Rodney Hudson looks to help Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals prosper

On the same day that free agency officially began in the NFL, Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim made a trade.

He sent over a 2021 third-round pick to the Las Vegas Raiders for center Rodney Hudson and a seventh-round selection in this year’s draft.

Hudson was introduced by the Cardinals on Friday at a press conference where the center said he had already begun exchanging text messages with quarterback Kyler Murray.

“The first thing I need to do is just be myself,” Hudson said of how he can help Murray. “He’s obviously super talented and played really well so far, so just come in and be myself and assist him with whatever he needs.

“He’s very talented, big arm, obviously fast and quick and can really stretch the field. He has a lot of ability so looking forward to getting in there and being able to help in any capacity that I can.”

“I think it’s very important that the quarterback and center see things the same way,” Hudson told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Friday. “Whatever it might be: blitzes, adjustments or whatnot — that’ll be important to our success.”

Originally drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the second round out of Florida in 2011, Hudson has nine years of NFL experience under his belt. And despite being a Pro Bowl center three of the last five seasons, Hudson says there’s always room for improvement.

“I think one of the biggest teachers is experience. It’s my opinion that the more you play, the more you learn,” he explained. “I can say for myself that I’m still learning. I think you’re always learning as you go, you always see something new and it always teaches you something.”

“I think that it’s good we have a bunch of leaders,” Hudson added. “You can never have enough guys that are willing to lead by example and vocally. It’ll be good for us to get in here and grow together.”

Having spent the entirety of his nine-year career with the Chiefs (2011-14) and Raiders (2015-20), Hudson hasn’t had too many opportunities to see what this Cardinals team is capable of — specifically on offense with the likes of Murray and All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.

“Being in the AFC, I haven’t really seen a lot of their games just because we don’t play the same opponents,” he explained.

“I was watching highlights on YouTube the last couple days just to see what the offense has been doing. … I’ve seen a lot of big plays, a lot of explosive plays. Really getting the ball to different people and like I said, I’m looking forward to being a part of that.”

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