Receivers Kirk, Williams make their case in Arizona
Young pass-catchers emerge as standouts in Cardinals’ pre-season win over Saints
First-year Arizona Cardinals coach Steve Wilks wants players to separate themselves in the crowded competition at wide receiver.
Christian Kirk and Chad Williams seem to have done just that.
Both youngsters had impressive nights in the Cardinals’ 20-15 preseason victory in New Orleans on Friday night.
Kirk, a second-round pick from Texas A&M, caught four passes for 49 yards, including a 13-yard dart in traffic from fellow rookie Josh Rosen for a touchdown. Williams, a third-round pick from Grambling State in 2017, caught three passes for 44 yards.
“Christian Kirk, Chad Williams, the way they performed. Tough catches, yardage after with Chad,” Wilks said after the team returned to practice Sunday. “I thought those guys stepped up. I thought they created a little bit of separation. It’s ongoing in that room so I’m looking for guys to continue to get better.”
Kirk and Williams took advantage of the absence of wide receiver Brice Butler, out with a foot injury. Butler had been listed as the No. 2 receiver opposite Larry Fitzgerald on the depth chart but Wilks declared the position “pretty wide open” during training camp.
“With Brice being out, there’s more opportunities to go out and show what we can do,” Kirk said.
Kirk, who grew up in suburban Phoenix as a Cardinals fan, made his presence felt the first time he touched the ball, returning a punt 38 yards in Arizona’s first pre-season game, a 24-17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. He would have had a touchdown, most likely, had he not slipped making a move on the final would-be tackler, the punter.
Now he’s trying to show he’s not just a specialist but a reliable bigplay threat at receiver.
“You’ve just got to learn week by week, whether it’s the speed of the game, the playbook, I mean it all just comes more natural the more reps that you get,” Kirk said. “You get used to the looks that you’re seeing. It’s getting a lot easier. I feel like I’ve made bounds and strides from when I first stepped in here.”
Wide receiver is a big question mark for the Cardinals, with no truly proven players — except perhaps Butler — beyond Fitzgerald, who enters his 15th NFL season with career statistics among the greatest in the game’s history.
So the showing of the youngsters was welcome news.
That might be particularly true of Williams, who struggled through a difficult rookie season, appearing in only six games with three catches for 31 yards.
Has the light come on? “He’s just such a competitor,” Wilks said. “He understands exactly what he needs to do. He wasn’t satisfied with some of the things that happened last year, the inconsistency, so I think he’s ready to step up.”
Williams said he’s much more at ease.
“I feel like it’s sunk in and I know the way of going about things,” he said, “and it just comes natural now.”
The Cardinals wrapped up their relatively brief training camp at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale on Wednesday. They will work out Monday, have Tuesday off, then practice Wednesday through Friday in preparation for their Sunday game at Dallas.
BARKLEY’S BACK
First-round draft pick Saquon Barkley ran on his own as the New York Giants returned to practice.
The former Penn State running back drafted No. 2 overall carried a ball and ran at roughly three-quarter speed Sunday as strength and conditioning coach Aaron Wellman watched.
Barkley strained a hamstring catching a pass out of the backfield at practice last Monday. He did not participate in the workouts held jointly in Allen Park, Michigan between the Giants and Detroit Lions. He also did not play in Friday ’s preseason game.
Coach Pat Shurmur continues to say Barkley will be handled on a day-to-day basis.
Jonathan Stewart and Wayne Gallman took the majority of firstteam snaps during the practice that lasted roughly an hour.
While the injury is not going to change Barkley’s role as the starting halfback, a hamstring problem that has sidelined third-year safety Darian Thompson is creating a three-man competition for the spot opposite Landon Collins.
Curtis Riley, who played the past two seasons in Tennessee, and Andrew Adams, who has 17 starts in the past two seasons, are competing for the job with Thompson, who also has 17 starts in two seasons.
Riley was considered the outsider coming into training camp, but he started against the Lions and continues to play with the first team.
“I bring a lot of range, I can tackle, speed, communication, which is the biggest thing, and just knowing the defence,” said Riley, who missed the pre-season opener against the Cleveland Browns with a hamstring injury.
Thompson started against Cleveland and sustained his hamstring injury.
Riley, who appeared in seven games with the Titans, said Tennessee played a similar defence.
“It’s about communication, knowing what you are supposed to do, knowing where to put other people,” Riley said, adding the coaches will decide the starter. “You’ve got to make plays, the NFL is about making plays.”
Meanwhile, Shurmur said backup quarterbacks Davis Webb, Kyle Lauletta and Alex Tanney are making progress on a daily basis. He said he has not made a depth chart for the position beyond Eli Manning being the starter.