The Arizona Cardinals are in full swing training camp mode. With a new head coach, a new OC, and a new special teams coordinator, most of the main coaching jobs came from somewhere else.
Except for DC Nick Rallis. Head coach Mike LaFleur liked his style and defensive scheme, and he has been with the club for three seasons. Usually, a new head man will bring in guys he has worked with in the past along the trail somewhere, but LaFleur and Rallis have never crossed paths.
RELATED: OC NATHANIEL HACKETT
OPENS UP
Now that officially training camp has begun, Rallis is able to see the new guys a bit more and try to get a feel for where each player is at. There will be quite a few positions up for grabs, but thankfully, most positions will carry over the starter from last year.
While the new offense is the talk of camp, Rallis’ group will need to step up this year. They were ranked the #27 defense overall last year. That breakdown is being ranked #24 in pass defense with 31 passing TDs and an average of 230.8 passing yards a game. They were #25 against the run, with an average of 126.9 rushing yards a game and allowed 19 rushing touchdowns.
Rallis had his first training camp press conference. Here is what he said:
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Q: How’s it been so far? How’s the start been?
Rallis: It’s been good. Like you’d expect things to correct. I love the things that we can control, which is our attitude, our energy, our effort, and our focus levels. Those have been on point, and they’ve got to maintain that way, right? That’s easy to do for the first couple of days. You’ve got to be consistent with that. But I’ve been pleased.
Q: We heard from BJ (Ojulari) yesterday, and just kind of his journey throughout his NFL career has been pretty tumultuous. What do you make of his resilience and where he’s at, his growth and what you expect from him this year?
Rallis: People in this game, when you suffer an injury, you have to be resilient. And it’s hard. You just name it what it is. Like it’s really hard. Sometimes it can be depressing even during that time when you’re not able to be out on the field because you work so hard for those moments. You’ve got to look at this as growth to say that I can overcome adversity. And what’s exciting about BJ is he looks really good right now. He looks like a guy that’s put in a lot of work to get back to the player that he is. Things to continue to get better at, obviously. But it’s good to have him back out there full go and letting it loose.
Q: And now that he’s fully healthy, what parts of his game are you seeing that’s reminding you, oh yeah, I remember this is who he was?
Rallis: He’s got so much elusiveness off the edge. The thing I’m excited about when we get into pads is him setting those edges cuz I thought he’s done a really good job of that. He’s picked right back up from when he was feeling his best. That’s the BJ you see out there right now.
Q: Coming back from an injury as well, he looked pretty explosive just in drills. What have you seen?
Rallis: I saw the same thing. Obviously, as we get going, there’ll be things that he’s got an improvement plan that he can correct certain things. I know he’s got it on his mind cuz he was talking to me about it yesterday. Take it day by day. I know he’s a really good player, and so excited to have him back out there.
Q: Max (Melton) had a nice pass breakup yesterday, and you guys have so many corners battling for time and spots on the depth chart. He has a lot of expectations because of where he was drafted. Where is he mentally? Like what is your kind of outlook on where he is?
Rallis: He’s in a great spot. I think he took even a step from Day 1 to Day 2, going back to the offseason program, certain things that he needed to improve on. You saw him make some huge strides. I think he’s continuing to just develop his knowledge of the game and have some accelerated thinking based on what the offense is presenting before the snap. He’s in a phenomenal spot. And as you said, the whole room, it’s a great problem to have cuz you got so
many guys that can go out there and play winning NFL football. It’s very competitive right now, which is what you want for that cornerback competition opposite Will (Johnson). What can make those guys stand out, because as you said, it’s a deep group. What can make those guys stand out in that competition?
Everyone’s in competition right now across the whole roster. From the cornerback specifically number one to the cover guys. To me, like a premier guy at that spot can take away the best; there’s always going to be schematic things that, when you play a really good receiver. You’ll be dedicating numbers to him, but at the end of the day, there’s going to be one-on-ones throughout the game. And there’s going to be stressful downs for those guys. Can they go and win those downs?
They’re not going to win all of them. To me, it’s the hardest position in football besides quarterback. Just because there are so many good receivers across this league, and you can be on an island out there with space. If you can deny the ball when you’re in a one-on-one matchup, to me, that’s everything. From there, like no matter what position, are you executing at a consistent level? Do you have a playing style, and can you take the ball away?
Q: How is Starling (Thomas) looking and how does he fit into that conversation?
Rallis: He’s right in there. He’s looked really good. He has worked very hard to get back to
Himself, and there’s probably some rust he still needs to knock off. We’re only two days in, but you could just see he made a play yesterday, and the response from his teammates. I think says a lot about who he is to this team.
