LaFleur does not view Cardinals as being ahead despite extra preseason game

GLENDALE — The Arizona Cardinals are ahead of the rest of the NFL.

We don’t expect that to be a theme of the 2026 season, but in terms of this time of year with training camp and the preseason, it sure is.

Coming off the Hall of Fame game into the Red & White practice on Sunday, Arizona has done everything operationally that goes into playing a game before every other team in the league besides Carolina. The preparation, the game itself, the debrief and so on. Even if it’s a game that mostly featured players that should be inconsequential to the big picture, the process was there.

Despite the facts of the timeline, head coach Mike LaFleur said it does not feel that way.

“I don’t feel like we’re ahead. I feel like we’re going into that next practice. We got to start early, but yeah, I don’t feel like we’re ahead at all,” he said.

Whether that’s him refusing to settle with that type of mindset — which is what his tone suggested with a “we’re on to Cincinatti” type of response — or just the reality of where they are, it speaks to how long this process goes regardless of if you got the Hall of Fame game buff or not.

For a player like defensive lineman Andrew Billings, one of a handful of guys expected to get some regular season snaps this year who did play in Canton, he sees the benefit.

“I think so. I think that extra week did help,” Billings said. “Especially, new defense and just overall just a head start on playing football over everybody else. Got a lot more mistakes on film that they don’t get till a week later, so a little bit more time to fix ’em.”

Camp started all the way back on July 22, and the Cardinals’ second preseason game on Thursday in Las Vegas is a whole month before the season opener on Sept. 13 against the Los Angeles Chargers. In terms of the extra percentage of time Arizona got, it’s not too different, as LaFleur alluded to. But it is some extra time.

Does this directly correlate with a team’s success? No! Is it an advantage for the Cardinals, especially in the first year of a new head coach? Yes!

It wouldn’t be unreasonable to see that effect or for it to at least have a minor impact on LaFleur’s choices when it comes to how much of the first-team players we see across the rest of the preseason.

LaFleur, once more, did not see it that way.

“Regardless of if they’re going to play or not this week, it would have been the same amount of time,” LaFleur said. “We just wouldn’t have had that preseason game in Canton. I don’t think that was going to play into the decision.”

When asked if he has a plan yet for Thursday in terms of who is in or out, he asked if it is Sunday. It indeed was, so the wait on that information will persist.

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