Last week, it was Pharoh Cooper. This week, D.J. Swearinger. You take silver linings where you can get them if you are the Cardinals, and one right now is being at the bottom of the NFL standings means a team is at the top of the waiver claim list. If you want a player who is cut, you get him. And the Cards are trying to use that to their advantage.

"The fact that we have the No. 1 spot in the claiming order, to me, with the roster where we're at, you have to turn it over and you have to take shots on players who've had some success at other places," General Manager Steve Keim said last week on 98.7, Arizona's Sports Station.

Both Cooper, wide receiver/return man, and Swearinger, a safety, not only should be around for the offseason but are strong candidates to stick on the 2019 squad. Both are under contract for another year. Both potentially help at positions that could be a need in the offseason and in theory giving the Cards a little more flexibility in addressing those spots.

If the Cards were to end up with the No. 1 overall draft pick -- which will happen with a loss Sunday in Seattle -- they would also retain the top priority in the waiver claim order all the way through the fourth week of the 2019 season. That could come in handy, especially when final cuts are made at the end of the preseason and early in the 2019 campaign.