The Arizona Cardinals held their annual Red & White practice Saturday afternoon at State Farm Stadium in front of thousands of fans. What happened at practice?
Here are some observations I made:
Some players suited up, didn’t practice
Coach Kliff Kingsbury said everyone would be set to practice except those who haven’t been working because of injuries. The three players on PUP sat out. Rookie receiver Andy Isabella did not practice. Neither did receiver Chad Williams or safety D.J. Swearinger.
However, there were three players suited up who didn’t appear to get reps at all. Tight end Maxx Williams normally gets first-team reps and didn’t appear to have any at all. Tackle Rees Odhiambo did not appear to get on the field despite suiting up in pads. The other was outside linebacker Brooks Reed. He left the field with a minor injury on Thursday but was suited up like he was going to practice. He did not do anything 11-on-11.
Lots of 11-on-11
In years past, the Red & White practice has been just another practice. Saturday was different. They had a special teams period but most of the practice was 11-on-11 practice — actual football. Training camp practices typically have some of that but also 7-on-7 and positional drills. Fans got to see the players play instead of just doing drills.
A pregame feel
The team simulated pregame operations before the start of practice. Players came on the field to warm up and then returned to the locker room. The cheerleaders performed. They aired up the tunnel and announced the teams and the players ran through the tunnel. There were flags and fire.
They mixed up rotations
Early in practice, there was a lot of mixing and matching. At one point, the defense had the starters on the defensive line and at cornerback but backups at linebacker and safety. The third-team left side of the offensive line played with the second-team right side. The second-team receivers sometimes played with Kyler Murray and the starting offensive line.
Mason Cole at LT
An interesting development was seeing center Mason Cole play left tackle with the second-team offensive line. He got first-team reps at center and then second-team reps at left tackle. This might have had something to do with Rees Odhiambo not practicing or they were just giving him a day at the position. He played left tackle most of his college career at Michigan.
Damiere Byrd, KeeSean Johnson, Ricky Seals-Jones played on first-team offense
We continue to watch the reps at receiver. On Saturday, the receivers to get true first-team reps were Larry Fitzgerald, Christian Kirk, Damiere Byrd and rookie KeeSean Johnson. Tight end Ricky Seals-Jones also did instead of Maxx Williams, who apparently did not practice despite putting on pads.
QB runs were on display
Kyler Murray gave fans a sneak peek at what might be in store for the offense with a few runs. There was a designed run near the end zone. There was a scramble where he speed to the edge and beat the defensive lineman to pick up a first down. There was another scramble when the field opened up on a pass play and it looked like he would have run for a while. Brett Hundley, Charles Kanoff and Drew Anderson also ran the ball.
Hakeem Butler inconsistent
The Cardinals’ fourth-round pick was again inconsistent and was also brilliant. There were at least three passes he either dropped or simply should have caught. However, towards the end of practice, he made one nice catch and then made a highlight reception with a one-handed grab of a pass as he ran at the sideline. The flashes and inconsistencies seem to be a trend in camp.
Struggles for Zane Gonzalez
Gonzalez, the only kicker on the roster, had been great in camp. In the practices I watched, he missed only one kick. However, he struggled from beyond 40 yards. He was perfect on shorter kicks, which were not only accurate but looked very good coming off his foot. But then he missed three field goals from 40 yards and beyond. He finished practice 3-of-6 from that range, banging one off the right upright. However, when the team was running a simulation of being down and needing to hit a field goal at the end of the game to win, he nailed the game-winner.
Chandler Jones on other side of line
With Terrell Suggs on the team, it looks liked Jones will be lining up opposite where he has done mostly for the last three seasons. The last three years, he would line up mostly on the right side of the defense, matchup against an opponent’s left tackle. This year, Suggs lines up there and Jones is on the left side, going against the right tackle. If this stays true, this could potentially be huge for Jones, who has more sacks than any other player over the last three years and did it against left tackles, usually expected to be the best player on the line.
Highlights
Butler had the previously mentioned catch at the sideline.
Rookie safety Deionte Thompson picked off a Drew Anderson pass in the end zone to end practice and took it the length of the field.
Newly-signed Andre Branch picked up a Wes Hills fumble and returned it for a touchdown.
Kyler Murray showed off his speed a couple of times. So did Brett Hundley.
T.J. Logan busted through the line for a long touchdown run, showing the speed he has.
Robert Alford had an interception covering Kevin White.
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