The Cardinals and GM Steve Keim knew that they would need free agency and the draft to help fix a roster that won only three games. But they have worked hard to improve things as much as they could before that even happened, adding guys like Robert Alford, Charles Clay and Brooks Reed.

Friday, there was an Adam Schefter report that the Cardinals will be trading for veteran Steelers offensive tackle Marcus Gilbert, exchanging one of their sixth-round picks in return. The move has not been announced and is therefore not official -- trades cannot be officially consummated until the start of the new league year, which is also the beginning of free agency March 13 (Wednesday) at 1 p.m. Arizona time.

But it would help get a lineman in that could be harder to find in free agency, given a shallow pool of candidates at tackle. Since the Cardinals have 11 draft picks, and three sixth-round picks, it wouldn't be a hard choice to make for a veteran who -- while injured much of the last two seasons -- could help fix the right tackle spot. He also played his first two years in the league for offensive line coach Sean Kugler, who is now the Cardinals' offensive line coach. Second-year man Korey Cunningham is also a potential starter at right tackle.

(Schefter called the pick "late-round," which, since the Cardinals' first two sixth-rounders are first and sixth in the round, figures to be the 207th overall, their comp pick in the sixth.)

There figures to be a lot of roster movement over the next couple of weeks, coming and going.