May 29, 2025 • 45 mins
Ep. 718 - Rookie offensive lineman Hayden Conner is confident in his abilities, but he’s humble enough to know that his path to NFL success won’t be an easy one. The Cardinals’ 2025 sixth round selection joins Paul Calvisi to discuss his days playing for the Texas Longhorns, meeting Matthew McConaughey, his early childhood dream of becoming an aerospace engineer and with that, does he believe in aliens? Conner also talks about his mentality as OTAs begin and how he’s ready to do whatever is asked of him to help the team. Plus, Calvisi is joined by Darren Urban to explore what Darius Robinson's second season could look like and the sense of urgency for the Cardinals to get back to the playoffs.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Strap on the boots and scrape up the knuckles ahead.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
He got jacked.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
This is the Big Red Rage presented by santan Ford
and Gilbert.
Speaker 4 (00:12):
Terry's gonna score touchdown Slamm to the ground by Buddha
Baker like a torpedo. He came flying into the backfield.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
The Rage is brought to you by santan Ford and
Gilbert right on the Price, right on the corner of
the Santan two to two Freeway.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
In valves want a Crab by Trey McBride that was spectacular.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
And by Arizona Cardinals podcast visit Azycardinals dot Com Slash podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
All Right Sea its Rising Uard Jimpit Rising Vision, Flurry Rage,
take it over.
Speaker 5 (00:50):
Here's Paul CALVICI I'm ready. I'm one hundred percent ready.
I'm telling you I'm ready. And Darren Urban how about
this herb kid.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
The field.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
They are officially known as voluntary off season workout programs.
Not on the Big Red Rage.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Not here.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
We are fifty two weeks a year, bruh. Although Wolf
isn't here. Interesting, that's voluntary all of a sudden. More
on that later. More importantly, we are talking offense. That's
right in an off season dominated by defense, defense, Defense,
Marsha Marsha Marshall, we are gonna actually talk some offense
with rookie offensive lineman Hayden Connor. Our special guest here
(01:35):
tonight is we are officially putting the big in the
Big Red Rage presented by santan Ford in Gilbert. We
are santan Ford and in a different way, in for Wolf,
our big get. Not just anybody can sit in for
Ron wolf Ley Darren Irvan joining us here and yes, Darren,
you know, I only partially blame you as the lead
content creator at Easycardinals dot Com. I mean just you know,
(01:59):
the spot light on defense all off season. I think
it's about time that we give equal airtime to the
offense tonight.
Speaker 6 (02:06):
Yeah, it doesn't hurt that you were given an offensive
player to talk to this week, Paul, that dovetails well,
I design, you know, I just want to say that
always feel good about filling in for Wolf. You know,
he doesn't have that many duties anymore now that he's
slowly pulling away from everything. So now that he's gone,
and I got to be honest, being in the studio,
(02:26):
it's weird, Like normally we're in here. I'm in here
for the podcast that Cardinals Underground podcast with you, Paul
and Danny Shrek, and normally I've got other things going on.
I'm trying to like write down what we're talking about
as we go so I can do the description later. No,
all I gotta do is walk in, sit down, pontificate.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
That's right.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
I mean, just dad water, here we go. We just
want your expertise, we want your opinion, we want what
you think of this off season. But hold that thought.
Let's hear from Jonathan Gannon, who met the media this week,
and here's what the head coach likes about what he's
seen this offseason.
Speaker 7 (02:59):
It's been cool to see, you know, a lot of
guys came back and took it to heart with what
we wanted to see. Some new guys have come in
that We've done some work with those guys, not as
much because you don't cut the full bank of time
with them, but free agents or you know, the draft
picks right now, they're all working hard.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
All right, just like a lot of the team leaders.
Darren Erman, you've been in the building every single day.
What stands out so far? If you go big pick
on the big red.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
You know, I think generally, what really stands out for me,
and we're early, early in this process. They just put
on the helmets a couple of days ago. The fact
that Jonathan Gannon, and we've known this for a couple
of weeks now, but the fact that Jonathan Gannon cut
back the OTAs. You know, every team has done. Every
(03:43):
team has the option to do ten OTAs plus their
three day managatory mini camp, and it's always been ten.
There might have been one to nine somewhere in there
with all the coaches that I've covered over like the
last twenty five years, but he cut it back to six,
and I was asking about it, and he basically said, look,
I figure with the nine practices, the six OTAs now
(04:04):
that they have instead of ten plus the three mini
camp practices, he goes, we can get all the work
done on the field that we need. And I thought
that was interesting as they continue to balance as he
was talking about that balance between developing players and health
related ideas in terms of not overtaxing these guys.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
Does it signal a different stage in the building of
this team that really you're going from building and reloading
to competing in year three Kelvin Beacham Junior has talked
about it. James Connor has talked about it most recently.
I mean, the time is now. You know, maybe the
last couple of years to some degree it was development,
it was restocking the cabinets. But don't you get the
(04:43):
sense that, Okay, the urgency is here, right here, right
now more than ever.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
Oh, I don't think there's any question about that. I mean,
there's expectations going into year three of a general manager
coach tandem. That's just how it is, and you know,
in some ways, to be honest, and that's what we'd
like to be here, Paul. You know, three years is
an eternity in the NFL. Not normally there isn't a
three year run up to expectations, but that's where we were.
