Cardinals Cover 2 - Road Warriors To Begin Season, Home Bodies To End Season

Ep. 1008 - The workweek begins with all players in the building and on the field for Phase 3 of the offseason program. Craig Grialou and Zach Gershman discuss the start of organized team activities, or OTAs for short. Craig and Zach then break down the just-released Cardinals’ schedule. The who and the where have been known for months. Now the when, how the 17 games over 18 weeks will be stacked. And let’s be honest, the schedule is a tough one. It’s front-loaded with road trips and back-loaded with home games. Craig and Zach go game-by-game, looking at the matchups and the storylines, including the number of different reunions, both coaches and players facing their former teams.

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Speaker 1: The schedule is out, We've had some time to think

Speaker 1: about it. So what do we think about it? God,

Speaker 1: Zach Erstman, Wickenberg Gang. We've known the who and the where.

Speaker 1: Now we know the win seventeen games over eighteen weeks,

Speaker 1: plus news on the twenty twenty six draft class. It's

Speaker 1: Cardinals Cover two and it starts now.

Speaker 2: Welcome to Cardinals Cover two.

Speaker 3: Poona Baker, What Heart?

Speaker 2: What rent?

Speaker 3: This guy's unbelievable.

Speaker 4: Cardinals Cover two is presented by Hyundai, proud partner of

Speaker 4: the Arizona Cardinals, and by Arizona Cardinals Podcast. Visit Azycardinals

Speaker 4: dot Com Slash podcast.

Speaker 3: Right at the five hit to the end zone for

Speaker 3: the Cardinal touchdown.

Speaker 2: Drey McBride, he's been an absolute monster. Here's Craig Griolo.

Speaker 2: So this is a big week.

Speaker 1: Well, you know, honestly, Zach, every week is big in

Speaker 1: the National Football League, even though we're here in the

Speaker 1: middle of May.

Speaker 2: But every week.

Speaker 1: Kudos to the NFL for doing that, by the way,

Speaker 1: even not waiting until the regular season begins. But this

Speaker 1: week for the Arizona Cardinals, phase three of the off

Speaker 1: season program beginning. In other words, the first organized team

Speaker 1: activity OTA for short. So what does that mean today, Well, one,

Speaker 1: it's still voluntary, but more importantly, it looks more like

Speaker 1: football seven on seven, eleven on eleven. Still no contacts,

Speaker 1: but you're you're looking more like a football team out

Speaker 1: on that field behind you.

Speaker 5: Yeah, you start to actually put in the identity of

Speaker 5: what your team is going to be. You've spent the

Speaker 5: entire beginning portion of OTA's working on. You know your scheme,

Speaker 5: your basics, your fundamentals, and while you can't have any

Speaker 5: contact with anybody, you could start to actually pick, can

Speaker 5: choose what you like from what you have taught the

Speaker 5: players versus what they are now actually putting out there

Speaker 5: on the field when you're able to actually see it,

Speaker 5: and you do get a different perspective when you are

Speaker 5: able to line up across from if you're the offense

Speaker 5: lining up across from the defense. Now, because there's no contact,

Speaker 5: the defensive backs aren't gonna get handsy, They're likely not

Speaker 5: going to be intercepting any passes. So this is like

Speaker 5: an offense's dream because you know, this is the time

Speaker 5: of year that you could talk a little bit of smack.

Speaker 5: And if we know Trey McBride in the way that

Speaker 5: we know Trey McBride and his relationship with Nick Rowse.

Speaker 5: There'll be a lot of trash talk that'll be spoken

Speaker 5: between the two.

Speaker 1: Because it's no contact and you're not quite going full speed,

Speaker 1: so a lot of it is what you see is

Speaker 1: DB's running stride for stride with the pass catchers and

Speaker 1: maybe talking a little trash or putting a hand up,

Speaker 1: but again not knocking down a pass. And then the

Speaker 1: pass rushers, your edge rushers not really making a move,

Speaker 1: but if they get into the backfield, it's so and

Speaker 1: not hit the quarterback, but you get close enough and

Speaker 1: maybe a little taper here and there, and again a

Speaker 1: lot of it is fun. But I like what you

Speaker 1: said there as far as taking that playbook now out

Speaker 1: in the football field. You won't really know how things

Speaker 1: will work until you get to the preseason in the

Speaker 1: regular season. But hey, with a defender in my way,

Speaker 1: where can we go or where do we think we

Speaker 1: might be blocked from going? Based off how we drew

Speaker 1: it up in the meeting room.

Speaker 5: And let's also talk about what this means for the

Speaker 5: quarterback situation, because now this is the first time that

Speaker 5: you're all going to be entering a huddle together, you're

Speaker 5: going to be giving the play. You're gonna see how

Speaker 5: everybody lines up. Michael Ford talks a ton about that

Speaker 5: pre snap communication that you have to have. Obviously, it

Speaker 5: goes with the cadence of which we talked about in

Speaker 5: a previous episode of Cardinals Cover two, but it also

Speaker 5: goes into actually getting to the line making sure that

Speaker 5: you're quick there because to seconds actually in the huddle

Speaker 5: that play clock starts to tick down a little bit.

Speaker 5: So I think that that's going to be an important aspect.

Speaker 5: The other important aspect if you're a guy like Carson Beck,

Speaker 5: even any of the other quarterbacks Jacoby Brissett, Gardner, Minshew

Speaker 5: Keat and Slovas, you start to see what Nick Rowlis

Speaker 5: is starting to show you from a defensive perspective, and

Speaker 5: in a large part you're just really trying to diagnose

Speaker 5: what you see out there on the field. And we

Speaker 5: know Nick Rowis can be very creative with the schemes.

Speaker 5: If you're Carson Beck, this is a really good challenge.

Speaker 5: It's not going to be the same as a Miles

Speaker 5: Garrett or somebody that you're going to.

Speaker 3: Be competing against.

Speaker 5: Even though the Cardinals do not have the Browns on

Speaker 5: their schedule, which we'll talk about a little bit later.

Speaker 5: But you start to look at some of these edge

Speaker 5: rushers that they're going to be going up against. You

Speaker 5: don't have anybody that's in the backfield at that time,

Speaker 5: but it allows you to just start to diagnose what

Speaker 5: do you see out there? And then before you right

Speaker 5: when you think you might have the answer, Nick Ralis

Speaker 5: could call an audible or Mac Wilson Senior could shout

Speaker 5: something out and it looks like a totally different zone.

Speaker 1: Ski and it might happen before you get to this phase.

Speaker 1: But another aspect is that whole saying iron sharpens iron.

