New Arizona Cardinal Ted Ginn, Jr. glad to be wanted, ready to produce
Mar 27, 2014, 10:10 PM | Updated: 11:26 pm
Ted Ginn, Jr. was looking for a multi-year contract, and the Arizona Cardinals offered him one.
“They wanted me,” Ginn told the Dan Bickley Show with Vince Marotta on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Thursday. “The coaching staff looked at my film and thought I was a good fit for their situation.
“I went in and it was a great fit for me.”
The plan is for Ginn, who signed a three-year deal and is known for being one of the league’s faster receivers, to come in and help stretch the field.
The receiver, who has spent time with the Miami Dolphins, San Francisco 49ers and Carolina Panthers, is ready to do that or anything else the coaches want.
“Just try to be the best deep threat I can be and however they go out and design things with the receiver corps, whatever my job may be I’m just going to fulfill it the best way I can.”
Last season, as a Panther, Ginn caught 36 passes for 556 yards and five touchdowns. His 15.4 yards per reception were a career high, though he has a career mark of 13.2.
At 5-foot-11 and 178 pounds he does not have the size that Arizona’s other starting receivers have, but his speed is something neither Larry Fitzgerald nor Michael Floyd possess.
Upon being introduced to the Valley media after signing the contract, Ginn said he’d probably run the 40-yard dash in about 4.38 seconds. Defensive coordinators know that, meaning even if Ginn isn’t the one getting the football, he will have an impact whenever he is on the field.
And if all goes according to plan, he may be part of the difference between the Cardinals just missing the playoffs, as they did in 2013, and making a postseason run.
But if that’s to happen, Ginn and the team will have to battle through a still very difficult NFC West, which Ginn is now part of once again.
“I’ve been in this division for a while,” he said, adding he was only out of it for last season and ended up facing off against the division’s teams anyway. “It’s just going back home, back to the west coast on a different squad.
“Love the colors, one of my favorite colors ever.”
Ginn, of course, is talking about Cardinal Red, which is not very different from what he used to wear while starring at Ohio State in college.
He’s looking to reach similar levels of success, too, and at 28 believes he’s still got some quality seasons ahead of him.
“I’m still in my prime,” he said. “I still haven’t got started, for real. That’s how I look at it, that’s how me and my staff look at it. It should be great things to come.
“Going out here with this receiver corps and Carson Palmer and the way they design things, I think it should be great.”
