Cardinals Underground - Football Arrives, Competition, And A Camp ’Stache

As the players report to training camp, Paul Calvisi comes prepared with his annual mustache, which may or may not make it a week. The Cardinals, meanwhile, have a month to show they are worthy of the 2025 roster, and Darren Urban and Dani Sureck join Paul to talk the heavy competition that should come in Year 3 of J.G. Also on the topic list: Paul’s hot take bubble, Jonah Williams’ health, the fate of right guard, Will Johnson’s immediate impact after signing, the players most worth watching at camp, Josh Sweat’s trajectory, Winning Behavior (iconic movie props and canoodling), as well as a farewell to Tyrann Mathieu, a great Cardinals draft pick.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This podcast is presented by Pacific Office Automation, proud partner
of the Arizona Cardinals. Learn more at Pacificoffice dot Com.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Pulled in by Wilson for a touchdown. Wanna throw by
Kyler Murray facing pressure.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Connor to the five and end of the end zone
for the touchdown.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Welcome to Cardinals Underground, presented by Pacific Office Automation. Visit
Pacificoffice dot com. Problem solved, Garrison dies for the en zone,
he said, touchdown. The latest news and notes from the
insiders who cover the team.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Touchdown Tyler Murray that defender is in multiple pieces.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
All that was nasty right there?

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Rights Slamm the ground by fooda baker like a torpedo.
He came flying into the backfield. I ain't scared of nobody.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Here's Paul calvic.

Speaker 4 (00:55):
Right.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
I'm about to hit send on a tweet. Can I
still call it a tweet? I'm gonna read this off
and you got tell me if you agree or disagree,
and I know you will. Danny Surrek Darren urban purveyor
of everything Arizona Cardinals, And I quote myself, I guess
top three most memorable Arizona Cardinals I've ever covered period.

(01:16):
Never seen a rookie generate such instant buzz among NFL
vets in the practice field period. His appearance on The
Big Red Rage twenty thirteen was so insightful, honest and raw.
It might be my favorite episode ever. And I'm going
to hit send even though both of you look completely underwhelmed,
doesn't matter. I'm going to hit send, and hopefully at

(01:37):
this point you know who I'm talking about.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Normally you include a hashtager too.

Speaker 4 (01:42):
Hashtag honey Badger.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
I knew there was snark coming, Yeah, I just know
what kind of snark or from what direction. So okay,
you guys lived up to your sky and report so far.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
I gotta say it is nice to have a little
bit of a change of scenery because now when I'm
looking across the table at you, the Paul COWVC training
can't mustache has come in full swing and it looks great.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
I'd love to say it would light the lamp, but
no one's lighting the lamp today. I'm just going to
tell you that right now. It might have been a
power failure of some sort, but I think it's apropos
that it's impossible to light the lamp because expectations are
high going into camp, and compliments and plaudits are going
to be low, going to be very hard to come
by at the beginning to camp.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
Well, so then we're going to reserve our compliments for
Tyron Matthew and what a great career you have exactly.
I don't want I don't want to get off of
that too quickly, Paul.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
We'll get into that at some point unless you want
to go.

Speaker 4 (02:32):
H no, right, wait, we can absolutely wait.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Okay, twas the podcast before the start of camp, and Danny,
let's just say the mustache is a camp body at best,
definitely not winning behavior, which we'll get to a little
bit later on. This edition of Cardinals Underground brought to
you by Pacific Office Automation, but we thought we'd bring
it for a little levity get us through the dog days.

Speaker 4 (02:52):
Here's the question, and I'm sure I've asked this question
of the camp stash before. How does the significant other
feel about this? Because I feel like most significant others
when it comes to men's facial hair, feel very strongly
one way or the other. My son's fiance, he has
a beard, and he doesn't he grows it because basically

(03:15):
his fiance likes it. She wants him to like really
grow it out like Lumberjack. He I think if he
had his choice, he wouldn't have it at all. I
cannot grow facial hair quite like that, not even as
good as you, Paul. My wife absolutely cannot stand it
when I have any facial hair.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
So it's two thumbs down. Let's just put it that, okay. Yeah,
and let's just say she has. She doesn't hesitate to
make her opinion known either, so that's why it probably
won't make it to the first day of PADS at best.
That's that's my forecast.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
If there's ever been a better tease of if you're
a listener but don't necessarily watch the YouTube version of
this podcast, there it is.

Speaker 4 (03:51):
And and just for clarity's sake, the first day of
PADS would be six days from today. It'll be next
Monday per the CBA, so that's not a very long
time for the stash to make it.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, there was a very public appearance that might be
coming on Sunday at camp, so I don't know if
that's in my best interest to actually put it on display,
especially in front of some of the decision makers, because
you know, I might be made an example of right
at the start of camp. You know, if somebody cut
right off the bat, we'll see I'm going to go again,
do a few things here by the time we're done.
But when you think of a report day, and you

(04:24):
think of a report day twenty twenty five, is there
anything in particular you think is going to be the
theme of this camp. I know it's kind of a
hard hitting, in depth question.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
I mean, for me, I think if we're talking big picture,
the first thing I think of is the expectations of
this team going into the season. Now, you're not going
to get anything figured out during camp about those expectations
because games don't count, but that's going to be kind
to me. That's what's going to be hovering around this team.

(04:56):
And I know there's a billion other things we could
talk about and we will talk about in terms of
individual players or position groups or whatever, but that is
to me, the overriding kind of thought to me, Danny.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
Competition, that's the first word that comes to mind, and
it's a different type of competition as you start to
dive into different position rooms. The competition in the defensive
line room, which is packed with veterans along with a
few younger players in a position room that relies heavily
on a rotation, a position room that we could possibly
see go from a three to four base defense to

(05:32):
four to three given the talent and personnel changes. The
competition there is very different than the competition in the
cornerbacks room, where there's still some question marks of what
do you have in rookie Will Johnson? Is he possibly
going to be a week one starter even though he
doesn't have those expectations, Or is it going to be
a Max Melton and a Starling Thomas? What do you
have in Elijah Jones who didn't play his entire rookie

(05:54):
year last season dealing with a foot injury. There are
a lot of bodies in that room, So the competition
level within the different position rooms is different. It's a
different type of battle. But competition is the word that
comes to mind for me this season.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Especially since there are gonna be players who don't make
this team who will instantly make another team. I think
they've raised the talent level to such a degree that
that is definitely different than last year.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
Year. It should it should? We talk about that a lot,
and I always wonder about like how it And part
of the issue these days is like if you don't
get a if you're a player and you make it
all the way to the end of the cuts, unless
you're a very specific player. Sometimes it's easier for the
teams to keep their own guys on the practice squad,

(06:40):
so there isn't as much Hey we cut this guy,
now he's going I mean, Michael Carter's a great example.
I thought when they cut Michael Carter last year he
was going to end up somewhere for sure on a roster.
He ended up on the practice card all year. So
we'll we'll see. However, I one hundred percent agree with
you the level of personnel has been raised. I agree
with Danny the competition will be better. I think the

(07:01):
cuts will be more interesting. You know, we'll see if
they end up losing somebody they'd rather not because of that.
But it absolutely is going to be fascinating how they
carve up this fifty three man roster when it's all
said done.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
I jotted this down top players who might be camp cuts.
I don't mean to come out of the gates here
at Cardinals Underground with I mean right out of the
gate really early camp has yet.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
To officially start.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
It's great, you know what, You're right? Where is the oven?
If I had it right now? Ok right exactly? It
was so hot it actually burn out the fuse on
the on the lamp. Okay, here, I'll get to these ready, Okay,
you're ready. I'm just gonna throw the I'm gonna save
these for the If.

