secondary that could be most affected. Safety Tony Jefferson will be a restricted free agent, while safety Rashad Johnson and cornerback Jerraud Powers are unrestricted free agents-to-be.

"You're trying to answer questions from your wife whether you should pack boxes or not," Powers said. "I just tell her to hold on a little bit. … Every player thinks about it. You just can't let it affect your play. It's a business at the end of the day. We understand how it goes. All the guys who are here, we want to be here next year because we feel like we have something special, especially in the secondary."

Said Johnson, "I would love to come back to Arizona. I think we have a great group of core guys. I want to be a part of that. Anything I can do on my end to help out, I'll do my best. But I definitely want to retire a Cardinal."

THE ONE-YEAR VETERANS

Two key pieces this season -- running back Chris Johnson and linebacker Dwight Freeney, the team's leading rusher and sacker, respectively – will also be free agents.

Johnson, who missed the last five games and both playoff games with a knee injury, said he'd like to return. He also thinks he can fit in a backfield with David Johnson, who will be the starter going into 2016.

"Me and David, we're two different type of players," Johnson said. "David, he can go into the five-receiver sets and do a lot of those plays that B.A. likes to run. Even before I got hurt, the kind of situation that me and David had – I was doing a lot of the running and he would still come in and do a lot of the running and a lot of the pass plays. I think it's something that could work."

Freeney, who had eight sacks, was near retirement before the Cards called and wasn't committing to playing 2016.

"We'll see what happens," Freeney said. "I'd like to give it a month or so, let whatever emotions kind of die down. This has been a great experience, a great ride."

LOOKING BACK AT THE NFC CHAMPIONSHIP

Arians only briefly looked back at the NFC Championship Monday. He said it would take him about 48 hours to get past the loss – at least, that was the hope, given that he doesn't have another game for which to prepare for months.

Not that there was a lot of public analysis needed for the 49-15 decision.