Speaker 1: You know, again you're not going full speed, but an

Speaker 1: offensive player and a defensive player can have that discussion

Speaker 1: after a play. Yes, it's still walkthrough, but this is

Speaker 1: the move that I beat you on, or have you

Speaker 1: thought about doing this to protect the quarterback or opening

Speaker 1: up a rushing lane. Hey, when you're out in space,

Speaker 1: do this, put your hands here, don't put your hands there.

Speaker 1: That kind of conversation between a defensive player and an

Speaker 1: offensive player to make sure once you do get to

Speaker 1: someone that is trying to defeat you or trying to

Speaker 1: prevent you from doing something. Those little tricks perhaps come

Speaker 1: up again.

Speaker 5: It's a competitive walkthrough. It's kind of the way I

Speaker 5: look at it now. When you're in a walkthrough during

Speaker 5: the season, you're scouting the opponent, you're having some of

Speaker 5: the guys act like they are the opponent. They're wearing

Speaker 5: the fake jerseys and trying to throw off the opposing

Speaker 5: side of the ball that they're going to be competing against.

Speaker 5: In this case, you're just competing against yourselves. You're just

Speaker 5: both trying to implement your scheme and your style as

Speaker 5: you're trying to install it all into the system. So look,

Speaker 5: in this case, there's not going to be a ton

Speaker 5: out there, and there's only going to be so much

Speaker 5: that we could report on, and only so much that

Speaker 5: we could report on that matters during this time of

Speaker 5: the year. You're not going to win any starting battles

Speaker 5: on this day in May, but you could just start

Speaker 5: to see what a coach lillfloor team looks like from

Speaker 5: the style, the way they approach the line of scrimmage,

Speaker 5: and as much as physical as you can get. You

Speaker 5: will see it out there. But there really is not

Speaker 5: a lot of physicality.

Speaker 1: Three weeks of OTA's one week of mini camp, and

Speaker 1: then there's a break before training camp begins. And the Cardinals,

Speaker 1: of course, will be beginning training camp just a little

Speaker 1: bit earlier because of the Hall of Fame game. This

Speaker 1: also today the first time players are all back in

Speaker 1: the building since the release of the twenty twenty six

Speaker 1: NFL schedule. We've all had some time here, Zach to

Speaker 1: kind of digest what the schedule is. And the immediate

Speaker 1: reaction is, oh, my goodness, you said it. Look, we

Speaker 1: all knew who the opponents were, we all knew where

Speaker 1: the games were going to take place. It's how do

Speaker 1: you stack these games up? And the NFL did the

Speaker 1: Cardinals no favors. It's heavy front loaded with a bunch

Speaker 1: of road games, it is heavy backloaded with a bunch

Speaker 1: of home games. And the buy comes at the latest

Speaker 1: possible points in Week fourteen, no international games, no primetime games.

Speaker 1: I don't think that's a surprise at all as far

Speaker 1: as prime time is concerned. I did find it interesting though,

Speaker 1: that the rest of the division, the Rams was seven,

Speaker 1: which ties for the most all time for one single team.

Speaker 1: Seahawks was six, and the forty nine ers five.

Speaker 5: That's assuming they don't get flexed into any more games

Speaker 5: later on in the year.

Speaker 1: There is that potential as well.

Speaker 5: Look, am I surprised that the Cardinals did not get

Speaker 5: a primetime game. Not necessarily all the teams that were

Speaker 5: in the top of the draft or or did not

Speaker 5: get a primetime game. And even that you can sometimes

Speaker 5: expect first overall pick in Fernanda Mendoza, you sometimes expect

Speaker 5: that team to get a primetime game, at least a

Speaker 5: Thursday night game, and they didn't get that. So I

Speaker 5: think the league is starting to see them say to

Speaker 5: themselves which teams are is the public not just within

Speaker 5: the local markets but nationally what games are they excited about?

Speaker 5: And there's a lot of good games, a lot of

Speaker 5: good storylines all throughout the NFL, and the Cardinals have

Speaker 5: their own sets of storylines that will, you know, stand

Speaker 5: out and be important and will be magnified here in

Speaker 5: the desert. But look, you gotta win games. When you

Speaker 5: win games, you will get flex into these good opportunities.

Speaker 5: It hasn't happened yet, obviously. This is a first year

Speaker 5: situation for Michael Flour and you hope that the Cardinals

Speaker 5: are able to strink together a handful of wins. But

Speaker 5: it starts in the preseason, like it really does. You

Speaker 5: have that The fact that you're going up against two

Speaker 5: teams that you are playing in the regular season is rare.

Speaker 5: I'm not sure if that's ever happened. Sometimes you'll have

Speaker 5: one team that you might play in the regular season,

Speaker 5: but two teams. That does not happen all that often.

Speaker 5: So it's a heavy, front loaded schedule. There's so many

Speaker 5: different things that we could say about it, like it's

Speaker 5: a lot.

Speaker 3: It's a lot to say the least.

Speaker 1: It is what it is at this point for what

Speaker 1: the Cardinals will face in twenty twenty six. By the way,

Speaker 1: the other teams with outs primetime games Dolphins, Jets, Raiders,

Speaker 1: and Titans and four teams in the draft. You have

Speaker 1: to earn your way onto the national stage, and sometimes

Speaker 1: you can do it with a free agency splash or

Speaker 1: what you do in the draft. Mostly though, it's what

Speaker 1: did you do the year before? Do you have a

Speaker 1: team that people fans want to watch on a national stage?

Speaker 1: Because now all of a sudden, there are more standalone

Speaker 1: games than ever before, and you're playing on every single day,

Speaker 1: but a Tuesday in twenty twenty six.

Speaker 5: That's crazy, that's crazy. I know you said kudos to

Speaker 5: the NFL for what they're able to do in May.

Speaker 5: You are now taking over the entire week. And it's funny,

Speaker 5: we don't even talk about the NBA Christmas Games anymore.

Speaker 5: That used to be That used to be their day.

Speaker 3: That day and Martin Martin Luther King Day were the

Speaker 3: two days at the day.

Speaker 2: They can still have that day.

Speaker 3: They do still have that day as they should. That

Speaker 3: is an NBA staple.

Speaker 5: I would have assumed that an NBA staple would have

Speaker 5: remained the Christmas Day games. And I guess if you

Speaker 5: don't work in this side of the business, you would

Speaker 5: say that it is still the case. But the way

Speaker 5: that the NFL and Netflix and all these media rights deals,

Speaker 5: how they've been able to capture a calendar and really

Speaker 5: take over from July when training camp kicks off all

Speaker 5: the way through February, it's going to be money talks.

Speaker 5: Let's keep it real here, money talks. And I think

Speaker 5: in this case the Cardinals, they need to try to

Speaker 5: figure out a way, the only way you could figure

Speaker 5: out a way to earn the respect of the NFL

Speaker 5: as you start to go throughout the year is by

Speaker 5: surprising teams like that's what it comes down to. There

Speaker 5: are a lot of teams that have gone from worse

Speaker 5: to first. It was even the New England Patriots the

Speaker 5: year prior and then they made it all the way

Speaker 5: to the Super Bowl. They there's an opportunity, there's a way,

Speaker 5: and I will tease something here. There are people that

Speaker 5: are still very high on the Arizona Cardinals despite the schedule.