Speaker 4 (07:43):
You ever cared if we're ready or not, just tell.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
Us Ball Nichols, Justin Jones, Zay Jones, Xavier Thomas, and
now you might run a really back away from the flame.
Jonah Williams, Jalen Thompson, whoa Toms I was with you?

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yeah? Those last two threw me, Paul.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
Where is Jonah Williams in terms of the rehab and
the recovery if he's deemed healthy but he isn't hasn't
had enough of an off season to get himself NFL ready?
I do wonder about that again. These are way off
the edge here, okay, and then the whole Jalen Thompson
is one hundre percent contract motivated. He's still one of

(08:30):
your best eleven on defense. There's no doubt about it.
Him and Buddha are like you know, they are in
sync like maybe no other safety tandem in the league.
I get it. I think he's underappreciated, but he's also
has no guaranteed money coming his way. And if Rabbit
goes out there and kills it in camp, I do
wonder if they make a really hard decision.

Speaker 3 (08:52):
That would be a very hard decision. I don't even
want to entertain that of having the duo with Thompson
and Baker not together. Jonah Williams interesting. He was practicing
in a limited fashion in some of the off season
programs of OTAs and mini camp. So the question is
how healthy is he come start of camp this week.
That is absolutely a fair question. I don't know that

(09:13):
he would be cut given the money this team gave
him last free agency to come in and be your
starting right tackle. Yes, it was a shame that he
was riddled with injuries his first year here, because that's
not something he had dealt with in his career. I
would see more as putting him on ir to start
the season would be the route that they go. But
that has a trickle down effect. That's really interesting because

(09:33):
now we're at the point of the off season where
it's a numbers game, and so can this front office?
Can this team afford to have two swing tackles? And
Christian Jones going into year two and Kelvin Beacham going
into year fourteen, who has stepped up over the years
every time his number has been called upon, no matter
the position on the offensive line. So if you have
Williams and he's healthy and he's on that final fifty three,

(09:55):
what's the trickle down? And if Williams isn't and he
starts maybe on IR, then what do you do in
that situation?

Speaker 4 (10:01):
And as a reminder to everybody, they've changed the IR
rules this year, so you can have a couple of
guys put on IR after final cuts, but during final cuts,
I guess I should say in previous years you had
to get your roster to fifty three before you put
anybody on IR. Yep, then you could put guys on IR,

(10:21):
but it would make you get down to fifty three
and you might cut a guy or two who you
didn't want when you knew you were gonna put one
or two guys on IR. This year, you can put
a couple of guys on IR during that process so
you won't risk losing people in the short term.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
Good to know we have cuts.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
I mean, maybe we can talk on this later on
the episode. I still don't ever think we got Paul's
list of camp players to keep an eye on for
training camp.

Speaker 4 (10:46):
I don't know that list he just gave us or
our guys that we're gonna have to keep.

Speaker 3 (10:50):
But normally, normally we get a list of here's the
top twenty players I've got my eye on for training camp.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
Okay, so we had a slight adjustment sort of like
Darren just cited an adjustment to the the I R.
There was a slight adjustment last year of the year
before I was afforded a couple of practices to be
able to see and then come forward with the list.

Speaker 4 (11:09):
I'm okay with that because most importantly, we want to
make sure that we have content during camp.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
So I'm will I won't forget Paul.

Speaker 4 (11:20):
You got you got one padded practice before our next podcast, buddy.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
I mean, can I I'll give you a watch list
right now? How about that? A watch list? They like
doing that in college football, right, like hundreds of people
on the watch list. I will say that on offense,
because remember we have a polypig skin breakout player camp
Offensive defense. Last year the monica was two X or
X squared. I can't remember it was Xavier Thomas Xavier Weaver.
Let the record reflect both made the team. So just saying,

(11:46):
let's see here offense, I have Hayden Connor as okay,
as as the guy off the radar a little bit now.
On defense, I most definitely want to go Cody Simon.
But is that too captain obvious? Maybe I need I
need to go a little deeper into.

Speaker 4 (11:59):
The must obviously five.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
Wow Wow, Okay. It doesn't mean that there aren't questions
that JG and MONI want answered during camp. I know,
and I've already asked this question two or three times
and they just deffer and change the subject. But you
can't tell me that they don't need to find out
who's the starting middle linebacker, who's the starting right guard? Like,

(12:25):
for example, how does Isaiah Adams look first day and
pads against Oh? I don't know, Dalvin Tomlinson. Is he
holding his own? Can he handle a bull rush? Because
you know, one of the coaches is gonna walk over
to the veteran Dalvin and say, hey, bring it bull
rush on Isaiah Adams and then let's see, he told
us in the Big Red Rage he's up to about
three twenty five from three to fifteen a year ago.

(12:46):
Says he feels definitely feel stronger, more explosive. Okay, they got.

Speaker 4 (12:50):
To see it.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
There are a couple of big name veteran guards still
on the market. So you know, once upon a time
you've told the story Lyle Senline right, whoever? The who
was it in camp? The sen who wasn't Ted Larson?
Ted Larson and A Q. Shipley, We're both in it.
It was Shipley's first year. Larson had been around a
couple of years. They tried to move him to center.
Neither one of them were doing quite what Bruce Arians wanted.

