Cardinals notebook: Ross, Gandy settle into familiar positions

In the end, Oliver Ross and Mike Gandy ended up exactly where they have always been.

The Cardinals’ pair of offensive tackles had been working on both the right and left sides. That was important to coach Ken Whisenhunt, who needed versatility since No. 1 draft pick Levi Brown was going to play the right side exclusively.

But a little more than a month after the process began with Whisenhunt’s initial April minicamp, Gandy has settled in on the left side and Ross on the right. Those are the spots each has occupied for the majority of their careers.

“We will continue to experiment with that a little bit, and again without pads it is difficult to make that determination,” Whisenhunt said after Wednesday’s voluntary organized team activity. “But Oliver is looking very comfortable on the right and Mike is looking good at the left.

“That will be their base play when we go in (to training camp) but certainly you want to be able to flip those guys in case of injury.”

That means Ross will be the man likely benched if and when Brown ascends the depth chart. The middle of the line – center Al Johnson, left guard Reggie Wells and right guard Deuce Lutui – is all but set.

JUNE 1 TRIMS?

There is a possibility the Cardinals will end up letting someone go next week as the offseason voluntary workouts come to an end. While the team doesn’t need extra salary-cap space right now, it wouldn’t hurt (the Cards will need a little more cap space to sign their draft picks).

Letting a veteran go now would also give the player a chance to hook on elsewhere before training camp.

The Cards, who have worked hard to build depth, must be careful who they let go. Possibilities include guard Milford Brown (with a $2.35 million salary in 2007), who has been relegated to a backup role; nose tackle Kendrick Clancy ($1.5 million), who is first-string but does have recent draft picks Gabe Watson and Alan Branch sitting behind him on the depth chart; and fullback Obafemi Ayanbadejo ($720,000), who is very good on special teams but is not a prototype fullback for Whisenhunt’s system.

RED ZONE REALITY

The Cards began installing their red-zone offense Wednesday, and Whisenhunt said the point is to put in the plays while seeing exactly where his talent fits on the field.

“We have plays, but then you figure, ‘Anquan (Boldin), what does he do the best, what does Larry (Fitzgerald) do the best, what does Edgerrin (James) do the best down there?’ ” Whisenhunt said. “That’s what this is.”

EXTRA POINTS:

Tight end Ben Patrick (hamstring) remains out. …

Whisenhunt said new tight end Tim Euhus showed he could block when he was with Pittsburgh last season, but Whisenhunt remains cautious about the tight end situation until the pads go on and the current tight end group can block for real.