Speaker 5: But then again, the schedule, you knew who the teams were.

Speaker 5: You knew it was gonna be one of the toughest

Speaker 5: because you're going up against the NFC East and AFC West.

Speaker 5: I think what's the jarring part of it all is

Speaker 5: just seeing how frontloaded it is with traveling. You're traveling

Speaker 5: to three of the four preseason games, the first what

Speaker 5: is it the first six weeks you have the four

Speaker 5: games on the road. Nine weeks six games on the road.

Speaker 3: It's a lot.

Speaker 1: He do you divide the schedule in half first nine weeks,

Speaker 1: last nine weeks. First nine weeks six road games, final

Speaker 1: nine weeks, which does include the bye week six home games,

Speaker 1: so you're home for the holidays, which is good if

Speaker 1: you're a you'll.

Speaker 5: Travel once after Thanksgiving. I think it's to New Orleans.

Speaker 5: That's good, And I think depending on how the season goes,

Speaker 5: you could say, well, all right, I'm glad we're staying home.

Speaker 5: I'm glad I'm able to play in front of our

Speaker 5: home fans and not have to travel and not have

Speaker 5: to battle any.

Speaker 3: Of that type of stuff.

Speaker 5: Or if you surprise a lot of teams and you

Speaker 5: surprise the league and you're able to win some of

Speaker 5: those games, you give the home fans. You give Cardinals

Speaker 5: fans an opportunity to cheer on their team in meaningful games.

Speaker 5: But it does start with the start of the season.

Speaker 5: How are you able to come out the gates. Are

Speaker 5: you gonna come out the gates swinging? Are you gonna

Speaker 5: come out the gates getting punch? Because you're going up

Speaker 5: against a lot of these really talented teams. Obviously, Week two,

Speaker 5: week three are against division opponents. Week six is against

Speaker 5: a division opponent. You're gonna have the Giants mix in

Speaker 5: there with John Harball. That's a different team you're gonna

Speaker 5: have Week one with Jim Harbaugh. You know what you're

Speaker 5: getting out of the Los Angeles Chargers and then week five,

Speaker 5: and I know I'm kind of bouncing around in the

Speaker 5: first six weeks of the season, but you're gonna have

Speaker 5: the Detroit Lions, and I know that they were in

Speaker 5: the last place in the NFC North, but they were

Speaker 5: also nine to eight, and that's still a Dan Campbell

Speaker 5: coach team, and you're gonna be going up against Drew Petsing.

Speaker 5: There's gonna be a lot of interesting storylines that by

Speaker 5: the end of week six, I think you're gonna have

Speaker 5: a lot of answers for what this Cardinals team looks like,

Speaker 5: especially towards the back end of the season.

Speaker 1: Let's go month by month with this twenty twenty six

Speaker 1: regular season schedule. We'll do the preseason after that, but

Speaker 1: going month to month, and it is a later start

Speaker 1: to the right regular season Sunday September thirteenth because where

Speaker 1: Labor Day lands, so the season has just three games

Speaker 1: in September on the road for the fourth straight year.

Speaker 1: To open up a regular season, the Cardinals will visit

Speaker 1: the Los Angeles Chargers, first time facing the Chargers at

Speaker 1: SOFI Stadium. And then the other storyline is you got

Speaker 1: Mike Laflor and then Chargers OC Mike McDaniel were on

Speaker 1: the same staff in San Francisco from twenty seventeen to

Speaker 1: twenty twenty.

Speaker 2: Oh.

Speaker 3: I didn't even think of that.

Speaker 5: I just think I just think of Michael Floor going

Speaker 5: back to Sofi Stadium, but not against but not against

Speaker 5: the Rams. I think that that's a good thing, though,

Speaker 5: I really do. I think for a lot of coaches,

Speaker 5: they talk about how weird it is to be on

Speaker 5: the opposing sidelines, walk into the opposing teams locker room,

Speaker 5: and how that is kind of a little bit of

Speaker 5: a mental trip for them, because, especially when you go

Speaker 5: to stadiums, some of the underrated things. I remember it

Speaker 5: was with Rob Rodriguez, who was the Cardinals outside linebackers

Speaker 5: coach in twenty twenty three. I remember sitting with him

Speaker 5: in Philadelphia when we were sitting outside by the link

Speaker 5: and he was showing me he's looking at where the

Speaker 5: JumboTron is, he's looking at where the play clock is.

Speaker 5: You're they're looking at things that you might not necessarily anticipate,

Speaker 5: because every stadium has their own weird quirks, and when

Speaker 5: you're on that sideline, you're so used to the Rams sideline,

Speaker 5: you know it's it's nature. It's second nature when you

Speaker 5: look up and you know exactly where you're going to

Speaker 5: be feasting your eyes on to find out these answers.

Speaker 5: When you're on the opposing sideline, it's totally different. So

Speaker 5: I think before you get into division play, it's an

Speaker 5: important aspect that Michael four can can kind of get

Speaker 5: used to it a little bit.

Speaker 1: The month of September ends with back to back division games.

Speaker 1: The home opener Week two, September twentieth, you've got the

Speaker 1: Seattle Seahawks in town. Storyline here amongst these is Jeremiah

Speaker 1: Love and Darian Price, reunited college teammates at Notre Dame.

Speaker 5: Well, what do you think about just the fact that

Speaker 5: you're going to be going up against a division champ

Speaker 5: or not just a division super Bowl champs that early

Speaker 5: on in the season.

Speaker 1: For your home opener, again, this entire first month of

Speaker 1: the schedule is an eye opener. But to have the

Speaker 1: super Bowl champs early in the season again, you can

Speaker 1: use this as motivating.

Speaker 5: I'm saying the home opener in particular, Oh, just against

Speaker 5: just the fact that you are welcoming in this is

Speaker 5: not just a home opener against the Washington Commanders. This

Speaker 5: is against Seattle, kind of what's your view on that?

Speaker 1: Because it's Seattle and it's already a division opponent, it

Speaker 1: might not resonate as much as if it was another

Speaker 1: team coming in as the defending Super Bowl champs, a

Speaker 1: team that you don't play regularly, let alone twice in

Speaker 1: one season. Just got to make sure you quiet the

Speaker 1: twelves that potentially might be visiting State Farm Stadium.