(13:13):
So they went back out and got Lao Sunlight, who
had been a release in the spring because of his money,
and then they brought him back, brought him back. We
asked Max Stark's former cardinal and current Steelers analyst, in
an interview recently, all right, what's your biggest question about
the Cardinals coming into camp? Because he still lives in
the az falls of Cardinals really closely, he said, the
right side of the old line, not just right guard

(13:35):
Isaiah Adams, but Joanah Williams will be Christian Jones, will
it be Calvin Beacham? What exactly is going on to
right tackle? You know, JG wants an answer to that.
And then to your point, Danny about the cornerback situation,
right what is the rotation is will Johnson cornerback one?
Now he's under contract, so he's not going to miss
any camp time, which is our segue on that. Anything

(13:56):
we need to know on that, Darren in particular, like
I mean, just people wonder like why, like the Yulk,
the second round picks were so late in signing. I'm
going to try and keep this as brief as possible, please,
because I don't want to go like this. But essentially,
as everybody knows, most NFL contracts are not guaranteed. We've
gotten to the point that all first round contracts are

(14:17):
guaranteed for those first four years. In previous years, the
second round picks did not have guaranteed money into their
four season, they'd have guaranteed money through three years. This year,
the second pick of the second round, setting precedent, Houston
gave Higgins, the receiver from Iowa State, a fully guaranteed

(14:38):
contract and that caused all kinds of stuff. So basically
everybody else in the second round I was like, well
then we want guaranteed money, and it slowed everything down.
Long story short, the logjam with training camp showing up
big surprise. When everybody's gone for the summer, things stop.
Will Johnson was in the end the last second round

(14:58):
pick to sign, but that was partially because the Cardinals
are one of the last teams to show up to
camp and he was under contract before the physicals even
happened on reporte.

Speaker 4 (15:10):
So yeah, it was. It was at the end. But
as he told me, I always knew it was going
to get done. I don't There was never I never
got any of the people I talked to internally, there
was never any panic it was going to get done.
So it is what it is. I mean, people can
worry about it, but it's there's no point.

Speaker 2 (15:25):
I think his story is still under the radar to
a large degree. And I say that because what if.
What if by the end of the camp the Cardinals
realize not unlike Tyron Matthew, who generated buzz from day
one as a difference maker, what if the Cardinals say,
oh my goodness, Will Johnson is legit top fifteen, top

(15:47):
ten player. Will Johnson is Patrick Sartan the second, Derek
Stingley Junior, Sauce Gardner, dudes who were cornerback one from
day one. What if Will Johnson goes out there and
he proves that, what does that do for this defense?
Because that is it is a possibility. I know, Danny,
you're looking at me like, wait, didn't Paul say this
last year about Marvin Harrison Junior and maybe even Darius Robinson. Okay,

(16:10):
guilty is charged, but Will Johnson could be that guy.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
No, My smile over here on the other side of
the table is if that happens, then you pat yourself
on the back. Then it's not really a problem. Then
you're trickling down the competition level of who's starting opposite
of Johnson, Is it Melton or Thomas? Is that a
rotation that you're using there. That's not a problem in
my eyes at all. There's no expectation on Johnson to

(16:33):
come in and feel like he absolutely has to be
a starter week one. Even if he's not a starter,
I do expect Johnson to have a heavy part in
a rotation come week one, given his skill set, the
fact that he was said that he's healthy from that
knee he was dealing with in college. Now he was
limited in some capacity throughout mandatory mini camp, which Gannon
said was a hamstring. So there's questions that have to

(16:55):
get answered regarding his health on that front. It's not
a problem if Johnson, though, is ready to be week one.

Speaker 4 (17:01):
No, it's not a problem. Again, you measure is he
ready to be what you need him to be in
this defense or our guys that have been around. Is
a Starling Thomas who's had twenty five starts or whatever?
Better equipped is Max Melton after one year? You know?
And again I don't have I think they've done a

(17:22):
nice job collecting at that position. I absolutely believe Will
Johnson is a guy that you want to win a
job sooner rather than later. But I also think they're
in a position where it reminds me a little bit
when Patrick Peterson got drafted. Now, granted, Patrick Peterson was
fifth and Will Johnson was in the middle of the
second round, and we can talk all about why he
ended up there, but you know, Patrick Peterson was starting

(17:43):
almost from jump but one. He was a super high pick.
But more importantly, the rest of that cornerback room he
needed to start. I think at this point, given where
Will Johnson is and with what the rest of him done,
I don't know if there's that straight direct line to
Will Johnson's here. He's got to be in the starting lineup.
I think they've got options depending on how they play.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
I mean, and as much as we all love Starling
Thomas the fifth, by the way, the fifth, uh, and
he says hopefully he'll have his son and that will
be Starling the six because it goes back over one
hundred years, the family name, which is a double ding
in my book. Love that, But he was also an
undrafted guy just two years ago. True Starling Thomas, absolutely true,
picked up off waivers after the Lions caught him. Regretted it,

(18:27):
by the way, because when the Lions came to town
last year Week three, some of their coaches told the
Cardinals coaches, Yeah, letting him go was a mistake, and
they chase they've been chasing corners the last two years
to Detroit Lions. But that being the case, I mean,
I fully expect Will Johnson to get every opportunity to
win a starting corner trucks of course, and with the
early they won't say it, but with the somewhat easy

(18:48):
early season schedule, which will be a good opportunity for
Will Johnson to get regular season reps and maybe learn
on the job. But JG keeps calling him a perfect
scheme fit, which I think is code for yeah, this
kid's ahead of the curve and will be given every chance.

Speaker 4 (19:03):
More likely to end up with a starting job if not,
both Max Meltin or Will Johnson and Max Meultain.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Was a higher pick Max Melton just based on the
experience how he finished last year. I mean, let's face it,
if you take I'd say it's Max Melton, Will Johnson
or Max Melton and Starling Thomas. I think if you're
taking cornerbacks and back to back years in the second round,
they better be your starting cornerback sooners rather sooners rather
than later. By the way, the Cardinals are drafted seven

(19:31):
corners in these three drafts, and the number is three
in terms of how many players remained from the four
drafts before Mantias sap Fort and Jonathan Gannon, it's Kyler Murray,
Xavin Collins, Trey McBride. Those are the only three players
left from the four previous draft classes. So you guys
give me a hard time about the Purge Cardinals in

(19:54):
the offseat. You know, the big red Purge overs. It's
number six kind of. They're filming it as we speak.

Speaker 4 (20:00):
Okay, just checking out. So aren't they done purging?

Speaker 2 (20:05):
There is supposed to be a legit Purge coming out sometimes. Really,
Garrett Williams, Why do we always forget about Garrett Williams
in the secondary?

Speaker 3 (20:12):
We don't. Some of us picked him as our MVP
and our year end awards after last season.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
Ended hot corrected accordingly. Okay, you'd get the lamp if
it worked once again. Tough standards here before camp? Why Danny,
and what do you expect out of Garrett Williams? In
year three, Pro Football.

