Cardinals DC Nick Rallis hoped to make extra week of camp a positive

Tuesday (July 28) was a big day in the NFL, as the final 26 teams reported to training camp. That means, as quickly as anyone can say camp has begun, the Arizona Cardinals have concluded the extra week of work they had because of their presence in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio,

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Tuesday (July 28) was a big day in the NFL, as the final 26 teams reported to training camp.

That means, as quickly as anyone can say camp has begun, the Arizona Cardinals have concluded the extra week of work they had because of their presence in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, on Thursday, Aug. 6 against the Carolina Panthers.

Like the Cardinals, the Panthers also had their veterans report on July 22.

All coaches are big into planning, but Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis might be at the top of the list in looking ahead. So it was that he was asked last Friday what he was accomplishing with the extra week that he might not have been able to without the additional practice time.

“It's so funny,” he said. “Like, 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? Because I'm like, ‘Oh man, I got to get this in somewhere.’ But I would say the biggest thing with that extra week is you can spread out installing the scheme, which 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.”

Of course, he admitted that “after this year, I'm going to be spoiled and feel, ‘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. You get better at football by playing football. So that's huge. It's huge for us.”

We’ll learn soon enough how much it actually helped this defense improve from the injury-ravaged unit that collapsed in the second half of the 2025 season.

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire's Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple Podcasts.