TEMPE, Ariz. -- This was the week Larry Foote was supposed to start sitting back and kicking his feet up.

By time the Arizona Cardinals reached their seventh game this season, he was supposed to be more of an assistant coach than an every-down linebacker. But Foote, 34, has been around long enough to know most things in the NFL don’t go as planned.

Foote was signed on May 7 to be the short-term replacement for linebacker Daryl Washington, who the Cardinals were anticipating would face a four-to-six game suspension for pleading guilty in March to assaulting his ex-girlfriend.

“I was going to be in there and hopefully keep us .500 until he gets back,” Foote said.

About three weeks after Foote signed, Washington was suspended for the entire 2014 season.

“He ends up gone for the year, and I’m in there every snap,” Foote said. “But, competitively, I love being out there.

“But, six games I was looking at the money, I said, ‘OK that makes sense.’”

The numbers don't quite work for 16 games. Foote signed a one-year deal with the Cardinals worth $1.020 million, which included a $65,000 signing bonus. His final year in Pittsburgh in 2013 netted $2.5 million.

With Arizona sitting at 5-1 heading into Week 8, Foote’s deal looks like a steal.

The 13-year veteran has played every snap for Arizona this season after missing the final 15 games of 2013 with a biceps injury. He’s tied for second on the team with 35 tackles and has one interception and one sack, which he recorded Sunday in Oakland.

"Larry's kind of the glue over there rihgt now," Cardinals coach Bruce Arians said. "He calls the defense, he sets the defense, he's the cheerleader -- he's everything I knew he would be. He's been that way for a long time. But, he brings a lot of passion to the practice field, too, and the locker room.

"Yeah, he's everything we needed."

Not going through a full season this late in his career has helped Foote.

“After the season I didn’t have to ice no injuries,” he said. “I just started working out and [my] body feels good.”

While he was supposed to already be thinking about postseason vacation destinations, the only place Foote has been visiting this year is the training room.

He doesn’t know if he’ll sign another contract to return in 2015 or hang up his cleats for a life of retirement. That decision could’ve been made starting this week, but he’ll have to put it off until December -- or maybe February, if he’s lucky.

“At this point, I’m week to week,” Foote said. “I’ve never been in the training room as much [in] my whole career. I told them guys, ‘This is the last week,’ and last week was supposed to be the last week. They got on me [Monday] morning and I said, ‘Football week don’t start until Wednesday.’

“But I’m having fun. When you winning, I mean, this is what football is about. Winning, having a run, those memories, that’s worth more than money or anything. A lot of guys haven’t been fortunate enough to have those runs.”