Ohio State in the first round in 2009. He has missed 12 games over the past four seasons and has only played a full season of 16 games during his rookie year.
"You never expect things to unfold the way they do, but it's a part of life and you have to roll with the punches and adjust to them as they come," Wells said to AZCentral.com.
Wells had his best season as a professional last year after rushing for 1,047 yards and 10 touchdowns, but has dropped off greatly this season due to the injuries. Wells has been limited to just eight games, but scored a season-high three touchdowns on 67 yards rushing two weeks ago in a 38-10 victory over the Detroit Lions.
Wells rushed for 48 yards and two touchdowns in a loss to the Rams on Nov. 25, but has been held out of the endzone in every other game. He has yet to reach 100-yards in a game this season and his longest run was a 31-yard scamper against the Lions.
The Cardinals have dealt with issues at running back all season, including a season-ending injury to Ryan Williams, who was limited to just five games. He rushed for 164 yards and zero touchdowns this season and last played in the 17-3 defeat to the Rams on Nov. 4.
The Cardinals have been one of the worst offensive teams in the league and are ranked last in the league in rushing yards with 76 per game. After the injury to Williams, the Cardinals relied heavily on fourth-year pro LaRod Stephens-Howling, who gained 358 yards and four touchdowns while playing in 13 games this season.
Stephens-Howling has rushed for 100-plus yards twice, including in a 23-19 loss to the Cardinals when he gained 127 yards and one touchdown. He had a stretch of scoring three touchdowns in four games, but has been shut out of the endzone in five straight contests.
In the game on Sunday, Stephens-Howling got the bulk of the carries after Wells was benched, rushing for 20 yards on 11 attempts.
The Cardinals started off the season with four straight wins, but then lost nine straight games as the offense and the running game sputtered. The team suffered a 7-6 loss to the New York Jets on Dec. 2 and then lost 58-0 on the road against Seattle the following week.
Arizona is ranked 28th in the league in passing yards and is scoring just 15.8 points per game, third worst in the NFL in front of Jacksonville and Kansas City.