(05:11):
It's kind of where the organization was when those guys
came in. I think it was the proper amount of time.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Now.
Speaker 6 (05:17):
You could argue that they were in a position to
make a push last year, and they did for the
first half of the year, and it was a disappointing
second half of the year. So maybe there's a different discussion,
but yeah, absolutely, after what they've been through and what
they've done and how they've reshaped the roster. There is
a lot on the line this year, and I don't
think anybody's going to argue that.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
Later we're near from James Connor and the urgency of
the moment of this season, one of the team captains.
And yes we'll be talking some offense there, but for
all my talk about offense, we're not going to talk defense,
and we're going to talk about the young corners. Because
for all the takeaways so far in the off season,
Marvin Irrison, junior Darius Robinson most definitely winning the offseason
adding muscle mass, the real news headline had to do
(06:00):
with veteran corner Sean Murphy Bunty done for the season
injury knee injury on the non football injury list. Okay,
so where does that leave the Cardinals in terms of
that position room. Look, they had twelve, now they have
eleven corners. We'll see if any are added between now.
In training camp, obviously, they're assessing what they have on
the roster and the head coach, whose area of expertise
(06:22):
is the cornerback position group here, he is just on
everything he sees the young guys in that room.
Speaker 7 (06:28):
For the young guys. You know, there'll be some learning
on the job, you know what I mean. You need
reps to learn. I truly believe that, and really bad
reps to really learn. But that's an ongoing process for
all our guys, no matter if you play eighteen years
like Kalais Hill, learn from good and bad reps, you know,
to a rookie that's never played in the NFL before.
So everyone's at different stages in their career. But feel
(06:50):
really good about that room, feel good about the guys
that are coming back, and feel really good about the
guys that we added.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
How would you handicap that right now? That cornerback room,
I said, Darren, we need a depth chart right now.
The two outside corners to go along with Nickel corner
Garrett Williams. How would it stack up?
Speaker 6 (07:08):
Off the top of my head, I'm going to guess
at this very early stage, will Johnson's probably not in
the starting lineup because he's a rookie and he just
got here. You've got Garrett Williams as your slot guy.
You've got Starling Thomas with two years of experience as
a starter, and you've got Max Meltin, who you drafted
in the second round last year to be a starter,
and you know, played well as the season went on.
(07:30):
So you know, if I had a guess, right, if
they had a play game tomorrow, you're talking about Starling
Thomas and Max Melton on the outside with Garrett in
the slot, and then I think Will Johnson is going
to probably come on pretty fast. And it's funny when
you look at that group, Paul Sean Murphy Bunting was
going to have to fight to get playing time, I
(07:51):
think in the first place, and with as many guys
as they've piled up, and this is no shot at
Sean Murphy Bunting. And this is because basically I'm just
talking about a number here rather than a particular player.
But like they've got too many guys as it is.
They've got a Darren Hall who played well enough to
make the team last year and showed some things and
(08:14):
has a little bit of time in this in this league.
They've got Kee Trew Clark who started a little bit as.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
A rookie, Isaiah Jones.
Speaker 6 (08:21):
Isaiah Jones are Elijah Jones.
Speaker 5 (08:23):
Elija Jones, my bad, we don't.
Speaker 6 (08:24):
Have we don't know what he brings in the table.
But he's a third round pick last year.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
I mean he was so far off the raidar. I
just screwed up his name for Pete's sake. See that's Evan.
It's right there. But you're right now. Here's the only
thing I'll throw out there for all the names you
just mentioned. And I agree if you had to play
a game today, Max Melton's Starling Thomas. But you have
to keep in mind the moment Patrick Certan was drafted.
He started fifteen games as a rookie. Sauce Gardner started
(08:50):
all seventeen games as a rookie. Derek Stingley has started
every game he has played in three years, and Devin
Witherspoon of Seattle, who's a fifth pick overall, he's been
a two time All Pro in two years. So if
Will Johnson is thought to be a top fifteen, top
ten talent when healthy, I wouldn't be shocked if in
Week one he's cornerback one. I mean, on paper he
could be that talented.
Speaker 6 (09:11):
I think that's absolutely pot possible.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
But I also I'm wary of.
Speaker 6 (09:18):
The whole like, well, he's a top fifteen guy when
he didn't go till forty seven, which was actually a
few picks later than Max Meltin went the year before.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Yeah, facts, I.
Speaker 6 (09:29):
Mean, I'm not and I'm not trying to take anything
away from Will Johnson, but.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
The only the only qualifiers that Ian rapid bard Adam
Schefter tweeted out the night of the draft knee injury concerned.
So to what degree was that group Bink and other
teams started getting freaked out people? Was injury related versus
talent related?
Speaker 6 (09:47):
Oh no, obviously if it's injury late that that's some
that's a part of it. But like once you once
you get past twenty, I feel like that fades a
little bit to me if that's all it is.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
Here's what I will say. With an improved pass rush.
Remember the Cardinals third down percentage defense was twenty eighth
in the NFL a year ago. The Cardinals completion percentage
allowed is a defense twenty ninth. So there's room for
improvement when it comes to the pass coverage. And you
know what's going to help improve everything is that defensive
front and an improved pass rush. That's gonna be the
(10:24):
rising tidele lifts all boats. Hey join the Bird Gang
in Dallas Monday Night Football. This season Cardinals Premier Travel
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azcardstravel dot com. Azcardstravel dot com. Already played sixteen games
(10:46):
for Texas last year, started every one of them, six
hundred and seventeen pass block snaps, zero sacks allowed. Hayden
Connor is next in the Big Red Rage presented by
Santan Ford in Gilbert With.