Speaker 3 (20:30):
Focus had Williams ranked as one of the top cornerbacks
in coverage last season. Williams played clean discipline football. He
was tough to go against for opponents in terms of
touchdowns or receptions or yards. He was on top of
it last year, and that was his first full season
because he missed the first half of his rookie year
recovering from a knee injury. Williams is ascending and despite

(20:53):
the fact he has the experience and the ability to
go play outside. Why fix what's not broken, Keep him
as your slot cornerback as one of the best in
the league, and he's just going to continue to assent.
It's crazy going into year three, he is one of
the most experienced veterans in that position room. It's Williams
and Thomas that is yeah, just because it's such a

(21:13):
young room, and Williams is not a vocal leader. He
is someone who leads by example. And if that's what
you're going to look for in someone, given how he
prepares and how he studies and takes notes every week,
his high IQ which we still hear about his combine
meeting from the coach and the general manager a couple
of years ago. That's the type of player you would
want to learn from.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
If Sean Murphy Bunting was actually healthy, I would love
to get a look at Garrett Williams outside if you
were to put SMB inside where he had his best
year according most of the analysts for Tampa when they
won the Super Bowl. But to your point, he is
locked in at the nickel corner right now. He's I mean,
if he isn't already there, he's definitely tracking to be

(21:57):
one of the best in the league here in year
number three. So that being the case, give me, give
me either the storyline or the player you're most looking
forward to seeing at camp. Honestly, I think I named
mine and Will Johnson I'll pick another one. I just
I'm curious to see because man, what happens if Will
Johnson is a legit cornerback one? What does that do

(22:19):
for this defense? So that's intriguing to me. If you're
still thinking, Darren, I know I got some Okay.

Speaker 4 (22:24):
Go ahead, I think I'm gonna go with Darius Robinson.
I think people are gonna be talking about Walter Nolan
because he just got drafted. When they look at the
defensive line, they're gonna be like, oh, kalais Campbell's back,
and hey, let's see what Josh Sweat is doing, or
even Dalvin Tomlinson. And I think there's a little bit
of after everything that happened, Darius Robinson under the radar,

(22:47):
and we all remember how impactful he looked in training
camp last year and we got to get to those guys.
But I really believe that given what he's been around
and everything, I believe he's got a real chance to
be a difference maker this year. That I mean, people
are going to talk about him, but not They're not

(23:07):
going to talk about him like they did last year,
and I think he's got a chance to be in there.
I saw some ranking. I don't know who did it,
to be honest, I saw it on social media, but
somebody made the point that they were ranking defensive lines
and they have the Cardinals at twenty fifth in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
That's worse than they finished last year. I know are
ranked twenty fourth.

Speaker 4 (23:29):
That's I thought that was weird.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
So I love that answer on Robinson. I'll go offense,
and I'll go Michael Wilson. We've talked a lot about
this offseason. Is he your true number two receiver? And
you can only learn so much really throughout camp of
what kind of contact you can see, even with pads,
So that might not be something that we really have
an answer for until Week one, but I'm hoping to

(23:52):
get a closer look of that throughout camp this year
because that's something we've been talking about is and Wilson
was clear about that one he spoke with the media
recently as well as he wants to show up on
the statue more. You know, he is praised as a
very good blocking receiver and he's had some sparks in
his time here in Arizona, but he wants to be
more involved and the Cardinals could absolutely use him as

(24:14):
a more involved piece of this offense, especially as they
tried to really elevate the passing game in that deep
threat compared to last year. My deep dive, my first
thought for that question was also a wide receiver in
that Xavier Weaver. We saw him with a few good routes,
some deep routes, some speed last year training camp, spent

(24:36):
the year on the practice squad. So what has he
been working on to get to this point? And that's
a position room where I mean, you mentioned Zay Jones
as one of the names you're keeping an eye on
to maybe make this fifty three man roster or maybe not.
That's kind of a sneaky position room where below one
and two of Marvin Harrison, junior Michael Wilson, how's the
rest of that room going to shake out? I think
there's an opportunity for a player like Weaver to shine and.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
And one of the reasons I put Zay Jones on
the list. They kept a half dozen receivers in the
final fifty three last year. I don't see the Arizona
Cardinals keeping a half dozen receivers this year. They're two
loaded on the defensive front. I think there are too
many young offensive linemen you might want to keep, and
then the cornerback room obviously is loaded and deep. So

(25:24):
it's gonna be it's sort of a low key competitive
room for having done nothing really in terms of adding
to that room, It's gonna be very competitive.

Speaker 3 (25:32):
Absolutely, when you talk about the numbers game, if we're
talking about the personnel on that defensive line room specifically,
they carried six on the final roster last year, I
could absolutely see that number jumping up to seven. You
got to pull that number from somewhere. I think the
wide receiver's room is a good room to have your
eye on for that.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
I want to go Trey Benson. I think he's gonna
be ridiculous this year. But to me, the position or
the storyline I'm gonna be looking at the most would
be middle linebacker. Who's calling the defense? How exactly are
they going to structure it? What didn't they like about
Kaizer White a year ago, he played the second most
snaps to boot A Baker on defense. It's not like

(26:13):
he got benched, but it never seemed to be a
serious consideration to bring back team captain Kaizer White. So
what didn't he provide that they're looking for this year?
I'm not sure we ever got a definitive answer to that.

Speaker 4 (26:26):
We didn't. I mean, by some of the metrics we've
seen out there, said he kind of struggled in coverage.
I think it's important for them to have some speed,
sideline a sideline, and I don't know if he gave
them enough of that. You know, maybe they just felt
like the need is they just needed to try and

(26:48):
find something, and he just wasn't high enough level where
they could find somebody else. Here's another theory. This is
a complete you know, I'm throwing stuff at the water.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
I had the other minute. I give it to you.

Speaker 4 (26:59):
What if they don't you that position very much? Well?

Speaker 2 (27:01):
What what what if?

Speaker 4 (27:03):
What if Mac Wilson is essentially the one inside linebacker
You've mentioned Zavon Collins before. They'll definitely move him into
They'll move him everywhere. So every once in a while
you might have Zavian inside. But we already talked about
all the secondary. Yeah, I mean you're talking about what
do they do with Jalen Thompson. Could they move on
from what if they just decide we're gonna start playing
three safeties all the time, like and three defensive back

(27:24):
and three corners. And you're and you're mixing and matching
and doing it more that.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
Way, playing a lot of dime and and.

Speaker 4 (27:31):
And you use Buddha Baker more. I don't want to
say more as a linebacker because he's not. But you're
gonna give him a little bit of movement. You've upgraded
the defensive line of the point that you're hoping you're
stout enough with four guys, and then all of a sudden,
you got a lot of versatility and and and so
with that thought in mind, maybe you don't need somebody
who's going to be out there all the snaps and

(27:53):
you can have it with the UH once in a
while in certain situations with Cody Simon or Keen Davis
Gaither or Owen Papo or whatever.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yeah. Owen Papo, by the way, is the under the
radar guy at inside linebacker, right the freak.

