Shipley is determined to start
Veteran Cardinal wants to reclaim job at center
There’s one position listed on the Cardinals’ first unofficial depth chart of the preseason that stands out from the rest. It jumps off the page at you like a frog on a wedding cake. That’s because it comes with a tiny little two-letter word.
At starting center, the team lists two names with a caveat: Mason Cole “or” A.Q. Shipley. It’s believed to be the first time the franchise has released a depth chart with such a distinction.
Entering Thursday night’s preseason opener at State Farm Stadium against the Chargers, head coach Kliff Kingsbury is still no closer to naming the starter. In fact, he has said he likely will wait until the end of August before making a final decision.
“We want to give those guys ample time to compete and see who separates themselves,” Kingsbury said.
Ask Shipley, the 11-year veteran, how he feels about having to possibly wait until the end of preseason to learn if he’s beaten out Cole for the job or lost it to the young, second-year pro, and you get a very blunt response.
“Do I like that? No, I don’t like that,” Shipley said. “Not one bit. Yeah, no.”
The way Shipley sees it, it should be his job anyway. The only reason Cole started all 16 games for the Cardinals last season is because Shipley went down in the first week of training camp with a torn ACL.
Before that, Shipley had started all 16 games in each of the previous two seasons — the only offensive lineman to play every game either year.
But Shipley was also in the final year of his contract entering last year. Cole was a third-round pick out Michigan.
Upon assuming the starting position at center, he would become the only Cardinals’ player to participate in every single offensive snap of the season.
Three weeks after blowing out his knee, however, the Cardinals did something interesting.
They signed Shipley to a one-year contract extension. Some industry sources believed it was more of a parting gift, a way to reward Shipley like an expensive get-well card.
They really weren’t going to turn back to Shipley after he turned 33 in May, would they? Especially after drafting a center ten years his junior?
After attacking his rehab and getting after it for months on end, Shipley forced the Cardinals’ hands by getting himself in the best shape of his life.
“I didn’t want my career to be over because of an injury,” said Shipley, who had never been seriously hurt before.
Shipley worked exclusively with Chad Cook, the team’s assistant athletic director, and Buddy Morris, the Cardinals’ strength and conditioning coach, to rebuild his knee and his body.
He worked out at the team’s Tempe training facility so often that Kingsbury was only partially kidding when he joked recently that Shipley must have lived there throughout the offseason.
“Every offseason when you’re playing, you take two months off and you drink, you eat and before you know it you’re 20 pounds up,” Shipley said. “I didn’t have that luxury this offseason. I was rehabbing from early August and I just told myself I didn’t want to get to 320, 330 when I’m rehabbing a knee. That’s not the best thing for it, so I got down to 295ish and I’ve stayed there.”
Completely healthy to be a full participant during the team’s final minicamp in June, Shipley is still in a holding pattern when it comes to who starts at center. In his opinion, the choice should be simple.
“I’m here to win a job and the sooner I can, the better,” he said. “Obviously, I’d like that a lot better than hearing that in September. That’s my goal. If you go into this job or this league or this position questioning yourself or questioning your own ability any not thinking that you can get it done, then you’re in the wrong sport.
“So, until they tell me it’s not mine, it’s mine.”
It’s not anybody’s yet.
So far, Shipley and Cole have been sharing starting reps with the firstteam offense in camp.
Cole is also starting to get some looks at tackle and more interestingly, left guard, stepping in for injured starter Justin Pugh, who hurt his shoulder during Saturday’s Red & White Practice.
On Thursday, Shipley will start at center and Cole will start at left guard.
Cole’s versatility might actually work in Shipley’s favor. Kingsbury and his staff might decide that having Cole as an option for all three interior line positions, plus an emergency tackle, makes him more valuable as a backup.
Cole played all across the line in college and to date, has started 120 consecutive games since his freshman year in high school.
“As long as I’m in a place where I help the team win, I’m good wherever,” Cole told The Republic in June.
He’s not out of the mix at center, though, and Shipley knows it.
“Yeah, it’s obviously not ideal. It’s not what I enjoy,” Shipley said of sharing reps with Cole. “I started 32 straight games. The reason he started last year was obviously because I got hurt. He did well. Obviously, I understand the competition thing, I understand what they’re doing. But I’m going to go out there and do everything I can to win it.”