Speaker 6 (11:03):
The two hundred and eleven pick in the twenty twenty
five NFL Draft to Arizona Cardinals select Hayden Connor, guard Texas.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
He's a big, strong guy.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
He can get movement.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
Texas runs the ball a lot, He's played well in
that system, and he holds up really well in passbrooks.
So I think he's a good fit for what we
try to do.
Speaker 8 (11:23):
You can put on a lot of tape where this
guy's playing Guys who got drafted this year, got drafted
last year NFL player, so it's not a question of
Kenny block NFL players.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
He's been doing.
Speaker 8 (11:31):
He's got I think forty three consecutive starts in Texas.
That's that's pretty damn good. So you got a big
guy who's really smart and who's fundamentally sounds So we
were excited that Hayden was still there.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
All right, Cardinals' decision makers on the player has started
every game, will last three years at Texas. We have
a question about that. Momentarily drafted on his twenty second birthday,
recently married, because good things happened in threes. As I
try and keep a straight face. He appears on The
Big Red Rage presented by Santan Ford and Gilbert. We
are Santan Ford, Paul Calvici. Here, Hayden Connor. There all
(12:07):
six foot six, three hundred and fourteen pounds of them. Hayden.
Welcome to the Cardinals. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Thank you for having me. I'm very excited.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
So the Cardinals tweeted out when you were drafted. All right,
all right, all right? Have you met Matthew McConaughey.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Not formally but in passing seeing in the locker room.
Give him a high five or something, but nothing like, hey,
I'm a huge fan of Interstellar, Like none of that.
I wish I did but I never never had the courage.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
He's a pretty ubiquitous presence though on the sideline, isn't.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
He Oh yeah, he's He makes him stuff known. He's there.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
That's great. We mentioned and heard from the decision makers
right there. What do you think of your head coach
Jonathan Gannon so far?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
I like him a lot. I know that. In my
first presser I had some nice words, and you know,
I'll say it again. He's He's an awesome guy. He's
got a lot of good energy. He's got high standards
for what we were going to do here, and so
I'm really excited.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
You know, his energy. What does that do for a player?
When your coach is that.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Enthused, It makes it really easy to do all you
can for him and for the team. You know, if
you have a coach that is just like, Okay, guys,
we're gonna go here and do this, like like I
don't want to do that for you, I'm gonna do
it for me. But instead he brings that energy and like, Okay,
I'm gonna do this for the team and for everybody
else and him.
Speaker 5 (13:19):
What are you most curious to find out about the NFL?
I'm already learning a lot so far, so jazz, I
remember you mentioned you mentioned your press conference the fine structure.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah, the fines are real. M. I've already had to
get some snacks for the O line room, me and
the other guys have.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
But see that's the norm. We learned that Walter Nolan
the Third recently got Epsom salt bags for the dem Lineman.
I've never heard that one before.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
No, we didn't have ebsence slow. We had a bunch
of chips and some fancy clearly Canadians. I've never heard
of it. A mountain valley. What I like? Mountain valley,
So I get it.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
I love the I love maybe because I live vicariously
through the big guys as someone who goes by the
nickname Polly pencil Neck. You got the big guys, and
you've got big personalities in the old line room. Tell
us about life in the old line room.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
There are a lot of personalities, you know. I feel
like I'm starting to warm up to them and they're
starting to warm up to me. Obviously, Beacham isn't here yet.
I'm excited to meet him. I've heard a lot about him.
But I mean, I love all the guys in the room.
You know, I got lucky coming here with Christian Jones.
Me and him played together for three years, so I
already kind of know his personality.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
Yeah, you talk about energy Christian Jones, right.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Yes, Oh, it never has a bad day. Most positive guy.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Hayden Connor is our guest. We mentioned you know you
started every game last three years, including sixteen games a
year ago. How equipped for the NFL do you feel?
I mean, I think, like rookie Wall, there's always that cliche.
I mean, you've already played an NFL season in a
lot of ways. Just last year in college.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Not really, no, No, I mean it was the sec
best conference in college football, but it's not the same.
You know, we got to play more games. It was
like a mini NFL season. I'd say that, all right,
but the competition is obviously gonna be a lot more different.
It did give me the ability to build good routines
for myself on and off the field, and you know,
(15:07):
I'm hoping to translate that over.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
Tell me about some of your battles in college. We
had Dave Sears recently on the Big Red Rage systet GM,
and when asked about you, we said, go turn on
his game film against Michigan Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant.
First off, if I said which game film are you
most proud of? Would you cite the Michigan game?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah? I do that one.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
In Clemson Clemson, Okay, Yeah, I mean Georgia, Ohio State,
right South Carolina, Kentucky had a touted defensive lining room.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Florida did too. Yeah. We got to play a lot
of dudes this year and it was fun to put
it all on tape.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
So how equipped do you feel for the NFL? Which
I guess sort of gets back to what are you
most curious to find out? I mean, do you what
do you feel like this transition? How monumental is it
in your mind?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
I'm just excited for the opportunity to prove myself. You
know that I was picked for a reason, you know,
all the work that I've put in, all the sacrifices
my family has made. I'm just excited to show everybody like, Hey,
I'm here and I'm legit.
