This year’s training camp for the Arizona Cardinals begins July 22nd. That is about a week earlier than the other clubs in the league. This year, the Cardinals will play in the Hall of Fame Game to be played on Thursday, August 6, in Canton, Ohio. Kickoff is 8:00 p.m. (Eastern).
The game will become one of the highlights of the weekend that will see former Cardinals’ receiver Larry Fitzgerald inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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Playing in the annual
exhibition contest in Canton requires both Arizona and the Carolina Panthers, the Cardinals’ opponent, to begin their training camp early. The squad is currently 90 players under contract, vying for the 53 jobs on the Week 1 roster.
Several interesting battles will need to be addressed in this year’s camp.
Quarterback
Obviously, this is front and center. In last year’s camp, it was cut and dry. Kyler Murray was healthy and the starter. Jacoby Brissett was signed as the starter, so the only question was who would become QB3.
But this year, Brissett was named the starter, and then head coach Mike LaFleur appears to have retracted that assertion. He didn’t exactly say that Brissett was no longer the starter, but he leaned that way after the quarterback did not attend or participate in any of the offseason OTAs and minicamps.
With the installation of a new offensive scheme, on-field reps and tutelage are critical to understand what happens next.
This year’s signed backup, Gardner Minshew, looked good during the offseason sessions and has made some noise that he is working hard to claim the starting role. The opportunity opened up, and Minshew is trying to grab it if Brissett doesn’t want it or is willing to work for it.
At the same time, rookie Carson Beck has the same angle. Show up for all practice sessions and every meeting, and stay in the weight room. Then tell the media that his goal is to start sooner rather than later. If Coach LaFleur has indeed retracted and opened up the starting role to competition, then Beck has raised his hand and wants it.
How will this shake out?
State of the safety room
The Cardinals lost Jalen Thompson from last year’s group. He was a good player, and was strange that Ossenfort did not retain him.
Of course, Budda Baker’s house is full of Pro Bowl hardware. The question remains, who is going to replace Thompson, and who will fill the linebacker role in DC Nick Rallis’ 4-2-5 scheme?
It was assumed that the Cardinals would draft a young buck for the safety room, but that came and went. Afterwards, Ossenfort did sign S Wydett Williams, Jr. from Ole Miss.
The defensive back room is slapping full. Currently, there are 11 cornerbacks and seven safeties.
During free agency, Ossenfort inked hard-hitting Andrew Wingard from the Philadelphia Eagles. He was signed to fill Thompson’s spot, but currently, on the unofficial depth chart, he is listed as the backup to Dadrion Taylor-Demerson instead. Wingard has played for seven years, while Taylor-Demerson is going into his third.
For Wingard (6’-0”, 200 pounds), he has been in 102 games with 44 starts, 349 total tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 6 interceptions, 6 QB hits, 2 sacks, 22 batted passes, two fumble recoveries, 4 knockdowns, 9 hurries, 15 pressures, and 37 missed tackles. In pass coverage, Wingard has defended 63 targets with 33 completions, 6 picks, and a 52.4% completion percentage.
Taylor-Demerson was selected by Arizona in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL draft. His career numbers are 29 games played with six starts, 96 total tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 2 interceptions, 0 QB hits, 0 sacks, 11 batted passes, and 7 missed tackles. In pass coverage, Wingard has defended 27 targets with 17 completions, 2 picks, and a 66.0% completion percentage.
When the defense goes into the 4-2-5, Rallis will often sit a linebacker and insert a safety in that position instead in order to get better pass coverage. But that player must be a really good tackler. That guy is Wingard.
This will become a good position battle in this year’s camp.
Who will help Josh Sweat with a pass rush?
The Cardinals’ pass rush last season was two-pronged: Josh Sweat and Calais Campbell. A lot of ink has been dedicated to whether Sweat will be traded, but the team came right out and made a statement that they are keeping him.
Campbell is now with the Baltimore Ravens and has stated that this will be his final year. But the point is, he isn’t playing in the desert any longer. He had a great year and provided a decent pass rush from the interior, and was an excellent run stopper. He and Walter Nolen would have been a good tandem.
During free agency, GM Monti Ossenfort signed two guys to supplant Campbell: Roy Lopez and journeyman Andrew Billings. Both are experienced players.
Billings is with his fifth NFL team and has just 6.5 sacks in his eight-year career. His best season for total tackles was 39 in 2022. All of this means he is a gap eater and not much more. Lopez has returned home to Arizona, and although his sack numbers are also minimal (5.0), he has good numbers for run support.
But neither is considered a pass rusher.
Darius Robinson remains penciled in along the interior, but has not become the dominant pass rusher he was drafted for. At this juncture, it may seem that Ossenfort wasted a draft pick on him. He has played in only 12 games in two seasons, with just 53 total tackles and 2 sacks.
On the edge opposite Sweat, Zaven Collins is listed with Baron Browning as his backup. Collins has five years in the league now after an outstanding college career. In his second season, he had 100 total tackles, but hasn’t even come close to those numbers since, with 57 as his greatest (2024).
Also in the mix are B.J. Ojulari and Jordan Burch. Somebody in this grouping needs to step up and provide a good collapse from the opposite side of Sweat.
Going into camp, it appears to be a roller coaster of jersey nameplates until one or two guys can prove they should be starting instead of being one of the rotational guys. The NFC West Division has some good passers, so the Arizona defense needs an able-bodied counter.