Speaker 5: I actually think that this could not I want to

Speaker 5: say discourage Seattle fans because I do believe that we

Speaker 5: know that they're one of the best traveling fan bases

Speaker 5: in the league. But because of the storylines Michael For's

Speaker 5: home opener, Jeremiah Love, you get to see Trey McBride

Speaker 5: play football at anytime. You have the opportunity to watch

Speaker 5: Trey McBride on the field, it's the sight to see.

Speaker 5: I think that this is the exact opponent that you need.

Speaker 5: Seattle in Week seven is a very tough opponent because

Speaker 5: you're going to be They're going to be potentially rolling,

Speaker 5: They're still going to be on the high from their

Speaker 5: Super Bowl. I think in this case, you have the

Speaker 5: opportunity to quiet them down because there's so much excitement

Speaker 5: surrounding the fact that, hey, we just went all this month,

Speaker 5: all these months without football. Now we have an opportunity

Speaker 5: to come back to the stadium for the first time,

Speaker 5: be there to see Michael four in his first game,

Speaker 5: Jeremiah Love in his first game, and be there. I

Speaker 5: think that I'm not saying I'm not coming out here

Speaker 5: with any wins in lost projections. That's not the point

Speaker 5: of this breakdown that you and I are doing here.

Speaker 5: But I do think that it's probably the best opponent

Speaker 5: that you could have for a season open.

Speaker 2: It's a whole hard.

Speaker 1: Take to have Week two the Seahawks, though, we'll be

Speaker 1: a little bit more arrested, having played on Wednesday to

Speaker 1: begin their regular season as the defending Super Bowl champs.

Speaker 5: I could also throw off a team, and it's not

Speaker 5: because it's like a Thursday game where you have your routine.

Speaker 5: This is a little bit more than just a mini

Speaker 5: buy that you're going to be having.

Speaker 3: This is a lot more.

Speaker 1: Than that You've got Labor Day weekend, then all of

Speaker 1: a sudden you're playing in the middle of the week,

Speaker 1: and then what do you do after that to get

Speaker 1: back on that routine of Monday to Saturday before you

Speaker 1: play on a Sunday.

Speaker 2: Yep.

Speaker 1: And we know athletes, college professional creatures of habit. You

Speaker 1: disrupt that routine sometimes it can disrupt what you do

Speaker 1: on the field.

Speaker 3: Wouldn't surprise me.

Speaker 5: The fact that the NFL is having a game on

Speaker 5: Wednesday is rare. I think this is the first time

Speaker 5: it's ever happened when they're playing a game on Wednesday,

Speaker 5: because I think they're trying to get the.

Speaker 1: It happened once before when they opened on a Wednesday

Speaker 1: because the Democratic National Convention was on a Thursday.

Speaker 2: So they moved the game to Wednesday.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Speaker 5: Politics, yes, but you know, in this case, it's it's

Speaker 5: something that could I think benefit the Cardinals. Now how

Speaker 5: much more is that going to benefit them, I don't know,

Speaker 5: but it's a slight advantage, and when you're in the NFL,

Speaker 5: you try to take any competitive advantage you could get.

Speaker 2: The home game.

Speaker 1: The home opener will be followed up with another road trip,

Speaker 1: this one to San Francisco. And here's where you get

Speaker 1: the storyline of Mike Lafloor and Mike Shannan Excuse me,

Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan. As far as the mentor and the mentee

Speaker 1: and what that might be like for Lafleur going back

Speaker 1: to San Francisco. In fact, he is playing talking about

Speaker 1: Mike lafor he is playing every single team in which

Speaker 1: he coached at San Francisco, the Jets and the Rams.

Speaker 2: He just not playing the Atlanta Falcons.

Speaker 3: Correct. I look, San France a good team.

Speaker 5: They are a very good squad. All the teams in

Speaker 5: the West are really good teams. And there's another storyline there.

Speaker 5: Kendrick Bourne is going back to San Francisco. There's also

Speaker 5: going to be the aspect of what does Mike Evans

Speaker 5: look like in a forty nine ers jersey and how

Speaker 5: much of an additional threat does that post to this

Speaker 5: Cardinals defense. You have so much to think about and

Speaker 5: worry about what Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle now they

Speaker 5: kind of have that legit wide receiver one in Mike Evans.

Speaker 5: He'll be one to watch.

Speaker 1: October begins with a trip all the way across the

Speaker 1: country to play the New York Giants. This is the

Speaker 1: franchise's third oldest rivalry, Cardinals and Giants, dates back to

Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six. Cardinals always, though played well against the Giants.

Speaker 1: I believe, if I remember correctly, the last time the

Speaker 1: Cardinals did play the Giants, there were barely anyone in

Speaker 1: attendance because it was still during COVID and the Cardinals

Speaker 1: in New York.

Speaker 5: In New York correct because the Cardinals had the Giants

Speaker 5: at home in twenty twenty three.

Speaker 3: They were up through the first three.

Speaker 5: Quarters and then Daniel Jones orchestrated a crazy comeback and

Speaker 5: the Giants were able to beat the Josh Dobbs led Cardinals.

Speaker 1: Put that one out of my memory bank.

Speaker 5: Yeah, but this is a very different Giants team with

Speaker 5: John Harbaugh at the helm there that that is a

Speaker 5: totally different matchup than you might have otherwise had with

Speaker 5: like this is not I feel like you sometimes think

Speaker 5: about the New York Giants and where they were positioned

Speaker 5: in the draft at five is where they were picking.

Speaker 5: You sometimes think to yourself, like, Okay, this is a

Speaker 5: not a great team. Now that John Harbaugh is there,

Speaker 5: this it could be a very good team.

Speaker 1: It looks a lot different based off who is patrolling

Speaker 1: the sidelines for the Giants. So that is Week four,

Speaker 1: Week five, Cardinals come back hosts the Detroit Lions. That

Speaker 1: is October eleventh, Lions offensive coordinator Drew Petsing his return

Speaker 1: to State Farm Stadium. You got Greg Dertsch now with

Speaker 1: the Lions. He spent his spent the last five seasons

Speaker 1: with the Cardinals. So again some storylines there.

Speaker 2: For Week five, I was.

Speaker 5: Doing Cardinals bird watch with Danny Sirek and she asked me,

Speaker 5: and when we were doing our reading react segment, what's

Speaker 5: filling the blank? What's the one game you're circling or

Speaker 5: the game you're circling on the calendar is blank? This

Speaker 5: is the game I circle because I think at this

Speaker 5: point of the season, you will have known enough about

Speaker 5: your team through two division games, through two other games,

Speaker 5: one against the NFC East New York Giants and then

Speaker 5: an AFC matchup against Los Angeles Chargers. I think you're

Speaker 5: going to have a clear IRV view of what a

Speaker 5: Michael Floor led team actually looks like out there on

Speaker 5: the field. You're gonna see if Jeremiah Love is really

Speaker 5: all that in a bag of chips like a lot

Speaker 5: of people have said he could be, you know, coming

Speaker 5: out the gates from college. You're also going to have

Speaker 5: a better idea of who the quarterback is at that

Speaker 5: point of the year, and I think if the Cardinals

Speaker 5: start off on the wrong foot with a lot of

Speaker 5: these things, it can be starting that game where a

Speaker 5: lot of talk will start to happen about what the

Speaker 5: future decision should be made, because if you're gonna already

Speaker 5: be potentially down in the division and you know you're

Speaker 5: going against some of these still within conference games and

Speaker 5: you're struggling, there could be changes.