Speaker 5 (16:02):
Was there something in your scouter report you did not like?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
It?
Speaker 5 (16:05):
Always seems like there's something like Kalaya Scmpbell was a
host of this show for four years. Yeah, believe it
or not. In his skountery report, I think it was
mel Kiper said suffers from a bad motor. Lack of motor.
That's why he went top a second round. Right, He's
in his eighteenth season. It couldn't have been more wrong.
What was in your scouter report that maybe you didn't
agree with?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
I have no idea. I didn't read my scouting report.
That's good.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
Well, they called you an above average run blocker.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Okay, agree or disagree. I mean I think I'm good
at run blocking. Yeah, I think I'm decent at it.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
Is there such a thing as a good fit, a
good scheme fit. Will Johnson has been called a good
scheme fit by Jonathangana. How about an offensive lineman, for example?
This team likes to get its guards out into space
and pull. Would that be a strength of your game?
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, I mean turn on the film. I remember there
was a game where I think I pulled over twenty times,
So I'm used to it. We did it a lot
of Texas. I know we have the ability to do
it here, and so whenever I get that chance, I'm
gonna go out there and do what I've done.
Speaker 5 (17:01):
What else about your Texas career are you proud of?
I mean, think of the guys you just had to
practice against an idealy basis, that's right.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Yeah, it was a lot where I got a lot
of practice against, you know, T sweat Byron, Alfred Vernon,
like a bunch of a bunch of stellar athletes. But
I don't know one thing I guess I'm most proud of.
I don't know. I mean, you know, when I committed
Texas wasn't fantastic, right, and I wanted to be a
part of the change. And I was lucky enough to
(17:28):
get there. When Sark and Flood and all them got
hired and they're like, hey, we're going to change stuff
around here, I'm like, all right, I'm in. And so
I'm I'm glad to say I was a part of
that process for sure.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
Hayden Connor is our guest here on the Big Red
Rage Round six pick offensive lineman. What was your reaction
when you first saw the Cardinals playbook?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Different? Yeah? Different? And it was a lot. But I
pride myself on having really a good football I Q
and so I'm like, okay, I just gotta hunker down
and figure it out. And I feel like I've got
a good grasp of it, right, Like JG talks about
no no, right, I'm trying to get to that no no, right,
I'm getting there. But I mean there's so many little
nuances here and there that you know, I'll get with time, right,
(18:06):
But I feel like I'm on a good trajectory.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
So if you were tracking to be an aerospace engineer
before football got in the way, I'm guessing just your
IQ period is pretty high. Why aerospace engineering? Did I
read that you wanted to do that ever since you
were a little guy.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah, when I was in eighth grade, I'm like, you
know what, I want to be airspace engineering. And I
mean it could be because I was a big Marvel guy.
I liked iron Man. I like Guardians of the Galaxy,
and so I'm like, you know, I'm gonna do that, right, Like,
if there could be any superhero that I could become,
it would be iron Man because he doesn't have any powers, right,
So growing up, I'm like, you know, that'd be really cool.
(18:43):
I did a NASA Space settlement design competition in high school.
I was a part of the NASA High School Airspace
Scholars program in high school and then get to college
and I got into the physics school. I wanted to
transition to aerospace, but then found out that I wouldn't
be able to because of the class schedule would have
conflicted with their practice schedule. So I'm like, all right, Well,
so I just chose geography. I did a lot of
(19:06):
that similar stuff in that one of the high school
programs I took, and so I thought it was a
good fit.
Speaker 5 (19:10):
So is your favorite quarterback Josh Stobbs, who has an
aerospace engineering degree and it's sporked at NASA.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, I mean I've always wanted to meet him. I
remember being in college in hearing about him, like this, dude,
he's doing it. He did it. Good for him. I couldn't.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
He played here two years ago, and I asked him
in a press comments and you know, I hesitated, but
asked him the tough question.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Aiden.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
I asked him, do you or do you not believe
in aliens?
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Yeah? I absolutely believe in aliens?
Speaker 5 (19:34):
You do?
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Oh yeah?
Speaker 5 (19:36):
Because he said no, really, is there an easy answer
as to why you believe in aliens?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Well, I mean define alien? Right, You're gonna talk about
the little microscopic organisms on different planets? Like, sure, those
are those are living creatures? Right? But they are intelligent? Right?
But then you know there's the question is there other
intelligent species out there? And I think there is, right.
I believe in the ancient a Aliens theory. It's on
History Channel. Go watch it. It's awesome show.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
See there's just far more that we don't know, though
we do know in this universe, right, it's crazy. All right,
lightning round questions. Here we go, Hayden Connor, you're ready,
we'll just go rip through these.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Let's do it.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
Number fifty eight good, bad, or no matter? And I
bring up your number because Luther Burden the Third he
got number eighty seven and they asked him, well, why
eighty seventy? He said, because all the good numbers were gone?
Even more number three of the zoo. Does it even
matter for an offensive lineman? What number you're rocking?
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I mean, if you've got history with a number, maybe,
but I don't. My dad wore fifty and fifty five
in college, and so I'm like, oh, I get something
close to that. I thought that was a good choice.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
Okay, next question, do you trash talk?
Speaker 2 (20:43):
No? No?
