Trey McBride’s confidence continues to grow with Tight End University invite
Jun 26, 2024, 11:19 AM | Updated: 11:55 am
TEMPE — Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride added a new extracurricular activity to his growing NFL resume this offseason: Tight End University attendee.
Spending last week at TEU, a three-day summit founded in 2021 by George Kittle, Travis Kelce and Greg Olsen, McBride got the chance to rub shoulders with some of the top big-bodied pass catchers in the NFL, past and present.
“It’s a cool group of guys. They’re all there for the same reason trying to spread knowledge and help each other out and get the tight end position to grow as much as it can,” McBride said Tuesday.
“It was very cool to be a part of that and to work out with those guys for a few days was a blast.”
The experience left a lasting mark on McBride, who hopes to be a return camper for years to come.
It also gave those outside Arizona an opportunity to get a better look at the up-and-coming Cardinals pass catcher, with Kittle telling reporters that McBride is “just going to keep getting better” while discussing the next wave of young tight ends.
That kind of respect from one of the game’s most well-known tight ends only adds to the confidence continuing to well up within McBride ahead of Year 3.
Getting closer with quarterback Kyler Murray and his teammates while coming off a breakout season doesn’t hurt, either.
Arizona Cardinals TE Trey McBride is like a lot of us…
He's eager to see the connection between Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. in action during training camp and beyond. #AZCardinals pic.twitter.com/OdVbjw3mLi
— Tyler Drake (@Tdrake4sports) June 25, 2024
But while many are already penciling in McBride as a TE1 in fantasy football, McBride isn’t getting too far ahead of himself.
“Most importantly I think it’s (about) getting better each and every week. Last year, that was my goal every single week,” McBride said. “I wanted to get better and better and I kind of felt like I did that leading into the end of the season.
“Now, it’s just picking up where I left off and trying to get better from there and growing every single week. We have so many guys in our room, so many guys that do different things, learning from them and ultimately trying to make this offense as good as possible.”
Speaking of Arizona’s offense, McBride believes “the sky’s the limit” based on the added offensive weapons and early analysis from organized team activities and minicamp, so much so that he believes the 1,000-yard mark is a much more obtainable goal in 2024.
After all, he was only 175 yards away after sitting behind veteran Zach Ertz for the first half of the year.
“It was close last year, but I think it’s maybe realistic this year,” McBride said.
"He loves to block and there's no joke about that."
Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride believes rookie Tip Reiman is gonna be "a huge asset" to the TEs room. #AZCardinals #Birdgang pic.twitter.com/RhKvkYISTd
— Cardinals Corner (@AZCardsCorner) June 25, 2024