CARDINALS OPEN CAMP
There’s been a cautious level of hype swirling around the Cardinals ever since they hired Kliff Kingsbury as their new head coach and drafted Kyler Murray as their new starting quarterback.
Most of the intrigue and drama has been confined to the state of Arizona, but as NFL teams reported to training camps across the country this week, the suspense surrounding the Cardinals has started to rise on a national scope.
It figures to reach critical mass on Thursday afternoon when the team hits the field at State Farm Stadium for its first live practice of camp and everyone gets their first public glimpse at the Kingsbury-Murray connection and what the Cardinals’ offense might really look like.
National cable outlets such as the NFL Network and ESPN will have television crews on hand for wall-to-wall blanket coverage of the team that finished last in the league a year ago with a 3-13 record.
“Anytime you have the No. 1 pick and he happens to be a quarterback with the pedigree he has, there’s going to be some excitement,” Kingsbury said Wednesday after the team completed its run conditioning test.
“And you have Larry (Fitzgerald), it could be his last year. You pick up Terrell Suggs, who is kind of a local Hall of Fame-type player. So yeah, I think it’s an exciting team when you talk about the offseason, some of the things that went on, and hopefully that carries over.”
Someone pointed out to Kingsbury, the former Texas Tech coach, that he’s one of the franchise’s more interesting attractions as well.
“Yeah, we’ll see how that goes,” he said with a frowning grin.
Kingsbury has been busy for months diagramming exactly how he plans to roll out and conduct each and every day of training camp. Much like assembling his coaching staff, preparing for the NFL draft and plotting out his course for offseason activities and min-camps, however, Kingsbury relied plenty on others for help.
He is and will remain the chief architect when it comes to designing and calling plays on offense and deciding who plays where and when, but he openly sought the expertise of several people when it came to operating his first camp as an NFL head coach. Namely, the advice came from General Manager Steve Keim, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, who spent the past two seasons as head coach of the Broncos, and longtime special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers, who this offseason was given the additional title and responsibility of assistant head coach.
“Yeah, it’s been a culmination of things with Steve, Vance and Jeff Rodgers, guys who have been through it and done it at a high level,” Kingsbury said. “We kind of picked different things from each person and wanted to come up with a plan that fit us the best. We feel like we have a good one and we’ll be flexible and adjust things as we go.”
Exact details concerning individual and team drills and such matters as to how long the players will scrimmage seven-on-seven and 11-on-11 will emerge soon enough. But the pads come on this Saturday and the hitting will start to commence in earnest this weekend.
Inside linebacker Jordan Hicks, a veteran newcomer who signed a four-year deal with the Cardinals in March, isn’t sure how much hype will follow the team or not. Hype, though, doesn’t matter.
“It’s hard for me to say since I’m new as well, but there’s definitely a sense of urgency and excitement just to get out there and see how everything comes together,” he said. “This is the first step in the process. We’ve got a clean slate and we get to write it the way we want to, so it’s exciting.”
Second-year wide receiver Christian Kirk likened reporting to camp on Wednesday to “waking up on Christmas morning.”
“Everybody has those butterflies, those jitters, especially pulling up to the hotel (across the street from the stadium),” he said. “It just feels great to be back in the locker room with the guys, be around everybody and just know what we have in store and we’re ready to take on a big year.”
Most eyes will be on Murray, the Heisman Trophy winner from Oklahoma, whose talents as both a runner and passer make him one of the more intriguing young quarterbacks to enter the league in recent memory. He may be smallish in stature at 5-foot-10, but the expectations surrounding him are huge.
“Super dynamic playmaker,” Hicks said. “I know a lot of people doubt his ability to see in the pocket, but this dude throws some dimes in the pocket. Super impressed by him. Excited to see him with live bullets.”
Hicks is just as impressed with Kingsbury, who is seen by most as one of football’s freshest offensive-minded savants.
“You can just tell by being around him how intelligent he is and how much he studies and knows the game,” he said. “You hear all these stories about him getting here super early and leaving super late and all he does is football, football, football.
“You can just tell by being around him what he’s all about just in the first five minutes. I don’t know what the word is to describe him. I’m not 100 percent sure what that word would be, but whatever that word is, he is that word.”
In other developments Wednesday, the team signed free-agent outside linebacker Matt Longacre to a one-year deal, adding some much-needed depth to the position.