Speaker 5 (20:44):
What if someone pokes the bear? What if you're provoked,
no scoreboard, bro. Best and worst thing about being a
big guy six six, three fifteen or so, give or
take best and worst thing?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Oh no, I mean one of the worst things is
trying to fun clothes that fit you, especially growing up.
It was horrible. I still don't have I don't have
a big closet. I grow all my stuff still, I'm
constantly changing. But good thing. People don't sit next to
you on airplanes.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
It's true. You're right. I see for me every every
economy seat is the first class seat. Yeah, no, sir,
all right, you're from Katie, Texas outside Houston. Friday Night Lights.
What's better the book, the movie or the TV series
Friday Night Lights?
Speaker 2 (21:27):
The movie? Absolutely?
Speaker 5 (21:29):
Have you seen the TV series?
Speaker 2 (21:30):
I've seen. I've seen some episodes, but I've I've watched
the movie probably five times.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, me too. I think good over and above. Yeah, probably. Okay,
Katie Texas, We're going out to dinner. What's the quintessential
meal I would order? You know in Katie.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Texas and Katie?
Speaker 5 (21:46):
Yeah, well what I order?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Uh, there's not a lot in Katie. You could you
could go to Pearl and Vine. It's a newer and
Newer Steakhouse. It's really good. I would go there, but
for me after games, it was always water.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Burger, gotcha?
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah?
Speaker 5 (22:01):
What is your go to on a cheat day? You know,
like if you had to put on weight? You know
what what what direction you're going?
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Well, I will never have to put on wait, thankfully
realized that would be too easy.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
So you're not that guy who has to eat peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches between meals or anything.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
No, my metabolism is not fast anymore. It used to be,
but not anymore cheat meal. I mean, I'm a big
burger guy, so it'd be like, it could be any burger,
like I like, I like In and Out, but I
like Waburger more because I'm kind of biased, grew up
on it. But just a big, big cheeseburger, milkshake, maybe
French fries. Kah.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
That's probably you probably have to bring some of that
into the old line room at some point, right, Probably
Christian Jones giving you any advice on that front, being
a rookie of year ago.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yeah, he's he's helped a lot. He actually sent me
the list of snacks to get and he's like, hey,
like for the special teams, meaning you got to let
him know or you'll get fined. Okay, sure that's right.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
Well is that new for you being on special teams?
Speaker 2 (22:52):
No, No, it's not. I was on field goal as
a freshman college, so I'm used to it in a
different position, but you know, I can call it. I
was able to do both interiors in high school. I snapped,
so I can do it right.
Speaker 5 (23:06):
And you called yourself a five position offensive lineman. As
you wrap it up here with Hayden Connor, I mean,
how do you envision your role with this team? As
you guys get closer and closer to camp, where do
you think you're going to get the most reps?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Wherever Coach Fry wants me. I really do pride myself
on being an all five guy, mainly the three interior.
You know I can do all three interior very well.
But you know, I'm just trying to find my role
right now, and whatever that is, I'm going to be
happy with and I'm going to do it the best
that I can.
Speaker 5 (23:31):
Well, I'll tell you what I liked your quote earlier.
I know I'm good enough to fight for a starting job,
but humble enough to fit in wherever. Yeah, tell me
about your mentality. Last question, just your mentality and maybe
any advice you've received as an NFL rookie.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I mean that quote right there kind of kind of
says it. You know, I'm I I was picked for
a reason, right, I've got to go prove that. I
got to go prove that they made the right choice.
And you know, I'm confident in my ability to go
out there and do what I've been doing for the
past four years. Right, But you know, I'm not naive
to the fact that this is a completely different ballgame
than it was in college. And I'm just excited to learn.
(24:08):
I'm trying to try to learn from the older guys,
and you know, I'm just excited. Okay.
Speaker 5 (24:11):
And you found a place to live in Arizonia? Are
you still looking?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, me and my wife found a place nice. Okay.
Speaker 5 (24:17):
Well, congratulations all around.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
There you go, Hayden Connor. Everyone, we continue. It's the
Big Red Rage presented by Santan Ford in Gilbert. How
about rookie Darius Robinson penetrates it takes down Hi and Williams.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Darius Robinson stuffed.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
It awso to TfL for the first round rookie. I
feel like this is the obligatory. Darius Robinson questioned, But
how do you think he played? Coach disruption?
Speaker 7 (24:49):
He had some knock back, he made some plays in
the run game.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I thought he rushed. Well, yeah, he's he's doing well.
Speaker 7 (24:54):
I thought it was his best game that he's played.
Speaker 5 (24:56):
JG on his TV show said that he felt like
the Grams game was your best game. Did you kind
of feel the.
Speaker 7 (25:01):
Same, Uh?
Speaker 9 (25:02):
JAJ said, yeah, you know, whatever he say, I'm with it.
So this is obviously this is the last thing everyone's
gonna remember you from your last time you're on tape.
So I'm just focused on competing on Sunday and putting
good things on tape.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
So that's the last memory everybody has.
Speaker 5 (25:16):
The man, there's Darius Robinson. The end of last season,
much of his season curtailed by injury. But based on
what we've seen this offseason, tick tock, he is coming.