Speaker 3: But the one. There's a lot of reasons why I

Speaker 3: circled that.

Speaker 5: I do think Drew Petsing's return will elicit a reaction

Speaker 5: out of the Bird game too, and I think it's

Speaker 5: good when the when the when the fans speak their minds,

Speaker 5: and it's better when they do it on Sundays.

Speaker 1: You mentioned the division. The Cardinals will see their third

Speaker 1: division opponent in Week six, another trip to SOFI Stadium.

Speaker 1: This time it is against the Rams, and you get

Speaker 1: Mike Laflor and Sean McVay on opposite sidelines for the

Speaker 1: first time ever. So that is something to pay attention to.

Speaker 1: As far as that matchup between play caller versus play caller,

Speaker 1: they're not facing one another as far as offense defense,

Speaker 1: but as far as what offensive wrinkles. They might be

Speaker 1: able to show one another.

Speaker 5: I hope it's a little bit like the Spider Man

Speaker 5: meme where they're pointing at each other being like, our

Speaker 5: offenses look the exact same, but at the same time,

Speaker 5: Sean McVay knows Michael four and he knows what makes

Speaker 5: he knows what makes Michael Floor great. But Michael Flour

Speaker 5: knows what makes Sean McVay great, and he knows what

Speaker 5: makes Matthew Stafford great. And I think that that's an

Speaker 5: element that is now entered into this facility in Arizona

Speaker 5: because they know that the Rams for the longest period

Speaker 5: of time, they've kind of been that team that a

Speaker 5: lot of teams have looked at, especially when it comes

Speaker 5: to offensive creativity.

Speaker 3: I think now the Cardinals kind of have their own

Speaker 3: flavor and.

Speaker 1: All four more reunion comes the final game in October

Speaker 1: Week seven, with a home game against the Denver Broncos.

Speaker 1: You've got Zach Allen, former Cardinals draft pick, Vance Joseph

Speaker 1: former Cardinals defensive coordinator, and then Baron Browning facing his

Speaker 1: former team for the first time. He joined the Cardinals

Speaker 1: midway through twenty twenty four. So again, familiar faces on

Speaker 1: the opposite sideline, but a Broncos team that again, you

Speaker 1: get to the AFC Championship game this season before. Now

Speaker 1: all of a sudden, there's expectations with bow Knicks and

Speaker 1: company coming in to close out October.

Speaker 5: Yeah, and McBride gets to go up against his child

Speaker 5: hood team. So whenever you have those those matchups, you

Speaker 5: also try to take into the human aspect of things,

Speaker 5: and you have to say, hey, like that was a

Speaker 5: jersey I grew up wearing, but they're going to be

Speaker 5: welcome to State Farm Stadium. And you hope that you

Speaker 5: close out the month of October with a w Three

Speaker 5: road games in November, beginning with back to back trips.

Speaker 1: Week eight, November one, Cardinals at the Dallas Cowboys. Cardinals

Speaker 1: are undefeated all time.

Speaker 2: At AT and T Stadium.

Speaker 1: They've won which is in a row and eight of

Speaker 1: not Hey, sometimes it's just a matchup thing for whatever reason,

Speaker 1: and it's not just all about the quarterback, but the

Speaker 1: Cardinals have had the Cowboys number in the.

Speaker 3: State of Texas well. Hopefully it continues.

Speaker 5: Whatever happens in the preseason game at State Farm Stadium happens.

Speaker 3: In the preseason game.

Speaker 5: You hope you get better and you hope you're able

Speaker 5: to start to pick up on some of these tails,

Speaker 5: and then when you do go up against them the

Speaker 5: day after Halloween, hopefully.

Speaker 3: It's spooky for the Cowboys.

Speaker 2: I see what you did.

Speaker 1: There will be spooky seeing Jalen Thompson wearing the star

Speaker 1: on his chest.

Speaker 5: I think in the preseason it will be when he

Speaker 5: comes back to State Farm Stadium.

Speaker 3: That's if he does play.

Speaker 5: But I do believe with Christian Parker, their new defensive coordinator,

Speaker 5: you're going to want to try to have as many

Speaker 5: of your starters out there so that like we're talking

Speaker 5: about here with OTAs in installing the scheme and trying

Speaker 5: to find that voice in that identity, I think you

Speaker 5: do that as well.

Speaker 3: In the preseason.

Speaker 1: Yeah, the Cardinals host the Cowboys. And what is preseason

Speaker 1: game number three? For the Cardinals?

Speaker 5: It's week two the preseason. I might be I might

Speaker 5: be saying it's week two of the preseason. Win's week one,

Speaker 5: because for us it'll be week two.

Speaker 1: It's week zero, and then you have weeks one, two,

Speaker 1: and three in the preseason.

Speaker 3: If you're playing a week zero, you have problems.

Speaker 5: That's what that's never mind, I'm gonna I'm not gonna

Speaker 5: roast any other college institutions.

Speaker 1: Week nine, Cardinals will close out their matchup series matchup

Speaker 1: with the Seattle Sea with a trip to Seattle November.

Speaker 1: You would think that the weather would be okay, who knows,

Speaker 1: but the Cardinals also have played very well at Lumen Field.

Speaker 1: No team has more road winds there than the Cardinals

Speaker 1: with nine, which is tied with the forty nine Ers.

Speaker 5: Last season, Cardinals played at lumen Field on November ninth.

Speaker 3: This year it's November eighth, so.

Speaker 5: They have familiarity going to Seattle in early November.

Speaker 1: Following week Week ten, November fifteenth, Cardinals will close out

Speaker 1: their series season series with the Rams as the Rams

Speaker 1: come to State Farm Stadium, so you get to see

Speaker 1: Michael thor and Sean McVay. You also have Rams assistant

Speaker 1: head coach Cliff Kingsbury returning to State Farm Stadium for

Speaker 1: a second time since he was let go as head coach.

Speaker 5: Yup, he was here when he was the OC of

Speaker 5: the Washington Commanders back in the twenty twenty four season.

Speaker 5: Jayden Daniels obviously that was during his really strong stretch,

Speaker 5: although his first interception was by Garrett Williams in that game.

Speaker 5: So that was just a funny little factoid that at

Speaker 5: least I enjoyed it.

