Dealing Cards: Notes from players as they report for Phase I of offseason work
Apr 18, 2017, 5:55 AM | Updated: 9:07 am
David Johnson chats with reporters Monday, April 17. (Photo by Adam Green/Arizona Sports)
(Photo by Adam Green/Arizona Sports)
The Arizona Cardinals on Monday began Phase I of their offseason workout program, which includes strength and conditioning as well as weight lifting.
It’s the unofficial beginning of the 2017 season, and for the Cardinals, it is the start of what they hope will be a campaign that gets them back into the playoffs.
Much will have to happen between now and then, but in the meantime, here are some notes to get you by as the Cardinals got things started.
David Johnson, much to improve on?
David Johnson was a beast in 2017.
The second-year pro led the NFL with 2,118 yards from scrimmage and 20 total touchdowns. For much of the season he was essentially the Cardinals’ offense, only failing to reach 100 yards from scrimmage in a game once — Week 17 — because he left with a knee injury in the second quarter.
Yet, for all the great things he did, the Cardinals still finished with seven wins and missed the playoffs. And for that, as the offseason program gets underway, the running back takes responsibility.
“It motivates me even more because we were supposed to have such a promising season last year, and I felt like some of the stuff I messed up on,” he said. “And now I’ve got a new year, I’m learning — continuing to learn — and I can’t wait for it to start.”
It may seem weird for Johnson to take responsibility for the team’s struggles given all he accomplished. However, for the 25-year-old who was a third-round pick out of Northern Iowa in 2015, it all fits right into the kind of player and person he is.
“Just because I had so many errors that hurt our team, and I didn’t finish the way I wanted to with the injury,” he said. “I have to come back and bounce back.”
In terms of the injury, which was a sprained MCL, Johnson is now fine. He has been cleared to return for weeks and is set to be a full participant in the team’s offseason work. It is in this time, he said, he can improve.
“I feel like I can basically get better at all aspects, but mainly I want to get better at the pass protection,” he said. “I missed a lot of blocks and I missed a lot of linebackers and hurt Carson, got him sacked or made him rush the throw.
“That’s probably my main focus, working on that.”
D.J.’s been working at it
D.J. Humphries was a left tackle in college but for the first season and a half of his professional career was asked to play on the right side.
He got a chance to slide back over midway through last season, however, after incumbent Jared Veldheer landed on injured reserve. Humphries started three games at left tackle before leaving the third with a concussion, and though he did not return to the field in 2016, did enough to convince the coaching staff that left tackle was where he belonged.
“I’m excited about it. I mean, that’s all I’ve practiced all offseason, so it’s kind of going to be a little sketchy if I have to go back over there (to the right side),” he said with a laugh.
The decision to keep Humphries on the left side was not made lightly, especially since that means the Cardinals are moving Veldheer to right tackle. A veteran, Veldheer has said he is open to the challenge and trying to learn the position. That the coaches decided this was for the best says nothing about Veldheer, however, and everything about Humphries.
“That was a big deal for me because it was kind of fast,” he said of playing left tackle last season. “I didn’t have really a lot of time to think about it.
“So that really let me know, hey, I was thrown in the fire a bit and I was OK, I was able to handle myself. So I was excited to be able to get a full offseason, just training at strictly that, and then get back out here and test my hand at it.”
Catching up with Peterson
With Calais Campbell’s departure, and because Karlos Dansby is now on his third stint with the team, Patrick Peterson is now the longest tenured (by consecutive seasons, anyway) member of the Cardinals’ defense.
He admitted it was odd getting offseason work started without Campbell and Tony Jefferson, in particular, both of whom left Arizona in free agency.
In terms of what the Cardinals added this offseason, however, Peterson said it can be a good thing that the team added some veterans in Dansby and safety Antoine Bethea because the experience they bring will “pretty much let the car drive itself.”
The car went off the road a bit last season, and Peterson said it already seemed like players are a bit more hungry coming off the disappointment.
“But now we want to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” he said. “We always have a good, pretty much majority of the team here trying to get better, trying to get that chemistry down, trying to make sure everybody’s on the same page at all times.”
While Peterson and his teammates are trying to get on the same page, it appears as if another elite corner and his team are on different chapters entirely. Up in Seattle, Pro Bowler Richard Sherman’s name has been involved in trade talks, which Peterson said surprised him.
“But you know, I have no idea what’s going on over there in that organization,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s a business. You have speculation of him blowing up on teammates and things like that — who knows what it is.
“Richard’s a great player — like he did say, the grass is not always greener on the other side.”