Speaker 4 (28:07):
Two girlfriend his girlfriend was, Yeah, that was good.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
That was good. I like that, though there's a lot
to chew on right there. A the first point you
made might be, you know, the most substitive that I
could prove to be right on Zamon Collins. Moving along
quickly from that, the whole Buddha Baker. You think you
unlocked him last year with a career high one hundred
and sixty four tackles and ten tackles for loss. I

(28:31):
was trying to explain the game of football to Wolf
a couple of weeks ago on air, and I said,
if this team can make the playoffs, get some national exposure,
you know, get some primetime games in the last five
to six weeks, get some games flexed in like we
called four against Tampa in Week thirteen. Right, all of
a sudden, you're getting some of that buzz around the team,
all of a sudden. Buddha Baker could be a potential

(28:55):
Defensive Player of the Year candidate if he puts some
similar numbers like he did a year ago. If Patrick
Sartan the second can do it NFL Defensive Player of
the Year, Buddha Baker most definitely can. And now if
Rabbit is a seeking destroy guy and he's out there
with Jalen Thompson. I like that a lot because really
what they do with Buddha Bakeryargo is make him the
Troy Polamalo of box safeties. Paula Mala used to use

(29:16):
all his instincts and roam around center field and in space.
Boota really did that in the box. So to your point, Darren, yeah,
it could sort of be a pseudo linebacker in a way.

Speaker 4 (29:26):
I mean again, I'm guessing. I don't know. You know,
we did not have the opportunity to report on what
they were doing in the off season, even when we
were around for that stuff. And I still think it's
all a work in progress. But I know we've talked
on this on the air before about what happens when
Nick Roulis upgrades his personnel. Does that mean he does

(29:49):
less of the scheming or does he have just cooler
players to do the scheming with? And I don't know.
The more I think about Originally I used to think
he just needs he just wants better players, And now
I'm starting to think, no, he just he's got more
advanced toys to put into a system.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
And look, we can't report on what happened to mandatory
mini camp, But I will say a couple of sources
relayed that the defense in the eleven on eleven gave
the offense all it could handle and then some. So
if you're coming out to Cardinals camp, keep an eye
on a defense that is definitely, definitely tracking to be
night and day from a year ago.

Speaker 3 (30:30):
We are blessed to be sitting here. The fact that
some of the storylines we are not covering when you're
looking around the league, are any sort of holdouts or
contract disputes. And also quarterback, I mean we're talking, I
mean we backup. Quarterback is a battle you bring in
Jacobe Brissett, Clayton Tune. We're lucky enough that the Cardinals
have Kyler Murray, right, You've got that set. That's still

(30:52):
a battle though, and what you're going to do back there, Although.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
Truth be told, when I saw the Will Levis news
that he's done for the your shoulder surgery, I'm like,
trade them, Clayton Tune.

Speaker 4 (31:04):
You're going to need a similar bodied quarterback.

Speaker 2 (31:07):
They need a bage did you see they based on
the personnel they have in there, Like I think it's
Tim Boyle and I forget who else. Yeah, Clayton tune.

Speaker 4 (31:17):
Is Tim Boyle that much different than will love us.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
Let's get some winning behavior here. I think we need
to coach up Darren. You know he's living off that
really good point he made all of thirty seven seconds ago.
We need to keep them humble around here. Let's get
some winning behavior, and that definitely does not include the mustache.
Can you display winning behavior?

Speaker 3 (31:36):
You have to consistently display winning behavior. That's winning behavior.
You've got to define what winning behavior is and hold
people to that standard.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yes, Danny brought up contracts pass rushers.

Speaker 1 (31:51):
T J.

Speaker 2 (31:51):
Watt reset the market, right he did. He's the highest
paid non quarterback in the league for now.

Speaker 3 (31:58):
Until the next contract, spoken.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
Like a grizzled member of the media. For now TJ.
Watt forty one million per year. And my instant thought
on that, thanks for asking when I saw that news was, man,
you know what they say a collector car auctions, when
somebody supposedly gets a really good deal on a collector car.
During the auction, they say the end. Now, don't you

(32:21):
guys ever watch the car auctions in January? Come on?
So the announcers always say, well, Bob, that was really
well bought. Josh Sweat looks like a free agent at
this point, it was really well bought when he's averaging
nineteen million per year. Considering some of these other pass
miles Garrett TJ. Watt, I get I get it. They're
the elite of the elite, I guess.

Speaker 4 (32:42):
And Josh Sweat's averaging under double digit sacks in his career.
It there's a difference.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
But yes, in terms of the guaranteed money, in terms
of the annual you know, I mean, even George carr
Loftis just got four years ninety three million was sixty
two million guaranteed.

Speaker 4 (32:57):
I remember when George car Loftis was mocked to this
team a billion times that one. True, I forget what.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
Year that one, but just like receiver was mocked to
this team this year, Yeah, yeah, a million times. So,
I mean, are you guys with me on that? I mean,
at least so far on paper, Josh Sweat pretty well bought.

Speaker 4 (33:15):
I would I would agree with that, And it's only
gonna seem even more well bought after Micah Parsons and
Trey Hendrickson.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
True.

Speaker 3 (33:22):
Yeah, well, especially since Sweat hot options.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
Okay, where do you guys want to go with this
next year. Unwinning behavior.

Speaker 4 (33:30):
You know you're you're not driving the show, buddy. Okay,
pick a topic we can talk about it.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
Okay, Darren is a wordsmith yourself. I'm going to say
something you can agree or disagree, or true or false.
One of the top five words in the English language
is canoodling.

Speaker 4 (33:45):
I never had it ranked, but but clearly it deserves
to be in the conversation.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
Yes, my challenge to you during camp, like the dog days,
you like when you get around to writing the story
on the long Snapper, that's when you know camp's about Dan.
My challenge you is the work in the verb canoodle.

Speaker 4 (34:02):
It's it's funny you bring that up somewhere. Quick side note,
at some point, I know a writer that once upon
a time, a sports writer who's he wanted every game
story he did. He wanted to work in the world
word malfeasance.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
Okay, anyways, yeah.

Speaker 4 (34:21):
Ca noodling, you're talking about the Coldplay couple.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
Yes, we are a couple.

Speaker 4 (34:25):
Well, yeah, they were a couple. That's the whole problem,
isn't it. Daniel. And we're not talking about Love Island here, No,
we're not.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
Well, I know, we didn't even talk about the season finale.
That's okay, I got to catch you guys to move
on from that afterwards.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
How much more outrageous is Love Island than the JumboTron video?

Speaker 3 (34:41):
Different? I mean, look, I don't have any let me
make it very clear. I don't have any experience in this,
but if you're having an affair and you're on the JumboTron,
maybe don't immediately act the way that those two did
and act cool, because then no one's going to think
anything of it. The fact that the CEO.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
Was canoodling the former CEO, by the former.

Speaker 3 (35:03):
CEO was canoodling the head of HR, and they're not
they're married to different people, and then you have someone
else in the HR department standing right next to them.

Speaker 4 (35:13):
Was that true?

Speaker 2 (35:13):
Though?

Speaker 4 (35:14):
I saw something later that said that they The third
person wasn't somebody else.

Speaker 3 (35:18):
I saw she was someone who was recently promoted.

Speaker 4 (35:21):
I saw that and then it was like, that's not
the same.

Speaker 3 (35:23):
There was a lot going on online.

