Cardinals rookie Crowley trying to put on weight, transition into NFL
Going into the draft, Cardinals rookie center Lucas Crowley kept hearing from the critics who were saying he needed to put on more weight.
Clemson's Shaq Lawson (90) is blocked by North Carolina's Lucas Crowley (68) as North Carolina quarterback Marquise Williams (12) passes during the first half of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship NCAA college football game in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015. (AP Photo/Bob Leverone)
(AP Photo/Bob Leverone)
Going into the draft, Cardinals rookie center Lucas Crowley kept hearing from the critics who were saying he needed to put on more weight.
Crowley joined Doug and Wolf Tuesday on 98.7 FM, Arizona’s Sports Station, and said his playing weight in college ranged from about 280 to 290 pounds.
In comparison, the Cardinals’ starting center, A.Q. Shipley, is listed at 307 pounds.
Now at 293 pounds, Crowley doesn’t feel like his weight will or ever has held him back.
“It’s definitely not a bad thing to put on weight,” Crowley admitted. “But I’ve always done well at where I’m at and feel good at where I’m at.
“If they need me to gain weight, I can gain weight, if they want me to stay where I am, I’ll stay where I am. I’ve never had an issue playing at my weight, so I feel pretty good about it.”
In four years at North Carolina, Crowley’s size didn’t seem to be an issue.
A prospect from Florida, Crowley started 41 games, including every game during his junior and senior seasons. He was twice named a Rimington Award nominee, which is given annually to the best center in the country.
The center had a productive career in Chapel Hill, but the offense he ran in college did not quite prepare him for the NFL.
“It’s pretty simple, we ran a fast offense (at North Carolina), so all of our calls were simple make,” Crowley said. “I didn’t have to make a mike point or make a lot of calls, we didn’t make a lot of checks, we were a go, go, go and made the play call and ran with it. It was a simple offense compared to [Arizona]. I didn’t have to read a defense or know what formation we were in or anything like that.”
That means his first NFL offseason has been quite the wakeup call, with Crowley not only having to learn a new playbook, but trying to perfect foreign concepts.
“It’s been a pretty tough transition for sure as far as the mental aspect of the game goes,” Crowley said. “But physically and everything has been good.”
Related
Trey McBride and Andrew Wingard are now Cardinals teammates after being college rivals
Roster gymnastics: How the Cardinals can get creative with 53-man roster cuts
Cardinals and Hjalte Froholdt agree to contract extension
Cardinals sign punter Jack Browning, safety Josh Minkins
LaFleur vs. LaFleur? Cardinals-Packers joint practice shaping up to be more memorable than most
Carson Beck ‘TBD’ for Cardinals’ game vs. Packers after throwing session
Comments
1 Comments
Crowley will not make the roster as the Cardinals are set at Center. A.Q Shipley is an Excellent Above-Average Center ranked 13th of 37 ranked starting Center's last year signed thru 2018 though AZ has a potential out after this year in the deal.
Behind Shipley we of course have future starting Center greatly talented 6"3 now 320pd G/C Evan Boehm, who has sky-high potential with Pro-Bowl caliber talent/ability in my opinion at both OG/C. I think as soon as next year Boehm could take over at Center with extremely talented massive 6"5 RG Dorian Johnson taking over starting RG Duties. The line has a ton of very high quality backups who would start on most other teams & who play Center as well as OG/C like 6"5/319pd Tony Bergstrom n 2nd year C/G 6"5 now 319pd Cole Toner who can be an excellent starting interior linemen among a handful of other starting quality backups so the chances of Crowley making the team are basically non existent.