He looks really good and we are really excited about
what's to be this year. In his second year. It
is a big red rage presented by Santan ford in
(25:36):
Gilbert Paul Calvic, Darren Irvan filling in for the aforementioned
Ron Wolfley who was in there, and special thanks to
Hayden Connor not only a three year starting offensive lineman
for Texas, but he was a guy who was on
track for an aerospace engineering degree before football got in
the way. And big guy, big iq. And how about
(25:58):
the fact he believes in aliens. So that counters Josh Dobbs,
who two three years ago aerospace engineer, does not believe
in aliens. So right now, I know that's a big
thing for you. So we're working if you're scoring at home,
Just thought I mentioned that. Beyond that, Darren, what stood
out to you about Hayden Connor to the sixth round
rookie offensive lineman.
Speaker 6 (26:14):
I know he talked about this before, but again in
this interview, you know how he's mentioning how comfortable he
is on the interior spots. And we've talked about this
a million times, Paul, like that's a place where they
needed some depth another body. And even if you go
back to the draft, like people were freaking out that
they had already gotten to the sixth round before they
(26:36):
addressed that position. Yeah, and then they got Hayden Connor.
And I mean to me, sixth round like, that's a
pretty good pick for a six round. Now we're gonna
have to see what happens on the field and how
this all plays out. But you can absolutely find a
starting guard in the NFL in the sixth round. I
mean that's been that's happened a million times. So I
(27:00):
like what he brings to the table. I love kind
of his mindset and you can kind of hear it
in that interview, and if he can be a guy
that is versatile enough to play all those those three
interior positions and maybe even I mean there's an open
guard spot. Well I shouldn't say it open. You would
assume Isaiah Adams and Evan Brownie your starting guards this year,
(27:20):
but I mean there's nothing guaranteed, and we'll see what
happens with Hayden Connor. And if he can put himself
in a place where he's ready to start next year,
like Isaiah Adams might be one year removed, that's awesome.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
And you know what, the Rams, to your point, took
a six round out of Arkansas who ended up being
their starting center as a rookie last year, started fifteen
games and beat out a highly paid free agent. So
and we know one thing about Jonathan Ganna, if you
can play, you will play, regardless of draft position. So
we'll see what's the opportunity he gets. We know Daris
Robinson is a twenty seventh pick overall two years ago,
(27:55):
is gonna get every opportunity for a rebound season. In fact,
one of the questions this week to the Cardinals defensive
lineman was whether we've seen what he can really do yet?
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Not really this visc and pieces.
Speaker 9 (28:06):
You know, I was out there, I did my very best,
but I think this jump from year one, year and
two is gonna be huge. So because I'm just excited
to compete and just put it on tape and just
super excited for this year.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
He also said I feel like I have a lot
to prove this year. I mean, you talk about all ball,
that's definitely Darius Robinson. That's something that Jonathan Gannon maniasin
for look for in the person. That's the first filter
they have. Okay, is this guy deadly serious about football?
We know he is, just based on the work he
puts in off the field. You can see it in
the added muscle mass and Darren I really hesitate to
(28:38):
do this and you're probably gonna tell me to go,
I'll polly pump the brakes, but I'm gonna say it anyway,
based on him working the sled and one offseason workout
and then him hitting the bags, there'll be like eight
or nine guys in line, and then there's Darius Robinson.
Now Walter Nolan the third wasn't participating. I'm just saying
his quickness in his explosion just this week out on
that field really stood out and a guy his size,
(29:02):
I mean, to the point earlier, have we seen the
best of what he's been able to do. I would
say absolutely not. Ever since that calf injury going into
week one a year ago, I don't think he's been
fully healthy until now.
Speaker 6 (29:16):
That's why I asked the question, I mean, the when
he just was asked about whether it had been seeing that.
I asked that, like, do you feel like that because
of exactly what you just said, Paul, Like he was
playing so well in training camp before he got hurt
and it just didn't look the same when he came back.
And the only question that anybody would have and I
(29:40):
know it got brought up to Jonathan Gannon and to
I can't remember if Darius was asked, But like.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Does.
Speaker 6 (29:47):
Does the time miss last year? Is that something he
still has to make up before he really finds his
way because he missed so much time. Now, Jonathan Gannon
seemed very confident that he's gonna make the year two jump,
even though he only played in six games. I'm looking
forward to it. But yes, I'm gonna say two. Well,
I'll say three things. Number One, I would never tell
(30:10):
you to pump the breaks, Paul. I'm just not that
kind of person.
Speaker 5 (30:13):
Appreciated. Number two.
Speaker 6 (30:16):
I do think he looks different than most players, which
is why he was a first round pick. I mean
that's the reality of what he brings. He's a physical specimen.
He is if you drew up a disruptive interior defensive
lineman literally in a lab, that's what you would get.
But three, you gotta do it on the field. Like
(30:38):
it's it's funny kind of off in the corner here,
there's a James Harrison football life going on on the
TVs while we're recording this. And James Harrison, he was
a nobody when it came out. And the way he
was built, I mean he was super strong, but he
was short like no one would have drawn what he
looked like in a lab and he was awesome. So again,
you gotta you gotta produce it. But he's got every
(31:01):
spot there and and I truly believe he's got the
mental makeup that one is gonna push him to get there.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
And I'm gonna go back to your first point. I
think it's very valid in this case is you know what,
nothing replaces game reps. And in talking to the media
at the end of last season, he said, his first
two three games, he realized, you know what, he's almost hyperventilating.
He was so fired up. Gap integrity wasn't even there.
