Cardinals face Raiders
What to watch for tonight as the preseason continues
As Haason Reddick makes the transition from college defensive end to NFL inside linebacker, a choir of voices preaches to him.
Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, coordinator James Bettcher, linebackers coach Larry Foote and inside linebacker Karlos Dansby are among those advising Reddick, the team’s No. 1 pick, on where to look, stand, step and run.
There has been hands-on learning for Reddick, too, and that’s where running back David Johnson comes in.
Johnson is among the NFL’s best allaround backs with a skill set that can make even experienced linebackers fall apart. Ironically, Johnson’s using those skills to help turn Reddick into a
competent replacement for Deone Bucannon, who might miss the start of the season because of ankle surgery.
In training camp, coaches have used every opportunity to match Reddick against Johnson. It has been especially noticeable in man-to-man pass coverage drills, where Reddick always has the unenviable job of trying to defend Johnson.
“What better way to get better than to go against one of the best backs in the league?” Reddick said. “I’m always matched up against David, and it’s my job to give him competition.”
According to coaches, Reddick has done an increasingly better job of that as camp has progressed.
“He’s the first one to ever come close to covering him,” Arians said. “He’s gotten real close a bunch of times.”
Against Johnson, “real close,” is about as good as it gets. Last season, Johnson led NFL running backs in receptions (80) and receiving yards (879) and became one of four players in league history with at least 1,200 yards rushing and 800 yards receiving.
So if Reddick can come “real close” to Johnson in practice, he should be able to cover most other backs. That's the theory.
“Oh, man, he is so shifty,” Reddick said. “You’ve got to be very cautious with him. He’s sneaky. He has different speeds, different momentums, and you can’t always tell where he’s going to go.”
During practices, NFL players aren’t impressed by much, especially in training camp. Plays that draw gasps and ooohs and aaaahs from fans pass without comment from players.
So, there is no higher praise for a player than when teammates react to something he’s done on the field. That’s happened a few times in this camp with Johnson: a jump cut that left a defensive back corkscrewing into the turn, a fake in the flat that put an outside linebacker in the rear view.
That one happened on Tuesday with Johnson and Chandler Jones.
Arians had the play shown during a team meeting that night.
“I killed Chandler on that,” Arians said, laughing. Jones jokingly blamed coaches. “I told B.A. he set me up for failure,” Jones said.
Reddick, rarely, if ever dropped into coverage at Temple. His job was to get to the quarterback, and he did that well as a senior. He finished with 12.5 sacks and 22.5 tackles for loss.
But at 6-feet-1-inch and 235 pounds, he might be undersized to play outside linebacker every down in the NFL. That’s why he was asked at the Senior Bowl to play some at inside linebacker.
He wowed the Cardinals and other teams with his ability to run and cover running backs, a big reason the Cardinals took him 13th overall.
On draft day, the long-range plan for Reddick was to learn inside linebacker this year while playing part-time as an outside rusher. Bucannon’s surgery changed that, and Reddick quickly was made a starter.
He’s been on an accelerated learning plan since, part of which includes defending Johnson whenever possible.
“I did a study this offseason on how people cover David,” Bettcher said. “There were corners, safeties, nickels, linebackers, doubles and not a lot of things worked. For Haason to be able to have one-on-one coverage opportunities, one-on-one opportunities to cover him in space, it’s only helped Haason grow.
“What you see with Haason is a guy who is so athletic, explosive, but has never played off the ball as a linebacker. And there is a lot that goes into that,” Bettcher said.
Part of it is covering a running back who knows what he’s doing as a receiver. Sometimes at the end of a day, Reddick will seek out Johnson to ask questions about their matchup that day.
“Oh, I definitely talk to him,” Reddick said.
“If I notice that he ran a different route, I might go to him and say, ‘Oh, you tried to get me there.’ ”
Three areas to watch
Three things to watch in the Cardinals preseason game vs. the Raiders on Saturday.
Cardinals quarterbacks
Blaine Gabbert’s performance last week against the Cowboys (8 for 11, 185 yards, no interceptions, no touchdowns) gave some credence to the possibility of him replacing Drew Stanton as the main backup to Carson Palmer. Coach Bruce Arians did his best to discourage that idea a bit this week, saying the job is still Stanton’s. And a couple days later, Palmer talked about how much he trusts Stanton’s help in preparing for an opponent and on game day. Palmer will start Saturday night's game. It will be interesting to see how he does because he threw for an entire practice only once this week: on Tuesday. It’s unusual for any player, much less a quarterback, to have three consecutive days off in camp. Stanton will take over for Palmer. And while he might be on solid footing as Palmer’s backup, it would be an encouraging sign for the Cardinals if Stanton played better than he did in the 2016 preseason. Last year, he completed just 11 of 28 passes (39.3 percent) for 144 yards, two interceptions and two touchdowns in the preseason. Gabbert is expected to play the second half.
DT Robert Nkemdiche
Last year’s first-round pick has been impressive during training camp and against the Cowboys. But most his work has come against backups. He took some snaps against the first-team offense in practices this week. It’s time to see him work against another team’s starters.
Cardinals receivers
A handful are likely to miss because of injuries: John Brown, Chad Williams, Carlton Agudosi (right leg). One receiver to watch Saturday night is Jaron Brown, who suffered a torn ACL last October. He’s made a remarkable recovery and isn’t wearing a brace. Over the past couple of years, Jaron Brown and Stanton have had a productive chemistry, probably a result of playing together as backups. This season, Jaron Brown could give Palmer the big target downfield that Michael Floyd was supposed to be.