Speaker 3: But yeah, Rams are coming to town week eleven.

Speaker 1: Cardinals on the road at Kansas City. Cardinals, by the way,

Speaker 1: have never won at Arrowhead Stadium.

Speaker 2: This is just their sound.

Speaker 3: Is that possible?

Speaker 6: Well, when you don't visit, I was going to say

Speaker 6: the same way I did with the Cowboys, but yeah, no, Look,

Speaker 6: Kansas City, especially with you know, at that point of

Speaker 6: the year, Patrick Mahomes slightly back.

Speaker 5: He might be back week one, but who knows. By Look,

Speaker 5: Kansas City is a good team. Chiefs Kingdom is known

Speaker 5: for being a very rowdy fan base. November twenty second,

Speaker 5: it's right before Thanksgiving. Hopefully the Cardinals are able to

Speaker 5: go into that Holidays stretch feeling good.

Speaker 1: Here's your task, Zach, if you're fortunate to travel to

Speaker 1: that game. Here's what I would like to see you do.

Speaker 1: Can you figure out either a photo or a quote

Speaker 1: pregame or post game? Because this is a family affair.

Speaker 1: On November twenty seconds, Keaton Crawford, Patrick Mahomes family battle cousins.

Speaker 1: We need a story postgame, So I Remember we spoke.

Speaker 5: With Keen Crawford after the first preseason game last year

Speaker 5: against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Speaker 3: He had his press conference here.

Speaker 5: Not a ton was was set in that press conference

Speaker 5: for you who was talking on the field.

Speaker 3: Kean's a very soft spoking guy. I remember asking him.

Speaker 5: Because of course big Jay journalism over here. I asked

Speaker 5: him about competing against his cousin, and he said how

Speaker 5: cool it was. And I'm pretty sure after the game

Speaker 5: they took a photo together.

Speaker 2: So maybe preseason.

Speaker 5: This is regular season, and that's kind of my Well,

Speaker 5: in the preseason for the Kansas City Chiefs, they're playing

Speaker 5: their starters, so that's not much of a much of

Speaker 5: a rib, but hey, it's possible.

Speaker 3: So we'll see.

Speaker 1: Month of November ends around Thanksgiving with a home game. Again,

Speaker 1: it's the Washington Commanders you've got. I'm looking forward to

Speaker 1: this one, provided everyone is healthy. You've got number seven

Speaker 1: overall pick Sonny Styles. And then that brings up the

Speaker 1: Ohio State twenty twenty four National championship team, Cody Simon,

Speaker 1: Denzel Burke. My guess is that will be a postgame

Speaker 1: photo with those three.

Speaker 5: No matter the outcome, Well, there are a lot of

Speaker 5: photos that these Buckeyes take on the field.

Speaker 3: I'm sure that Paris Johnson Junior and Baron Brownie and

Speaker 3: Marvin Harrison Junior. And to say, wait a minute, you

Speaker 3: guys are taking this photo and you're not including loss.

Speaker 2: We laid the foundation for.

Speaker 5: You guys to win that national championship, so they'll be

Speaker 5: in that photo.

Speaker 1: Also be good to see Commander's tight end coach Ben Steele,

Speaker 1: who spent three seasons here with the Cardinals as the

Speaker 1: tight ends coach, and Trey McBride's coach.

Speaker 5: And former Cardinals quarterback David Blow, who's their offense coordinator.

Speaker 2: Forgot about David Blow.

Speaker 3: Crags about write that down in the note.

Speaker 1: I am hey, I'm all about depend I'm all about

Speaker 1: storylines here when you're talking about the schedule. Allright, let's

Speaker 1: move to the month of December. Week thirteen, Lucky thirteen

Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Eagles. By the way, is this the first

Speaker 1: time in which the Cardinals have back to back home games?

Speaker 1: It is, Yes, it took until week eleven. Excuse me,

Speaker 1: Week twelve and thirteen the Cardinals with back to back

Speaker 1: home games. As the Philadelphia Eagles come to town. The Cardinals,

Speaker 1: including the postseason five to one over the last six

Speaker 1: home games against the Eagles.

Speaker 5: Cardinals play well against the Eagles, especially at home, so

Speaker 5: that'll be an exciting one. It doesn't have the same

Speaker 5: flare as when Jonathan Gannon was here that was obviously

Speaker 5: a major storyline.

Speaker 3: But the storyline that.

Speaker 5: Goes into this one, this is Josh SWAT's first time

Speaker 5: going up, going up against the team that he won

Speaker 5: a Super Bowl championship.

Speaker 1: With, also Isaac Samalo and Matt Pryor facing the Eagles

Speaker 1: for the first time.

Speaker 5: Matt Pryor more than Sama because sam Amos spent the

Speaker 5: three seasons I'm pretty sure in Pittsburgh, but he Isaac

Speaker 5: sam Model was on that team that played at State

Speaker 5: Farm Stadium against at Kansas Ey that lost the Super Bowl.

Speaker 3: So this will be I think probably his second time

Speaker 3: i think competing against the Eagles.

Speaker 5: But yeah, they're going to see the guy that they

Speaker 5: drafted playing potentially left guard for the Arizona Cardinals.

Speaker 1: And this was a note that I saw Hollywood Brown. Yeah,

Speaker 1: coming back to Streay numbers dree zero.

Speaker 3: For them, a pretty zero sure story number zero.

Speaker 1: So a lot of familiar faces, or at least a

Speaker 1: familiar face on that Eagles. That's gonna be weird seeing

Speaker 1: Hollywood in an Eagles uniform.

Speaker 5: Well, if we weren't going to see him in an

Speaker 5: Eagles uniform, we were going to see him in the

Speaker 5: Chiefs uniform two weeks earlier.

Speaker 2: That is true.

Speaker 1: And then as we discussed the bye week, Week fourteen,

Speaker 1: what a gift December thirteen, It is the latest possible

Speaker 1: week for a by The Cardinals have had previous Week

Speaker 1: fourteen bye weeks in nineteen ninety one and twenty twenty three.

Speaker 1: Last season, the bye week came in Week eight. So look,

Speaker 1: this is now when you look at a bye week

Speaker 1: this late in the season, plus with three of four

Speaker 1: preseason games on the road, this is a lengthy stretch

Speaker 1: without a real break. And again you've got the Labor

Speaker 1: Day weekend, but I'm talking about a significant break in

Speaker 1: the schedule. You've going a long time from going back

Speaker 1: to late July, August, September, October, November, middle of December

Speaker 1: before you get the bye week.

Speaker 5: That's probably the most brutal aspect of this entire schedule.

