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Week two of Cardinals training camp dawned on Monday with a fresh look for the team. For the first time since camp began, everyone wore pads, lending another level of seriousness and physicality to preseason preparations.
Or maybe not.
“Honestly, I didn’t really notice much of a difference,” defensive back Garrett Williams said. “It’s football. If you’re in the box and you see somebody, y’all are just hitting now versus tagging them.
“When you’ve been playing football long enough — especially when you’re in the NFL — there’s not like a fear thing or a hype thing or anything else. It’s just kind of like, ‘Okay, we’re hitting today. Cool,’ and then you just go on about your practice.”
Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon and the extended coaching and training staff have taken painstaking efforts to craft a camp program that maximizes relevant reps and real-game experiences while mixing in rest days every third day and crafting practices that avoid excessive fatigue and maintain health.
Gannon and Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort both noted in recent days that there will be injuries during camp. It’s an unavoidable reality of a contact sport, but they know that keeping players healthy is every bit as important as getting them prepared to excel in games.
With the first preseason games just 12 days away, it’s time to look at some of the early developments at camp.
Runnin’ with the ONES
There are no major surprises, but here’s a look at who has been running with the first teams on offense and defense.
Offense
Offensive line: left tackle, Paris Johnson Jr.; left guard, Evan Brown; center, Hjalte Froholdt; right guard, Will Hernandez; right tackle, Jonah Williams.
Running back: James Conner.
Receivers: Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson, Greg Dortch.
Tight end: Trey McBride.
Quarterback: Kyler Murray.
Net Gaines: Jon Gaines has been seeing plenty of first-team reps at starting left guard. Gaines is working his way back from a knee injury in the final preseason game that cost him his entire rookie season.
Gannon has praised Gaines for his commitment to rehab this offseason. Other than a 10-day honeymoon after his wedding on April 11 — he went to New York, London and then Germany to watch the European championships — he spent his time rehabbing at the Cardinals training facility in Tempe.
“Back to work, just focused on every single day being consistent and committed to the process,” he said. “You’ve got to turn it into a positive; it’s all about perspective. Nobody wishes injuries to happen in their career, but it’s about responding to what happens to you in that moment, and then having a goal for when you come back and being able to get back on the field in the first place.”
Versatility: At various points during camp, we have seen receivers lining up in different positions. Marvin Harrison Jr. lined up in the slot on Sunday. Greg Dortch has been in the backfield. Versatility is a buzzword in Cardinals camp and offensive coordinator Drew Petzing said that applies to the receivers, too.
“It kind of goes back to the core of who we want to be,” Petzing said. “It makes us difficult to defend. If you put a good player in the same spot every down in this league, defenses are going to hone in, whether they dictate the coverage or force the matchup.
“Having smart guys who have versatility, who can understand the big picture and move around the formation makes it hard on a defense to say, ‘He’s going to be there and this is how we stop him.’ If you plan on being there and he’s over there, you’ve got the wrong guy on him or you’ve got the wrong coverage called and now we can create some favorable matchups for us. That’s always going to be something we try to emphasize, based on the skill set of the people that we have.”
Backfield intrigue: Emari Demercado has been getting a lot of reps with the second team, ahead of Michael Carter and 2024 third-round pick Trey Benson.
It’s hard to say what the Cardinals are thinking here. Last season, they kept three running backs on the initial 53-man roster. Behind James Conner, Benson is a lock to make the roster and the team went out and signed DeeJay Dallas to a three-year deal in March worth $8.25 million ($2.395 million guaranteed). He has value as a punt and kick returner.
Could Demercado challenge Carter for a spot in the rotation? Could the Cardinals keep four running backs and then place Demercado on the expanded practice squad. Could they be planning to showcase him in the preseason? Stay tuned.
Defense
Defensive line: DE Justin Jones, NT Roy Lopez, DE Bilal Nichols.
Linebackers: ILB: Mack Wilson, Kyzir White. OLB: Zaven Collins, BJ Ojulari.
Safeties: Budda Baker, Jalen Thompson.
Cornerbacks: Sean Murphy-Bunting, Max Melton, Garrett Williams (nickel).
Cornerback depth: For what it’s worth, Starling Thomas V and Kei’Trel Clark have shown well thus far in camp. Thomas had a pick-6 on Monday.
Kyler Murray on maturity
Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray has talked a lot this offseason about how maturity — in age and in experience — can help his game.
On Monday, in what was mostly a media session of well worn topics, Murray spelled it out for media.
“Being a little older and having guys around my age, it’s a little easier to give them [feedback] on what I experienced and bring them up and we grow together,” he said. “No offense to the guys I came in with, but I came into the locker room with a lot of really old, old guys — some of them guys where maybe it was their last year; probably shouldn’t have been playing any more but they love the game.
“I’m already a lead-by-example type of guy anyway, so I had to prove myself to veterans. I’ve always been a guy, ‘how can I tell you what to do if I’m not doing it myself?’ I’m very grateful and glad about JG and Monti and the guys that they’re bringing in this locker room. We’re all on the same page.”