Q; Another guy, Elijah Jones, had a couple of those plays yesterday. What kind of growth have you seen out of him?
Rallis: Major growth. I think that the biggest growth I saw was in the offseason program. You just saw a comfort level. What I love about his game right now is he doesn’t get sped up. So, what I mean by that is, off of his releases or whether he’s playing off, just those first five yards
are pivotal for a corner to be in good position throughout the down. And he has multiple ways that he can get up there and press right now that he’s very comfortable with. And he just never finds himself sped up later in the down. And then from there, like if you’re in a good position, he’s got length, he’s got speed, he’s got ability to disrupt the football, and let it loose. Excited where he’s trending.
Q: How has Sean (Murphy-Bunting) adjusted?
Rallis: He needed that time in the offseason program. Because he hadn’t been at a nickel,
besides back when he was in Tampa and that was, selectively. You can just see like a comfort level right now, and we ask our nickels to do a lot, and so I’m not just even talking about playing that nickel spot. He’s playing deep zones and doing everything, and he’s taken a huge step. And he knows that. He’s made some big plays so far in two days.
Q: When you have him wrap it and then whenever Garrett (Williams) comes back, how do you kind of decide? What are you looking for between those three in terms of just nickel?
Rallis: We’ll assess that day by day. In terms of the nickel spot, it can depend on the situation and the package we’re in. If those guys can all help us win, they’re all going to play for us this year. Everybody in that back end.
Q: How much of a physicality jump is that to go from outside to inside?
Rallis: Situationally. It depends on how you match nickel. If you’re matching it versus bigger groups, a lot of times they do get down there in the box, and that’s where you’re going to see a little bit more physicality happening. Even in 11 personnel, if they are on the slot depends on what you’re in a little bit if they’re getting into it. If you’re pressuring them, you know that’s where you start to see some differences, probably not to say that the game’s physical for all 11. But just a little bit more at the point of attack in the run game. On third downs, I would say there’s probably no difference. You know, known pass.
Q: Cody (Simon) was kind of thrown into the fire last year with injuries and the green dot. So, now that Mac (Wilson) is back, you bring in experience with Jack (Gibbens). What have you kind of challenged Cody with to maintain the progress he was making?
Rallis: Let it loose. Gosh, he’s smart. He knows he knows it. There’s not a thing that he there’s not a detail that he would say, “Oh yeah, I forgot that.” Right? Like this game means a lot to him. And you just got to trust that knowledge that you have, that preparation you’ve put in, that when you see it, go get it. I think he’s done that in these first two days, but there’s a difference; there’s a difference also when you get into the game, when you see it, pull the trigger. Go be a playmaker. He’s ready for that. It’s common for rookies to be a little bit hesitant in the sense of, if you don’t know it on a 303 level, do I pull the trigger right there? So, he had to work through that, and it got better throughout the year. But I would say he’s just at a different spot right now where it’s very clear to him that he is extremely intelligent. He is very fast to process out there, and he’s pulling the trigger and going.
Q: Seems like Jordan (Burch) has gotten a lot of opportunities with the ones early in camp. Where is he at right now compared to last year?
Rallis: Similar to Cody in the sense that he’s executing his assignment at a high level. So, that’s not there’s never really a discussion of like, gosh, Bur, you know, you keep messing this up, correct this. He puts a lot of time into study. He’s playing fast. I think he’s a guy that really shows up when we put pads on, after this first block when we’re allowed to. It’s different parts of his game. OLB’s like three things: set the edge in the run game, rush the passer, and be able to cover. He’s making strides in all those.
Q: Were there a lot of changes defensively from where you were a year ago to what you’re doing now schematically?
Rallis: Schematically, yes. Every year there will be. It’s been really good to have Mike (LaFleur) and just give it given his perspective not just from his brain, but also so many of our opponents in this division, he’s been in those offenses, right? And so, understanding where we can let go of certain things and really master other things just make sure like, hey, this is what we’re going to do and we’re going to get really good at it. So, there’s there changes, yes. Is there consistency? Yes.
The biggest thing is who are we? And we’re going to go throughout camp and really figure that out because it can change. We have tools in our toolbox, but we may not use them all, right? And we’re going to get good at the ones that we know are going to bring out the strengths of our players and the ones that we’re going to need throughout the year. From my perspective, when you look back and assess yourself during training camp, you look at what we rep a lot in training camp that we actually didn’t pull out during the season. And that those are wasted reps schematically where we could have put that somewhere else.