He's just running around looking to make a play. No,
the plays will come to you. Man your spot, man
(31:28):
your gap. So as things calm down, he was more
productive in those last couple of games. The other thing
I'll cite is the d lineman taken after him two
years ago was Braydon Fisk of the Rams. He had
eight sacks, seven of them were in the last eight
games of the year. Yeah, so it's almost like he
took that first half of his rookie season to get
acclimated and then boom, once you know the game, you
can really excel and you're you know, and so it's
(31:48):
all about putting that game film out there. In fact,
Darius Robinson said, yes, that is one of his objectives
this year.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
I only played six games.
Speaker 9 (31:57):
I was just constantly rethinking about those six games and
thinking about what I need to do to make that
next jump in my game because I feel against training
cant like it was hot, Like the tag was hot,
like all the like everybody it was hot, and you know,
coming back, you know, it was just it was just cool.
So I gotta find a way to you know, in Phoenix,
(32:18):
I got to get it hot again.
Speaker 5 (32:19):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
That was a great quote.
Speaker 5 (32:21):
It's good. And the other thing you have to consider,
and he said this that last year, twenty twenty four
was both the best year of his life and the
worst year of his life. He was the first round
draft pick, a guy only played two years of high
school football because he was a basketball player. In the
elation of that and then the devastation of losing his
mother as a young man, so he had a lot
to deal with now mentally if he's back and now
(32:45):
it zoom out to that D line room. Yeah, I mean, Darren,
you know, you look, you just look at those d
line drills again, and it just it drives home how
different the defensive front will look this year, and then
how different the results could be starting Week one.
Speaker 6 (33:01):
I have again covered this team for more than twenty
five years. I do not recall a season in which
a particular position group was transformed to the level that
this one was.
Speaker 5 (33:18):
Now.
Speaker 6 (33:19):
Again, some of that is happenstance. I mean, if we're
including edge rushers and some of this. Bjo Jalari comes
in almost like a bonus player because he was gone
all last season. Darius Robinson is almost like a bonus
player because he was a first round pick last year,
but he barely played, So some of that was happenstance.
(33:39):
But you draft Walter Nolan, you bring in Klays Campbell back,
you signed Dalvin Tomlinson, you have Josh Sweat. You have
again when we talk about bonus players, Justin Jones barely
played last year and now he's coming back. I don't recall.
And again, when I say transformation, I'm talking about from
the back half of the year. Obviously Justin Jones and
(34:00):
Darius Robinson were there at the very beginning. But the
difference between what this defensive line is going to look
like when they start the season fingers crossed to where
it was like the last six weeks of last season.
That's crazy.
Speaker 5 (34:14):
Drew stan was talking about this on the Red Sea Report.
Just the possibilities gives Nick Rolis and Jonathan Gannon coordinating
the defense if you can all of a sudden rush
for and drop seven. And what Drew made a point of,
it's not just rushing for after the quarterback, it's stopping
the run with four. And yes, the Cardinals too often
because they were so depleted in that d line room
(34:34):
had to vote extra assets to stopping the run. Then
obviously it makes you a liability in the back end.
So it could be a totally different look on defense. Hey,
get ready for this season. The latest gear from the
Cardinals team shop, Yes, including the recently dropped Marvin Harrison
junior jersey. Go to Ezycardinals dot com slash shop today.
All right, we're talking offense, we promised James Connor and more.
(34:55):
Next than the big red Rage presented by santan Ford
in Gilbert.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Hands it off to Connor running right inside the twenty
five twenty far side fifteen ten and Connor finally taken
down at the five.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
You pull out, yelled the pro hold. He gets a
kickout Paris Johnson Junior through the whole All that is
Wickedy Jingle good.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
They go two backs with Benson and Connor.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
Hurry takes the shotgun snap hand off Connor running the left,
He gets the edge and he's into the end zone
for the touchdowns. The Cardinals score again thirty to three
with ten thirty three to go in the third.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Well, that's a little dust in the wind. You go
ahead and run another gap scheme, down blocks, playside kickouts,
well executed by the Arizona Cardinals.
Speaker 4 (35:46):
The Cardinals are gashing.
Speaker 5 (35:48):
Them, no doubt. Second year in row the Arizona Cardinals
rushing offense number two in yards per carry. How about
number two last season in chunk runs, explosive runs and
a big reason why number six James Connor and just
one of the league leaders all year in miss tackles forced.
It is the Big Red Rage presented by San tan
(36:08):
Ford and Gilbert Paul KELVC Darren are been filling in
for Ron Wolfley and Wolfe's favorite subject, the run game.
Speaker 6 (36:15):
I have to say I was very excited for wolf
to let me know to pull out my yelled defro hold.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
That was a very quality SoundBite. I enjoyed that.
Speaker 5 (36:22):
I wonder if Yelda Frohold, has he been selling protein
on the side, like Marvin Harrison Junior and Darius Robinson.
You know all these guys, it's you know, they've they've
adopted the diet of yelled afro holdt I did Avid Weightlifter.
Speaker 6 (36:33):
Although I'm going to go back to we haven't talked
about Walter Nolan Darius Robinson noting that he brought EPs
and salt for everybody, which I thought was hilarious because yeah,
and maybe it is this great thing, but like Darius
made it sound.