Pads leads to passion
Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing was asked how to keep players’ passions in check when they donned pads for the first time at camp on Monday.
“It’s always a little bit harder the first day of pads,” he said. “I think you have to get out in front of it. One of the things we said to our guys today is ‘Look, it’s full pads, it’s competitive, but we’re still all on the same team and we have to keep that in mind.’ Anything that happens on defense negatively, ultimately hurts us as an offense and us as a team.
“I think you’ve got to remind guys of that. I think at the end of the day, they know it and they’re aware of it, but it’s always a little bit hard. Going against the same guy, day in and day out, it gets a little chippy and I think that’s what makes camp fun, but you’ve also got to strike a balance there and know when to tone it down and back off. I think our guys have found that. It’s our job as coaches to keep it there.”
For some of the rookies, Monday marked the first time in a long time that they had worn pads. Some of them participated in the Senior Bowl on Feb. 3, or the East-West Shrine Game on Feb. 1, but receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. did not participate in Ohio State’s Cotton Bowl loss to Missouri so he had not donned pads since a 30-24 loses to Michigan on Nov. 25 — a span of eight months.
Ossenfort offerings
GM Monti Ossenfort addressed the media after Sunday’s practice. Some of his more notable answers in that Q&A are here:
Are there any positions you’re looking at right now where you say, “I wouldn’t mind upgrading there?“
Ossenfort: “The whole concept of roster building is definitely ongoing the whole time. We came off of two of the bigger ones in the calendar year in free agency and the draft. That’s really the two times where you add the most amount of players to your roster, but as you guys saw last year, there’s times that even throughout camp, and then certainly once we get through preseason and cut-down days, there’s other times that there’s opportunities to add people to your roster.
“We’re always looking to add competition. We’re always looking to add talent. Our pro scouts are prepping for preseason right now. We’re monitoring the league and we always do that. If a situation arises, we certainly won’t hesitate to make an addition to the roster.
“We are well aware of all the players that are out there in free agency right now and how they would help or not help us. Waiver claims will come up here at the end of August and early September. We’re open to anything in terms of roster building that could go on and help us.”
There’s been a lot of discussion of what you did or did not do this offseason in terms of adding edge rushers. What was your philosophy going into the offseason in what you wanted from that position?
Ossenfort: “With every position, we’re constantly trying to get better. That looks different at each position, depending on what the constitution of that room looks like at the time. There’s always opportunities. I wouldn’t say it’s a situation where we ignore a position, it’s more so is the opportunity there to add to it?
“Free agency is, a lot of times, dictated by the market. And then the draft is dictated by who gets picked before you. Any time that we can add to a group, whether it’s edge rusher or any other position, we’re all in favor of improving any position. When it comes to [edge rushers], just the opportunity that presented itself led us to make other choices in both free agency and the draft.”
Did wanting to see what the players you already have are capable of factor into that decision?
Ossenfort: “That certainly goes into every [situation]. If we add a player, what does this mean for the other guys in the room? Those discussions are always happening; always ongoing. One decision affects two other decisions. Things that we go through, whether it’s free agency prep, draft prep, or pro preseason scouting, those are things that we talk about every day for the roster.”
You still have an open roster spot. What is the plan for that?
Ossenfort: “We are at 90 and we could go to 91 with our international exemption. The health of the team certainly has played into that. As things start piling up — knock on wood, hopefully they don’t — but inevitably, it is football and the pads are going on so players are gonna get nicked up. Then it becomes a roster management; a rep management of where we’re going to need players.
“Right now, numbers wise and reps wise, we’re happy with the work guys are getting. We don’t feel guys are getting overworked or not getting enough work. Keeping that roster spot until we absolutely need it, and not just filling it to fill it, I think that’s something that we subscribe to.”
When it comes to potential contract extensions with anybody, do you prefer to have that be an offseason thing or is it something that you could see happening in season?
Ossenfort: “We’ve got players that are at varying contract levels. Some are signed long term. Some are up after this year. That’s a case-by-case basis. We’ll deal with with those as they come up.”
How does an expanded practice squad impact your approach to roster building?
Ossenfort: “It’s been helpful. The practice squad, at least when I first started, used to be constituted of only young players. It was always developmental players; a guy that’s just a year away and needs some strength development, technique development. Now, I think there’s a balance with veteran players. Some guys, they’re not really developmental players anymore. Their careers and their ability has kind of declared what they are.
“We used to have a thing called the emergency list for veterans that were free agents. Now, the emergency list is really… you have some of those players on your team that are guys that have been around; guys that can be called up and be elevated to the roster. Whether it’s help in the kicking game or help on offense and defense, it’s opened up a lot of avenues and increasing that number to 16, it’s one [change] I’m in favor of. It opens up possibilities for us to work with a lot more players.”
Keim time?
Former Cardinals GM Steve Keim is launching an NIL branding and evaluation company called Brand Boss. Its target audience is kids.
Top photo of Jonathan Gannon via USA TODAY NETWORK
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