Speaker 5: In case you thought the first nine weeks six road

Speaker 5: games was gonna be tough, and it will be tough,

Speaker 5: it becomes even tougher because you know that the light

Speaker 5: at the end of the tunnel of when that bye

Speaker 5: week is. Because we talked to players all the time,

Speaker 5: what's the first thing you look at when the schedule

Speaker 5: comes out, where's the bye week? And then the second

Speaker 5: thing you look at is potential weather games, and then

Speaker 5: the third thing you look at is the storylines.

Speaker 3: In this case, the.

Speaker 7: Cardinals are probably shaking their head saying, man, we're on

Speaker 7: the road a lot, and we don't even get a

Speaker 7: bye week until week fourteen, which is the latest ever

Speaker 7: buye that's ever happened because the date on the calendar, Man,

Speaker 7: what a what a draw.

Speaker 1: The good news for the Cardinals is that they will

Speaker 1: close the regular season at home, three of the four

Speaker 1: games post by week at State Farm Stadium. So if

Speaker 1: you're looking for what you thought might be the quote

Speaker 1: unquote soft part of the schedule when you were stacking

Speaker 1: up opponents, this is where it's at. And it's unfortunate

Speaker 1: that it's late in the season and not spread out

Speaker 1: maybe a little bit more throughout the entire eighteen weeks.

Speaker 1: And we say this here in May because things change

Speaker 1: between May and the start of the regular season as

Speaker 1: far as who's playing well, who is available, who's on

Speaker 1: the shelf, who's not available. But this when you got

Speaker 1: the Jets, Saints, Raiders, and forty nine ers to close

Speaker 1: out the regular season, I mean, this is you hope

Speaker 1: that this is a benefit for the Cardinals that they're

Speaker 1: ending the regular season at home as opposed to your

Speaker 1: other three division opponents, because the Seahawks close with three

Speaker 1: four on the road, forty nine Ers with three of

Speaker 1: four on the road, the Rams three of five on

Speaker 1: the road.

Speaker 5: Look, it's good that you're spending the holidays at home

Speaker 5: and you're although it's gonna be that Christmas week that

Speaker 5: you're gonna be traveling to New Orleans, but you're still

Speaker 5: gonna be spending much of that time at home, staying

Speaker 5: in your own bed.

Speaker 3: That's important. But when we talk about the quote.

Speaker 5: Unquote soft spot of the of the schedule, and I

Speaker 5: know it's easy for us to say that now, but we,

Speaker 5: like I said earlier, there are so many opportunities for

Speaker 5: teams that go from worse to first. If Fernando Mendoza

Speaker 5: is a good quarterback, that's a really strong Raiders team

Speaker 5: because their defense is really good. With Max Crosby still there.

Speaker 5: They just brought in Tyler Lindenbaum, who's one of the

Speaker 5: best centers in the game. That could change things around

Speaker 5: with the Jets. I don't think it's gonna happen, but

Speaker 5: Gino Smith had one really bad year and it was

Speaker 5: just happened to be this past season with the Vegas Raiders.

Speaker 5: When he was with the Seattle Seahawks, he was really strong.

Speaker 5: He never lost to the Arizona Cardinals, So that is

Speaker 5: something that I think will be worth looking at. And

Speaker 5: then the New Orleans Saints, they start to pick up

Speaker 5: some steam last year with Tyler Shuck and Arizona native

Speaker 5: and how he was able to start stringing together some wins.

Speaker 5: It gave Kellen Moore confidence and gave Tyler Shuck confidence.

Speaker 3: There.

Speaker 5: I'm pretty sure they already called Tyler Shuck their QB

Speaker 5: one for the season, or at least for the beginning

Speaker 5: half of the season. These quarterbacks all start winning games,

Speaker 5: it could be something.

Speaker 3: I think.

Speaker 5: Adam Schefter was on one of the ESPN affiliate radio

Speaker 5: stations and was asked, has been asked like every single year,

Speaker 5: what's the one team that's going to surprise people that

Speaker 5: could actually turn into something. And forget who he said

Speaker 5: in twenty twenty four. Last year he said it was

Speaker 5: going to be the New England Patriots, and then the

Speaker 5: New England Patriots went to the Super Bowl. He said

Speaker 5: that the Saints are his team for this coming year.

Speaker 5: So I think that it would not be a shock

Speaker 5: if New Orleans is leading the NFC or the NFC South.

Speaker 1: That trip to New Orleans is the one and only

Speaker 1: trip following Thanksgiving.

Speaker 3: Yeah, and that a lot of home cooking.

Speaker 1: And again that goes back to the number of road

Speaker 1: trips at the start of the season, number of home

Speaker 1: games at the end of the season. Jets storylines. Mike

Speaker 1: Laflor the former OC in twenty twenty one, in twenty

Speaker 1: twenty two, and I know how much you like talking

Speaker 1: about Ohio State. Six members of the twenty twenty one

Speaker 1: Buckeye's team on the field potentially that day, Paris Johnson,

Speaker 1: Marvin Harrison, Denzel Burke, Cody Simon, plus wide receiver Garrett

Speaker 1: Wilson and tight end Jeremy ruckerd.

Speaker 5: What does the twenty twenty one Ohio State buck Geys

Speaker 5: have to do with anything? Just that they were all

Speaker 5: on the same team, that's all, and I am happy

Speaker 5: that they now all get to grace the field together.

Speaker 3: At State Farm Stadium.

Speaker 5: The last time the Jets came to State Farm Stadium

Speaker 5: was one of the more convincing wins that Cardinals had.

Speaker 3: Under Jonathan Gannon.

Speaker 5: They were able to shut down Aaron Rodgers and Kyler

Speaker 5: Murray took that big hit, was able to turn it

Speaker 5: around and do a really nice touchdown pass to Marvin

Speaker 5: Harrison Junior. And I think every year that Marvin's been here,

Speaker 5: which's only been the last two, but it's crazy that's

Speaker 5: happened this much. It's like, you know when you say,

Speaker 5: like if I had a nie for every single time

Speaker 5: that this happened, but I have two dimes, So it's

Speaker 5: kind of crazy how happened twice. I look at the

Speaker 5: photos that our photographers have been able to capture. They

Speaker 5: had that one really good shot against the Seattle Seahawks

Speaker 5: and their rivalries game where you see the field painted

Speaker 5: in the crowd all standing up. Marvin Harrison Junior from

Speaker 5: his rookie season had a really nice touchdown catch against

Speaker 5: the New York Jets, and he was posing and had

Speaker 5: the fans all behind him, and it was one of

Speaker 5: my favorite go to shots of Marv.

Speaker 3: Just happened against the Jets.

Speaker 2: Jets Saints Raiders.

Speaker 1: And then Week eighteen, Cardinals will close out the regular

Speaker 1: season with the San Francisco forty nine Ers. Again, this

Speaker 1: is the one division game the Cardinals have after Week ten,

Speaker 1: Christian Kirk coming back to Arizona, facing the team that

Speaker 1: drafted him for the first time at State five Arms Stadium.