Speaker 4 (35:25):
Number one. I'm gonna say, also, don't have an affair,
don't have any experience in this thing. But I'm like,
if you're trying to keep something hidden and you see
yourself on a jumbo tryning. I don't know in the
moment you're thinking to yourself, I'm gonna play this cool.
I don't know if that happens two. All I could
think of is like the multiple people and this happened
right away is almost every day there's a main character

(35:47):
on Twitter, and you never want to be the main
character on Twitter. And not only were they the main
character on Twitter, it lasted like two days.

Speaker 3 (35:54):
Did you see what sports venues were doing instead of
the kids cam? The cold Play cam?

Speaker 4 (35:59):
Oh brutal. I mean, they were on the cover of
the New York Post. Now, I'm not going to excuse
what they did by any stretch of the imagination, and
it's terrible for their families. I'm not one hundred percent
sure that was worth getting put on a major newspaper cover.
But I did think to myself, this is the biggest

(36:19):
non political thing to hit the Internet in a long time.
It really, it really did mean every passing moment, not
winning behavior, every passing.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
Moment of every day for like four or five days.
Hashtag it can always get worse. They were the embodyy
of that the Coldplay couple. Oh my goodness. All right,
you know what's worse and it's not well bought? What
is this story about? Something from the Orson Wells class
of nineteen forty Okay, two.

Speaker 4 (36:44):
That came up in the same week. I couldn't believe this.
Two iconic things from movies showed up and got purchased.
One you mentioned Rosebud. Now, a lot of people have
not seen Citizen kan I'm pretty sure that wasn't on
Danny's list of movie to watch. But Citizen Kane one
of the most famous movies of all time. Orson Wells

(37:05):
did it Rosebud? Long story short, The movie is about
a tycoon. It was loosely based on the life of
William Randolph Hurst. I'm not going to get into a
whole bunch of things, but and sorry, this is going
to be a spoiler. But it came out in nineteen
forty one, so if you haven't seen it, what the hell?

Speaker 3 (37:26):
Let me take my headphones off.

Speaker 4 (37:27):
Okay, you do that. He kept referring to Rosebud all
during the movie. And it turns out Rosebud was a
sled that he had when he was a child. So
the original Rosebud was there and on auction and movie prop.
The movie prop got sold for fourteen point seventy five
million dollars.

Speaker 3 (37:47):
Okay, what are you doing about that much money to
just spend on something like that?

Speaker 4 (37:52):
Good use, I mean, a piece of cinema history. But
still that's a lot of money. But I don't know
how this next one, how much the next one went for.
But another fine cinematic classic, pee weee'z Big Adventure, a
fine fine movie in its own right, The Alamo where

(38:14):
pee Wee ended up at one point during the movie
when he was trying to rescue his bike in that movie,
and again, you need to see the movie. I mean,
if you're going to see all of the Purge movies,
you need to see pee Wee's Big Adventure.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
I really made a point during the eighties it' all
had disdain for the hair bands and Tewee Herman.

Speaker 4 (38:30):
That's fair. Oh, I can't believe he said hairbands. Where
we haven't even gotten to Aussi yet.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
And don't call Azzi a hairband, come on please.

Speaker 4 (38:37):
And and the Alamo ends up with pee weee'z bike
and they're gonna put it on display at the Alimal,
which is fantastic if you've ever seen that movie.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
When I saw the headline Alamo has acquired Pee Wee's bike.
I thought the rental car company. Yeah, San Antonio again because.

Speaker 4 (38:54):
You're not going to see the movie.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
What the hell?

Speaker 2 (38:57):
By the way, as someone who rented a few cars
though the last couple of weeks, is there a better
three words in the English language than it's a rental
as you hit a curb or jump a curb? Not
good rest in peace? Three letters rip Ozzy Osbourne. Wow, Yes,
seventy six years of age?

Speaker 4 (39:15):
You feel old now?

Speaker 2 (39:16):
Like a week after he actually was on stage at
a concert.

Speaker 4 (39:19):
Very emotional last concert that he had. But yeah, I
mean again, I.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
Mean at Brett Hart Junior High School, the boombox song
of choice was Ozzy in Crazy Train. I'm just gonna
say that right now.

Speaker 4 (39:33):
Wait wait wait wait wait where Brett.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
Hart Junior High School after the wrestler, when all when
everyone would walk around with the boomboxes, Crazy Train was
the song you played between classes.

Speaker 4 (39:44):
Look, I'm well aware of Ozzie's impact on my childhood
and everywhere in middle school, in high school. I want
to get back to the part where you're talking about
your middle school being named after a wrestler.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
Can you do your California history. Okay, discovered, discover the
state of California. Go ahead, Danny please.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
I know we don't have to save dar own ignorance.
We don't have Getting Cultured officially this week. However, I
do have to culture you both on Ozzy Osbourne, so
kind of I can say this. I have to tell
you about the lore of an influencer named Tricia Padis
and lore paul is like the backstory the history of something. Okay,

(40:25):
there you go, that's your getting cultured. You can use
that with your kids around the dinner table.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
Team And if this is really good, can I say
that's pretty sauce?

Speaker 3 (40:32):
You do not have my permission to say that. No,
So look, I don't know what she's famous for. I
just know that she is an influencer, and honestly, it
almost feels like she might be doing a little bit
of witchcraft because whenever she gives birth, which has been
three times now, it has been the same day as
some influential person passing away. Her first born was a

(40:57):
baby girl named Malibu Barbie kid you Not, was born
the same day that she QUEANTRT Middle School was born
the same day that Queen Elizabeth the second died, so
it kind of became oh, was the queen you know,
reincarnated as her baby? Haha. Well then it didn't become
so funny when she gave birth to her second child,

(41:18):
her daughter named Elvis, which was the same her daughter
named Elvis, which was the same day that Pope Francis died.
So then she gives birth to her third child, a
boy named Aquaman, the day that Ozzie passes away. There's
there's that is some deep getting calls.

Speaker 4 (41:39):
Maybe you should have told this sis ahead of time
because there's so much there to unpack and we don't
have time.

Speaker 3 (41:43):
I don't really have answers. I don't really know much
about her. If you have questions, you can ask Caitlin,
our team photographer, who seems to know more about her history.

Speaker 4 (41:51):
The the Murderers role. I probably shouldn't use that term,
but the lineup of Queen Elizabeth, a Pope, and Ozzy
Osbourne is just in itself.

Speaker 2 (42:01):
You know, I didn't know this was gonna be on
the test. I thought I was supposed to come with
like some tire in Matthew recollections, you know, of his
Cardinals career. So it's way beyond what I expected to
be on the test.

Speaker 3 (42:11):
Still study those for a wise guy against I.

Speaker 2 (42:13):
Guess, so so wow, So there you go.

Speaker 4 (42:17):
Okay, are you gonna be able to bring this back
to uh to reality?

