Cards rookies face new hurdles
Draft picks, undrafted players need to catch on fast with practice limited
It wasn’t that long ago when rookies really ruled the roost in Cardinalsville. You only need to go back two short years, during that unforgettable 3-13 season in 2018, to see for yourself.
Yes, the record was a dud and the first-year head coach along with the rookie starting quarterback would end up getting tossed out of town on a rail. Things were a mess. Nobody was happy. Worse, it felt like nobody seemed to care.
Veteran players were embarrassed. The team president was red faced. The general manager looked to be hanging on by thread. Free-agent newcomers were questioning why they came here in the first place.
Ah, but not the rookies.
In 2018, they literally seemed to save the day. Oh, the season was lost. But not to them. Not to each of the 14 rookies who actually spent time with the club that season. There were so many of them, it turns out, that at one point or another they represented more than a quarter of the entire team on the active roster.
Five of the first-year pros that made it that year were undrafted free agents like linebacker and special-teams ace Dennis Gardeck, who never knew if he was coming or going but was just happy to be there and have a job.
“Yeah, I mean, I really don’t have a formulated opinion on everything that’s going on around here just because this is my rookie year,” Gardeck told The Republic the day coach Steve Wilks was fired. “I don’t really understand how things are run or how things should have gone.
“I know it was a great learning experience for me to get my feet wet and get acclimated to this level of competition. Now that football is actually a job for me and not just something I was doing, I’m just trying to soak up as much information from coaches or players or anyone I can.”
Thanks to a decimated roster full of injuries and deficiencies, Gardeck and his fellow rookies were in a way left out in the cold in 2018. They never felt that way, though, because they had managed to form a close, special bond that season and stayed together and became friends.
They didn’t know any better, either, which in a way, saved them.
But as the destruction and devastation from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage and ruin the world, it’s also about to damage and possibly destroy the hopes and dreams of widespread rookies in today’s NFL.
Rookies began reporting to training camps across the league this week, including here in the Valley, with two dozen or so eager, first-year players beginning to get tested for the virus by the Cardinals. But even negative test results could result in a negative start to their futures.
With mini-camps and all offseason workouts having been scrubbed due to the virus, rookies in general might not stand much of a chance in 2020, especially those who are undrafted. They already were hurting because of the cancellation of so many pro days at college campuses around the country.
But the decision to also scrap the entire preseason schedule and suggestions by the league to reduce the size of roster limits by at least 10 players per team from 90 to 80, if not lower, only seems to spell more doom for first-year pros hoping to catch the eyes of coaches and catch on with an NFL club.
“It’s hard, man,” Cardinals veteran linebacker Jordan Hicks said earlier this year. “I remember being a rookie going through this process and all you want to do is impress, impress, impress and to have those opportunities taken away is tough. That’s hard, man.”
Less time for rookies to learn
In normal years, 30 percent of rosters across the NFL generally are made up of undrafted rookie free agents every season. To date, nearly 20 undrafted players have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, including former one-time Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner. But the lack of thousands of onfield reps is going to make it extremely difficult for rookies to flourish in 2020.
They and other young players may have all the skill in the world, but NFL playbooks, schemes and sets are complex. Without regular repetition, which many of them now won’t get because veterans will take priority, rookies could get lost in the shuffle.
Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury admitted as much during a conference call with reporters earlier this offseason when he said, “That’s the one hesitation with Zoom meetings. Everybody is going to nod and say, ‘Yes sir, I got it,’ but when you get out there, sometimes they don’t got it.”
Cardinals rookies began reporting to camp on Tuesday and the club was able to agree to terms on contracts with all six of its rookie draft picks, including first-rounder Isaiah Simmons, the star linebacker from Clemson. But because of the pandemic, the rookies won’t be able to dive right into on-field practices anytime soon.
First, they’ll have to test negative for the virus twice before even being allowed in the team’s Tempe practice facility or State Farm Stadium in Glendale. The same policy will be in place on Thursday when quarterbacks and injured players report. All other veterans are scheduled to start showing up the following Tuesday.
All players will be tested daily for at least the first two weeks.
The ramp-up to full workouts, however, will be slow and steady, consisting mostly of strength and conditioning work and not very much football other than perhaps walk-throughs and more meetings.
Under plans being mapped out by the league and the Players Association, teams won’t begin putting on pads until the 20th day of camp. That leaves even less time for rookies and younger players to make a mark or get a foothold on a substantial role.
It could also have an affect on other new faces that have joined the club such as outside linebacker Devon Kennard, defensive tackle Jordan Phillips and perhaps even star wide receiver Deandre Hopkins.
Maybe things will run perfectly smooth and the Cardinals, lauded as one of the darlings of the offseason for their shrewd draft and selected roster moves, will get a jump-start on the season. For that to happen, everyone will need to maximize the most out of every day – from coaches and players to the club’s training and medical staff.
There’s no room for error and even less time to think you’ve made it. Just ask Gardeck, who was named as a Pro Bowl alternate on special teams this past season.
“I don’t think you can ever rest in the NFL,” he said after his rookie season in 2018.
“It’s a what-can-you-do-for-me-now business. I remember hearing that from Larry (Fitzgerald) as soon as I got here and if there’s anyone that could rest it would be him. And he doesn’t rest at all.”