So, I would say like Mike’s been a huge help in terms of really helping me figure out like, hey, what is what is the minimum you need and let’s go to work from there. That’s probably the biggest thing is just letting our guys get really good at what we’re going to do and go out there and play fast and execute at a high level.
Q: What have your conversations with (Josh) Sweat been lately the last couple days and does he how much time does he need to kind of ramp up to get going for it?
Rallis: I would say just like anybody, you know, you just got to load the volume as you go. You don’t want to spike volume because that for every guy is, a higher chance for injury. My conversations with Sweaty, it depends if we’re talking ball. I mean, if we’re talking ball, we’re talking ball. If we’re not talking ball, he’s a a very funny person. He’s very entertaining. But yeah, me and Sweaty, we’ve just been talking about different things – football or life.
Q: With this extra week, what are you able to accomplish that maybe you wouldn’t be able to do if you didn’t have these extra practices?
Rallis: Good question. It’s so funny I’m kind of mapping out installs for the future and it’s like, dang, this is an extra week. What would I be doing if I didn’t have this extra week? Cuz I’m like, oh man, like I got to get this in somewhere. But I would say the biggest thing with that extra week is you can kind of like spread out installing scheme. Which that allows you to just take your time a little bit more during the install meetings and really be on the details with the players.
And so, every day doesn’t have to have a huge install to it because you got an extra week to kind of pack some things in. So, I love that. After this year, I’m going to be spoiled and like, man, I wish I had that extra week so I could spread these things out. So, I do love that. And then just accumulating more reps. Like you get better at football by playing football. So that’s huge. It’s huge for us.
Q: What’s it been like having Roy Lopez in the room personality-wise, energy-wise, leadership?
Rallis: He’s been a leader since he’s been here. Just having that back has been huge. And he’s just a very smart football player. He generates conversations in that D-line room that makes myself better, make PK (Pete Kwiatkoski, D-Line coach) better, make all the players better. So, from a leadership standpoint, from a locker room standpoint, that and then, like to me, he’s a guy that it was very easy for me, in the spring, talking about play style, motor, and violence. I had my Roy clips ready to go, right? Because like they’ve been on the teach tape. And so, for him to come back and I’m able to throw those back in because I know that he brings that play style to this defense. I love that he’s here.
Q: On and off the field, what are the differences you’ve seen from guy?
Rallis: On and off the field, he’s still pretty goofy. On the field, I would say that he’s rushing better. You can just feel that he has a really good sense of how he’s setting things up. What his
strengths are with it, and if it doesn’t hit, he knows exactly why it didn’t hit. In the run game, I would say that he’s a monster, and he provides a flexible piece, which he always has. Cuz he
can play on the edge, he can play all the way down to a two. He’s taken strides in the run game and the pass rush. And then as you said, off the field, he’s the same guy. He ain’t going to change.
Q: Nathaniel (Hackett) was saying, play style is his non-negotiable during training camp. Have you developed any non-negotiables for yourself in terms of what you want to see laying the foundation, those details that you’re kind of laying now?
Rallis: Who said that? You said Hack said it? Amen, Hack. Yeah, play style. In my mind, if I’m going to have a meeting with the defense, I’m not going to waste everybody’s time hammering out details of the D-line and then all the corners fall asleep, right? So, from my perspective, it’s like what is our identity? What is important? And it always comes back to Number 1: play style. So, that’s always going to get talked about whether it’s good or bad. The ball, whether it’s good or bad, how do we take the ball away? And then the execution piece, which is adaptability. How do we have to win week to week? We’ve got to be able to execute what we have, because every week is going to require us to pull these calls. So, if we can do those three things, that’s what I’m looking for daily.
Q: You’re entering your fourth year in the league, but this is your first without Jonathan Gannon. Do you feel any different, or is it just business as usual for you?
Rallis: I don’t feel any different. Yeah, it’s pretty status quo. One thing I’ll say is during my time here in Arizona, I’ve always worked with phenomenal people. So, I have gratitude for that every day, whether it’s staff, players, our entire organization; it’s the right people. So, I’m grateful for that.
Q: What are your thoughts on Budda (Baker) now in his 10th NFL season?
Rallis: I think he looks the best he’s ever looked since I’ve been with him, to be honest. And that’s real, and he’ll tell you that. He’s just moving so well because he’s just on a different level in terms of how he takes care of himself, how he trains. I think that he feels phenomenal right now, and he looks phenomenal. He’s got the play style, and he’s got the ability that he’s always had. You can just see that with the work he puts in. He’s still that missile. It’s pretty cool to see. I kind of wish I had his home set up: big weight room and multiple racks, a recovery center. So, there’s a reason that he’s feeling the way he’s feeling. The way he’s moving is because he lives this.