Speaker 2 (42:21):
Yeah? Yeah, I'll say this. Usually what I do in
moments like this is I buy time and remind everyone
you can join the bird Gang in Dallas for Monday
Night football through Cardinals Premiere Travel hosted by Cardinals Legends.
Travel packages will include a chartered flight and the Cardinals plane.
That's a ding, two night hotel, accommodations, lower level game tickets,
and more place a two hundred and fifty dollars per party.

(42:44):
Deposit a lock in the best price. Go to asycardstravel
dot com, asy cards Travel dot com. And by the way,
all that equates to a double ding and we'll and we.

Speaker 4 (42:54):
Will effort trying to get Aquaman and Elvis there.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
Mal Honestly, it kind of here's the segue. It reminds
me of some of the names in questions submitted in
the mailbag, Darren Urban, Right, you get a variety of
names and questions, and one this week, what production do
the Cardinals need from Josh Sweat to have this prove
to be a good signing, I'll clean some of the language.

Speaker 4 (43:18):
I thought that was kind of interesting because the thought
process was what we were talking about, which is he
hasn't had a lot of seasons with a ton of sacks.
Is it are they paying him to be all of
a sudden be that and after all these years in
the league, is he could he still be that? Or
is it more of like that kind of culture bringing

(43:38):
a guy who's won a lot of games, who has
familiarity with Nick rollis I think it's interesting to ask
those questions.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
There's a lot of back and forth. A lot of
Eagles fans will say, you know, he had a pretty quiet,
mediocre regular season then balled out in the postseason. The
counterpoint to that is, well, Vic Fangio sort of changed
the scheme in the postseason, especially in the Super Bowl.
To hear Josh Sweat to and he sat right in
that chair and he gave us the story. He said,
you know what, he came in with a game plan

(44:08):
and was just unleash, unlocked, just go get him, just attack.
And that's exactly how Jonathan Gannon used Josh Sweat and
got a couple career years out of him. So if
the Cardinals use him in that manner, that's why they think,
you know, by low sell high, that they're going to
get more out of him. There's more under the hood.
Not to mention, you had a pretty loaded defensive front
in Philadelphia, so maybe he'll be featured more with the Cardinals.

(44:30):
We'll get more reps, more bites of the apple. To me,
that's one of the intriguing things. Okay, if he's truly
the first pass rusher the Cardinals have had that an
opposing offensive coordinator has to game plan for the first
since Chandler Jones, then are they going to forego the
typical rotations and let him stay out on the field

(44:51):
longer then we've seen edge rushers the last couple of years.

Speaker 3 (44:54):
I would expect so, especially with the money you gave Sweat.
The word he used was freedom in how he played
in Philadelphia with Rallison Gannon, and that even though he
was only out here for the mandatory mini Caan't practices
and again no pads, he said that he could already
feel he would have a similar type of freedom. Look,
I know we don't like to normally give numbers with

(45:15):
expectations because of all the reasons, Darren was just saying,
of you don't know what the game plan is going
to be the larger scheme, right, what's really going to
be asked if I'm at this point in the off season,
But if you're looking for numbers, last year, Sweat had
eight sacks, fifteen quarterback hits, nine tackles for loss. If
we're looking for a good season, which was the question
of the mailbag, double digit sacks, I would say closer

(45:37):
to twenty or twenty five quarterback hits and then double
digit tackles for loss. Right, maybe closer to that fifteen would.

Speaker 4 (45:45):
Be really good year.

Speaker 3 (45:46):
Right, I mean, if you're gonna that's what you're gonna
look for.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
But if you're getting that pressure from the interior, from
the inside out, if Dalvin Thomason and Koleis Campbell and
you know, Darius Robinson and Walter Nole in the third,
if all those guys are in there providing something that
Cardinals haven't gotten a whole lot of the last couple
of years, partly due to talent and also due to injury,
then all of a sudden, once again this can be

(46:10):
there was a list, and thank goodness, camp Is starting,
so we're not gonna be dealing with any of these
lists anymore. But there was a list early in the offseason,
left after free agency in the draft, and it was
top five most improved position groups in the NFL. And
the Cardinals are on that list. Your darn tune, they
should be. The defensive line is drastically different than it
was the last couple of years.

Speaker 4 (46:30):
Look, there's a lot that plays into this. And when
it comes to Josh Wett, he could have a good
year and the numbers won't look eye popping, But does
it fit into what they're doing. I mean, we're gonna
see what happens. Obviously they have expectations on them. You're
paying them a certain amount of money. You're hoping you're
getting a certain amount. But again, you didn't. You didn't

(46:51):
necessarily sign Micah Parsons in his prime. And that's no
knock on Josh Sweat. But if you're expecting Josh Wet
to come in here and be Micah Parsons, that's that's
just foolish.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
I was told we didn't want to talk about Micah
Parsons and any sort of signings on this podcast.

Speaker 4 (47:06):
Well, we can go right into your Dallas capboards, Danny
don't say your oh boy, sorry, Brian's Golley?

Speaker 2 (47:16):
What else Darren is on the radar at the beginning
of camp? Anything else securely, okay, I'm most curious to
find out or I'm tracking anything.

Speaker 4 (47:26):
It'll be interesting. Again, we mentioned it briefly at the top.
There's the way the CBA has worked. These first few
days of camp are not hitting. You don't hit until Monday.
They're the first open practice is Thursday, So Thursday and
Friday and Sunday will be open practices, I believe off
the top of my head. But there won't be any

(47:46):
hitting until Monday. Keep that in mind. They're working with
off season rules, as players are allowed to kind of
ease into it a little bit, and we're gonna find out.
I mean, I don't know how much we've been through
a couple of Jonathan Gannon camps, so we kind of
know what to expect. I don't expect a lot of
key players to play in preseason games. I think they're

(48:07):
going to be smart about how they use them in
training camp, and I think there's gonna be a lot
seen in New Orleans which won't have Tyron Matthew on
the first game of the season, because we're not going
to know exactly because they're going to kind of keep
it in the back pocket.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
Maybe that's the first storyline the whole more friction. What
does that look like? What does that mean? There's been
one fight each of the first two Jonathan Gannon training camps,
and all four players have been ejected, had to make
the walk of shame all the way down the field
and down the ramp and they were done. And last
year they got aired out as well. Jonathan Gannon was heated,

(48:44):
and so I think he made his point for anyone
who was there last year. That's probably been shared to
players incoming this year. By the way, speaking of Dallas
real quick, how is it that Dak Prescott ends up
at seventy nine on the top one hundred players when
he played eight games last year and he has had
as many turnovers as he did touchdown passes? And when

(49:04):
is this top one hundred going to be over? By
the way, it's like to a day, and.

Speaker 4 (49:07):
It's to a day until we're not we're just making
of the seventies.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
Paul, Oh my goodness, okay, Which gives us a little
time to.

