Cardinals quarterback Phillip Sims accomplished personal milestones in Saturday’s debut

To fans and media members the first week of the NFL preseason has very little value.

Sure, there are story lines, such as a player who return from a serious injury the year before (Carson Palmer) or a comeback from a life-threatening disease (Eric Berry).

But for the most part the first week of the preseason gets overlooked.

Starters usually only play a possession or two and the second half is usually littered with guys who will be sending out job resumes in September.

Just don’t tell those guys that the preseason is meaningless or doesn’t hold any value.

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Phillip Sims went on the Burns and Gambo show on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Monday and discussed what it was like to play in his first NFL game, which included his first NFL touchdown pass.

“It is one milestone,” Sims said. “I feel like every milestone you reach when you set goals for yourself, you should cherish that moment. Playing in your first NFL game, preseason or regular season, it is a great accomplishment for many guys.”

Sims road to accomplishing this milestone of playing in a NFL preseason game, a feat that few of us will ever have the chanec to do, did not come with an easy path.

The Cardinals quarterback started out on scholarship at Alabama, but lost a quarterback competition with A.J. McCarron. From there, Sims went to Virginia where he became academically ineligible, which led him to play Division II football at Winston-Salem.

His path led him to sign with the Cardinals after not being drafted, where he is battling Logan Thomas for the 3rd-string quarterback position.

Sims may have helped his stock with a late drive that resulted in his first career touchdown pass on Saturday night.

“It was real nice,” Sims said on the feeling of throwing a 1-yard touchdown to Travis Harvey.

“They did a good job defensively covering us up on the front side, wanted to go on the right. It could’ve been a holding call in the back of the end zone on the right that prevented us from getting open over there. I just tried to work on the back side and saw the guy lose his defender and Travis did a great job making a catch for me.”

Sims finished his first game 3-for-12 with 49 yards and the one touchdown while Thomas went 9-for-15 with 107 yards and an interception.