Arizona Cardinals WR Greg Dortch staying level-headed amid strong start

TEMPE — Within an Arizona Cardinals team that has lacked consistency early on, wide receiver Greg Dortch represents one of the team’s lone bright spots three games into 2022.

Slated as the team’s current No. 2 option from sheer volume, Dortch is second on the team behind Hollywood Brown in targets (23), catches (20) and receiving yards (198). He’s tied with Brown with three catches of at least 20 yards and is first among Arizona pass catchers in yards after the catch with 113.

The wide receiver’s confidence within the offense is evident and growing by the game. For that trend to continue, Dortch knows it comes down to remaining locked in and focusing on the little details at practice and in the film room.

“I feel like I’m doing a really good job, honestly, at this point. Just trying to stay level-headed,” Dortch said Tuesday. “I don’t want to get too hyped, I don’t want to get too low. It’s just football and I love to play football. I just try to go out there and just make plays.”

Dortch’s successes could come in handy with injuries plaguing the wide receiver room as the team readies itself for its Week 4 matchup against the Carolina Panthers.

With DeAndre Hopkins (suspension) and Antoine Wesley (injured reserve) already set to miss this week, the jury is still out as to whether or not Rondale Moore or A.J. Green will be active when Sunday rolls around.

Moore has yet to make his 2022 debut with a hamstring injury this season, while Green is dealing with a bone bruise suffered in the team’s Week 3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

Missing Green in the lineup would take out some serious height for Arizona’s group of active pass catchers, with Dortch, Brown and Andy Isabella all standing 5-foot-9 or shorter. Practice squad WR Andre Baccellia, who was played in all three games, sits at 5-foot-10.

Obviously, having Green in the mix would be beneficial for the offense, but Dortch is confident in his fellow wideouts.

“I’m 5-foot-7 and I feel like I play pretty big,” Dortch said. “It’s football. Size, yeah it can help but at the end of the day, we just got to play football. We got to be football players. You can’t measure heart, you can’t measure what a guy has inside of him. Height, it looks good on paper, but you still got to go out there and perform.

“I’m not big on height,” the wide receiver added. “It’s about making plays. I know some 6-foot-5 guys that can’t make plays, I know 5-foot-8 guys that can make plays. … It’s just about going out there and doing your job.”

And while Dortch’s play this season hasn’t been lost on his coaches, teammates and fans, they aren’t the only ones getting a closer look at the wide receiver.

As Dortch continues to see targets come his way, the fantasy football world is taking notice of the wide receiver’s presence in head coach Kliff Kingsbury’s offense.

How someone did in their weekly head-to-head matchup is not something hovering over Dortch’s head, though.

“I had a guy come up to me — I think it was a media guy actually — in the locker room and asked me about something fantasy and I was like, ‘Bro, I don’t really even get into all of that,'” Dortch said.

“I’ve never played fantasy, I don’t have boys that play it. Of course, I’m on social media so you might get a guy on your social media page say, ‘Hey, you got me this many points this week.’ But I don’t really care about stuff like that. I just go out there and play football.”

Follow @Tdrake4sports