Speaker 3 (49:14):
Talk about speaking of seventies. How about Paul's mustache.

Speaker 4 (49:18):
Okay, no good way that in the boat that was
well done.

Speaker 2 (49:23):
Letted that out later.

Speaker 4 (49:24):
I mean, Danny is ready for camp.

Speaker 2 (49:26):
The light isn't going on for a reason.

Speaker 4 (49:28):
Danny is ready and the best way.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
Possible, Paul I just was low hanging through.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
Yeah. Uh yeah, there is a moniker that's been attached.
It starts with a pe and the mustache that I
won't actually pretty share on this. So, speaking of making
an impact early in camp like Danny just did, Tyron
Matthew was that player in twenty thirteen.

Speaker 4 (49:48):
Yes, he was.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Honestly, I don't remember a Cardinal's rookie generating a bigger
buzz more instantly than a Tyron Matthew. He did a
rookie mini camp like by the time the veterans got there,
they walked off the first practice and they're pointing to
the backfield saying, there is a rookie out there, creating
quite a stir.

Speaker 4 (50:08):
It was the Tyron Matthew think, to me is always
intriguing because and.

Speaker 2 (50:13):
For somebody to do it on defense as well was remarkable.

Speaker 4 (50:16):
Not only on defense, but the spotlight was white hot
from the moment he showed up because of his situation
in college, being kicked off the LSU football team, and
the Cardinals taking a risk on him. I mean, he
didn't go till the third round, but a lot of
teams were very leary about bringing him in. And I
wrote this right when his retirement news came out. It's

(50:38):
on Easycardinals dot Com. Whatever whatever issues that Tyron Matthew
might have had before he got to be a pro,
he was always a pro. From the day he showed up.
I've never seen a guy. I mean, I'm not going
to say he worked harder than anybody I've ever seen,
but he worked just as hard as anybody I ever saw.
He wanted to be great. He was. You know, we

(51:02):
kind of sometimes look at Buddha Baker saying there's a
lot in a small package. I mean, Tyrone was even smaller,
and what he brought to the table was amazing. He
was every bit the dynamic playmaker, and more importantly for me,
I to find a player, it's been rare to find
a player as introspective, as self aware, as intelligent, and

(51:27):
as good to talk to as Tyron Matthew. Will always
be one of my favorites. He still has a few
times I've gotten to say hi to him since he
left the Cardinals, I've enjoyed. And he's got a Hall
of Fame case too. I think he's built a Hall
of Fame case. I don't know if he'll get there,
but he's built a Hall of Fame case. And for
a guy who tore his ACL twice in his first

(51:48):
three seasons, that's pretty amazing.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
Yeah. I mean, for a guy who ran a four
or five, he definitely played like he ran a four
to three. You just had superior instincts. And he's the
epitome of a playmaker. And he got the respect of
everybody in that team so quickly. The whole players know players,
they knew right away what they had. And just to
watch him, just to watch some of the pregame and

(52:12):
pre practice antics between Tyrant and Patrick Peterson, throwing the
ball around and running around. Just the athleticism, the hand
eye coordination, it was just stupid. And then for him
to go out there and you're right, his rookie year
he joined us in the big red rage. He was
so honest, he was so insightful, he was so raw
with everything that happened to him that he went through that,
he opened up about, talked about Hurricane Katrina, how that

(52:35):
upended his life and his family. And then I remember
Bruce Arians. Someone posted this on x here with the announcement.
Bruce Arians called him his favorite draft pick ever, and
he said, well, didn't you have some hesitations about drafting him?
A They had Patrick Peterson vouching.

Speaker 4 (52:52):
For him, Yes, because we tired a big part of it.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
It was and Tyron Matthew had lived with pat PE's
parents after he got bounced from LSU. They wanted to
get him out of New Orleans, get him out of Louisiana,
get him away from those influences from his childhood. That
was a big key in his recovery. But BA said,
when I interviewed him before the draft, he took responsibility
for everything. If he had blamed anyone else except himself,

(53:15):
we wouldn't have drafted him. But he owned everything and
said he had to be better and he would be
better and BEA believed him.

Speaker 4 (53:23):
I just the self awareness and the self accountability was
always always struck me. He was always he appreciated other people,
appreciated what we all did. He just was he's just
a good person. And you know, again, on a personal level,
I hated that he ended up leaving here. I understand

(53:44):
some of the situations, and after his second ACL it
did take him a long time to get back and
he was not the same player he was. They wanted
to cut his pay. He decided didn't want that. He
wanted a fresh start, and he restarted his career and
got back to that level. People weren't sure, but the
bottom line is this is a guy who you know,

(54:05):
I think he was one of the fan favorites. We
talk about faces of the franchise and sometimes guys come
in and they whether they want to or not, they're
kind of deem that Tyron Matthews, the guy that was
would have been the face of the franchise for a
long time, and he wasn't trying to be. He just
he became it because of who he was. And so

(54:27):
congratulations on a great career and a quick thought.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
He was before my time, Louise Sharp, but we're talking
a multi time Pro bowler and All Pro tackle, one
of the best in the game when he was at
his best. And really my knowledge of Louis Sharp goes
through Ron Wolfley yeah, one of his beloved teammates. And
to hear Wolf tell it, Louis Sharp was one of
two or maybe three tackles who had a chance against
Lawrence Taylor. Lawrence Taylor would say, you know what, that

(54:52):
guy gives me all I can handle.

Speaker 4 (54:54):
Unfortunately for Louise, his life kind of was the opposite
of Tyron had it all and then unfortunately drugs got
him and he struggled for most of his life, but
he recovered his last few years. He was helping people
that had been in the same situation. As far as
I believe, he was sober for a number of years

(55:15):
and tough, but he was. He was a great player,
and he was one of the main guys for this
team when they first moved to Arizona. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:23):
I didn't realize he played thirteen years for the Arizona Cardinals.
First round pick and what eighty two? Yeah, and so
there you go. Great player, all right, So Cardinals underground,
I guess I have a homework assignment, Danny breakout player
a camp. I got to come up with that here
and offense and defense.

Speaker 3 (55:38):
Okay, I know you have to get special teams some love.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
It's true. Hey, everyone's under consideration. It's just you know
who's going to come out of nowhere and make an impact.
He make the team. So we had a pretty good
year last year after seven year drought, so you know,
let's see if you can continue the win streak. Anybody
else have any homework assignments?

Speaker 4 (55:59):
No, no homework siens. Just remember to bring a jacket
to the to the press box because it'll be chilling.

Speaker 2 (56:04):
That applies to no one unless you have a press pass.
So okay, that's good.

Speaker 4 (56:08):
Yes, okay, I'm reminding you. I'm not telling the people
at large.

Speaker 2 (56:11):
And uh note to one of us as well. Somebody
bring the extension cord next time. Okay, that'll do it.
For Cardinals Underground presented by Pacific Office Automation