Quick Hitters
Arians criticizes receivers in ‘lethargic’ Monday practice
GLENDALE — The Arizona Cardinals were back at practice on Monday and coach Bruce Arians didn’t like what he saw from most of his offense, particularly his wide receivers.
“I thought it was very lethargic offensively,” Arians said. “I’m not very pleased with our wide receiver room. I must have been seeing things back in the spring when I said we had 12 guys that could play in the NFL, because we might have two. But we’ll look around and see who’s available.”
Lest anyone be left guessing the identity of the two receivers who escaped the criticism, Arians spelled it out later in his post-practice news conference.
Jaron Brown was “as good as you can get, he and Larry (Fitzgerald),” the coach said.
As for the rest of them “It’s not effort,” Arians said, “(it’s) assignments, catching the ball, the main things that receivers have to do they’re not doing.”
Others on offense didn’t escape criticism.
“The defense I thought came out ready to practice,” Arians said. “I thought Carson (Palmer) came out ready to practice and the guys around him didn’t help him too much.”
The coach said tight ends dropped balls and offensive linemen missed cutoff blocks on the backside.
“It was everybody but Carson,” Palmer said. “I thought the quarterbacks had a good day.”
The receiver play was better in Saturday night’s 20-10 preseason victory over Oakland, Arians said.
“It was not very good in practice last week,” he said, “and to start this week, and they’ve been warned.”
Wide receiver J.J. Nelson said when “one guy messes up it pretty much messes up the whole play.”
“A lot of the guys in that room, we’re capable of going out there and making plays and playing in this league,” Nelson said, “so we pretty much feel like we let him down.”
Nelson knows what it’s like to be the target of Arians’ wrath.
“I’ve gotten cussed out plenty of times in my three years here,” he said. “He’s pretty much saying it in a nice way right now, but still getting his message across. It’s up to us to respond and go out and make plays.”
Bagley chooses Duke, could make Blue Devils preseason No. 1
Top high school prospect Marvin Bagley III has committed to Duke and is eligible to play in the 201718 season, immediately making the Blue Devils a top national-title contender.
Bagley made his announcement on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Monday night.
The 6-foot-11 Bagley is widely considered the top recruit of the 2018 recruiting class, but last month petitioned the NCAA to reclassify and become college eligible for the upcoming season.
Bagley went on campus visits in July to Duke and USC, with UCLA also in the mix.
Bagley started his high school career at Tempe Corona del Sol High School and ended up at Southern California’s Chatsworth Sierra Canyon High School.
The long, athletic big man will likely be in the mix to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft whenever he decides to leave college.