Speaker 1: And then there's this nugget the last home. The last

Speaker 1: time the Cardinals played the forty nine Ers at home,

Speaker 1: Jacoby Brissett completed an NFL single game record forty seven passes,

Speaker 1: fifteen of which went to Michael Wilson, who finished with

Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty five receiving yards.

Speaker 5: Yeah, looking like Jerry Rice out there with the way

Speaker 5: that he was able to just go up and pick

Speaker 5: the ball out of the air and have a lot

Speaker 5: of good yards after yards after catch too.

Speaker 3: That those yak yards.

Speaker 5: But you hope that that record is not broken because

Speaker 5: that must mean you're in known passing situations all game long.

Speaker 5: But I think that hopefully, when Jacoby were said, has

Speaker 5: time to look back on his career and what he

Speaker 5: has been able to do and you start to link

Speaker 5: some of the teams that you see on the screen

Speaker 5: to different memories. I'm sure that that's going to be

Speaker 5: one that Jacoby will will correlate to that moment.

Speaker 1: Again, the schedule is what it is at this point

Speaker 1: as far as how it stacks up the preseason. As

Speaker 1: we mentioned, Cardinals are in the Hall of Fame game

Speaker 1: against the Carolina Panthers that is Thursday, August sixth. In

Speaker 1: week one of the preseason, Cardinals will play at the Raiders.

Speaker 1: Week two host the Cowboys, and close preseason play at

Speaker 1: Green Bay with the anticipation of joint practices before that game.

Speaker 1: At least that was a talk dur in the annual

Speaker 1: league meeting with Micha Laflor that he and his brother

Speaker 1: will be together for an extended period of time with

Speaker 1: a practice or two before they're on the field together

Speaker 1: at lambeau Field. And that is week three, the twenty

Speaker 1: seventh to thirtieth range to close out.

Speaker 5: Uhy, you take you what's the second most important storyline

Speaker 5: from that?

Speaker 1: That is the preseason is over with Jonathan Gannon.

Speaker 2: The preseason is over with Hey JG. We talked about it.

Speaker 1: In Cardinals Underground finally hearing him address the media in

Speaker 1: Green Bay and a lot of familiar one, familiar tone,

Speaker 1: familiar word choice, familiar answers. Be interesting to see how

Speaker 1: much he does change. Probably not so much as what

Speaker 1: he believes because it was a lot of no scheme

Speaker 1: adapt It's about the players. But yeah, if you're headed

Speaker 1: to Green Bay for those joint practices, give my best

Speaker 1: to JG.

Speaker 5: I hopefully will be and I will do exactly that. Look,

Speaker 5: the one thing that you really could we all as

Speaker 5: a media members could really appreciate when it came to

Speaker 5: Johnathan again, it was when he would talk ball and

Speaker 5: he would get into it. You would kind of see

Speaker 5: his face light up and then you would see him

Speaker 5: really get into it. I think as a defensive coordinator

Speaker 5: he's better positioned to actually break down the x's and

Speaker 5: o's a little bit more and focus on one side

Speaker 5: of the ball. And now not sure at that point,

Speaker 5: I don't think at that point of the offseason he

Speaker 5: will have or at that point in the preseason rather

Speaker 5: he'll have Micah Parsons. But at some point he will

Speaker 5: and he always was very complimentary of Micah and called

Speaker 5: him a war daddy.

Speaker 3: Now he's gonna have a chance to use that shiny toy.

Speaker 1: Cardinals home games, Seahawks, Lions, Bronco, Rams, Commanders, Eagles, Jets, Raiders,

Speaker 1: and forty nine Ers. Those are the teams that are

Speaker 1: headed to State Farm Stadium. You want to be at

Speaker 1: State Farm Stadium. Join the Red Sea with season tickets

Speaker 1: and enjoy complimentary parking, plus discounts on food, beverages and

Speaker 1: at the team store. Visit the official Cardinals app for details.

Speaker 1: It will be here before you know it, Zach.

Speaker 5: It will be because we are already talking about practices

Speaker 5: in eleven on eleven, So here we go.

Speaker 1: Still one other note before we close up shop here

Speaker 1: on this Monday, Chase Besontis has signed his contract the

Speaker 1: Cardinals second round selection, thirty fourth overall. According to Aaron Wilson,

Speaker 1: who does a great job covering the NFL, it's a

Speaker 1: fully guaranteed contract. Second round picks do not get guaranteed contracts.

Speaker 1: First round picks do, but if you're selected after the

Speaker 1: first round, it's the team's discretion. But according to Wilson,

Speaker 1: it's a fully guaranteed deal thirteen plus million dollars, including

Speaker 1: more than six million in a signing bonus. So props

Speaker 1: to Chase Basontis, who very well could be you're starting

Speaker 1: left excuse me, you're starting right guard this sexy.

Speaker 3: He will definitely be in that competition. Now.

Speaker 5: That just leaves Carson Beck and I'm pretty sure Caleb

Speaker 5: Procressor as the only two that have not signed their

Speaker 5: rookie deals. This is happening at a pretty quick pace

Speaker 5: right now. That doesn't you will sometimes have them trickle

Speaker 5: in throughout the off season, in between the mandatory mini

Speaker 5: camp and training camp if you can't.

Speaker 3: Get it done beforehand.

Speaker 5: But it seems like the Cardinals are and Maniostapha are

Speaker 5: doing a really solid job of inking these deals.

Speaker 1: If it benefits I think both the team and the player,

Speaker 1: because it eliminates something in a story about Yeah, I

Speaker 1: wouldn't say it's a distraction because I think we're beyond

Speaker 1: that when these things tended to linger closer to training

Speaker 1: camp and into training camp. But as far as checking

Speaker 1: the box, get your deal done, get it signed so

Speaker 1: you can move on to the next thing and focus

Speaker 1: strictly on the x's and o's, especially for these rookies, and.

Speaker 5: Just get ready to compete because you're going to have

Speaker 5: a tough rookie season schedule that you have now been

Speaker 5: handed and you have now seen, so one last.

Speaker 3: Thing to worry about is one thing I'm sure they'll

Speaker 3: sign up for.

Speaker 1: I want to see the schedule in full detail. Go

Speaker 1: to Azycardinals dot com again.

Speaker 2: It is what it is.

Speaker 1: How this schedule has stacked up with a bunch of

Speaker 1: road games at the starts and a bunch of home

Speaker 1: games to close out the regular season. We will see

Speaker 1: how it all plays out. Hey, special thanks to everyone

Speaker 1: behind the scenes, our executive producer Jim Mama Hundre, our

Speaker 1: associate producer Cody Fincher. For Zach Kershman, I'm pregraya, Lou.

Speaker 1: We'll talk to you next time here on Cardinals Cover two.