Speaker 5 (36:45):
Like, yeah, hey this he brought it off. I'm like, okay, yeah,
I mean Danny Sirek was impressed. Me not so much.
Hayden Connor said, yeah, I've never heard of that. Earlier
in this show here the big Red Rage said yeah,
I've just been bringing in snacks and donuts for the offensive.
So yeah, they've elevated their game in the d line room.
Very interesting. So okay, so I didn't mean it derail you, Paul, No,
(37:08):
that's good stuff. All the rookies have all their duties
and then you have team captains like James Connor, and
it's really interesting. You know this team as well as anyone,
and just to watch all the young guys follow players
like Buddha and James Connor, and it's not so much
what they say, it's what they do. It's best practices.
And I think everyone can sense. And Calvin Beacham even
(37:31):
recently voiced this on Arizona Sports is look, the time
is now, the building is over, it is time to compete.
And we asked James Connor about that sense of urgency
at this moment.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Absolutely, yeah, this is uh, why not be right now?
You know the time is now. We got talented roster
right now, we added talented players to it. I'm ready.
You know we ain't doing this forever. I sure enough
you know doing it forever, So sooner or better We'll
put it like that.
Speaker 5 (37:56):
To me, I always start with the division, right. You
swept the forty nine ers last year. I know they
had injury issues, whatever you had. Jack stopped the Rams
in week two. You almost got it in week seventeen
at their place where they were playing really good football
and almost up ended the Eagles. You were a deflective
pass off the helmet of Tray McBride away from winning
that game Seattle. You owe the Seahawks, but now they're
minus Gino Smith, who's been a really vexing problem. So
(38:19):
to me, you start with the division, and the biggest
step maybe all of last year, other than doubling your
win total, was you were much more competitive in the division.
And now if you can take that next step in
this process, how do you think the Cardinals stack up
right now in their own division, the NFC West.
Speaker 6 (38:37):
I feel like they're in a really good place for
all the things we've already talked about. I mean, it's
gonna be interesting to see again, they've stayed fairly pat
in terms of offensively, so any improvements there is going
to have to come through jumps from the players and
whatever they might do with the playbook. But defensively, we've
already talked about that. And it's funny you look around,
(38:59):
Paul and you look at the analysis in the offseason.
That's all anybody can do right now is analysis that
means nothing because we're so far away from playing, and
some people want to call the Cardinals an underrated and
like sleeper, and then there's others that are like, it
sounds like they're dismissing the Cardinals. Maybe not out of
(39:19):
hand or necessarily totally towards the Cardinals, but they're like, look,
forty nine ers are not as bad as you think
they are, and they're playing the easiest schedule in the
league by far. The Rams are in really good place.
The Seahawks, they just seem to be going in the
right direction. And they got Sam Darnold. I feel like
some people kind of forget about him. I think this
division could be really fascinating. And if you could tell
(39:42):
me any of the combinations, and I'm not a math guy.
Speaker 5 (39:44):
We often talked.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
About this point.
Speaker 5 (39:46):
No math, no math, no math. You could give me
any of the.
Speaker 6 (39:51):
Combinations of any of these four teams in any of
the four spots at the end of the season, and
I'd be like, Okay, I could see how that could happen.
Speaker 5 (40:00):
Okay, yeah, maybe, just maybe I will say this for
everything that's different about the Cardinals this year, one similar
challenge last year is the back half of the schedule,
the degree of difficulty. So maybe the analysts, the Punnits
nationally are looking at a team that came out of
the by leading the division then went two and five
down the stretch. So that is the big challenge for
(40:22):
a team that needs to be at its best in November, December,
and January. We'll see. We do know this, James Connor
is going to be one of those team leaders. We've
said it many times. He's not just a player. He
is a mindset. He is a mentality. So maybe that's
why Jonathan Cannon said this when he was asked about, Hey,
have you ever considered now that he's thirty years of age,
(40:43):
you know, lessening James Conner's workload in the off season.
Speaker 7 (40:47):
I always have those thoughts, and then you talked to
him about it and he'll punch you in the face
and tell him that. So no, he's going to continue
to do what he does, and he's going to get
himself ready to carry the load for us.
Speaker 5 (40:58):
I know that. I would say also that there are
twelve starters on this offense, and that twelve starter is
Trey Benson. Yeah, because as hard as James Connor runs,
and as much as this team wants to run the ball,
then they're going to need a second running back. And
if James Connor is grooming Trey Benson like we saw
(41:18):
for a few games before Benson went down with injury,
and he really is winning the offseason. Like James Connor said,
look out, that's the one two punch the Cardinals desperately need.
Speaker 6 (41:28):
We talk a lot about the offense, and we talk about, Okay,
how much does Trey Benson play as opposed to James
Connor in terms of carries, and hey, is Marvin Harrison
going to get more? And look, if they can be
more successful offensively, which they need to be more successful offensively,
the numbers are going to go up, or the numbers
will be there because they weren't that consistent offensively and
(41:53):
you still got to create first downs to have more plays. Now,
I think this team, if it does it the way
it wants to do it, it's gonna run clock and
it's gonna grind a little bit and you might have
a few less offensive plays then some other teams might
or or like the twenty fifteen Cardinals might have. Because
that's the whole point is like, we're gonna ramp up
(42:16):
our defense, We're gonna have to be really good, and
we're gonna try and keep them on the sideline as
much as possible. And then then we really are cooking
with gas and so. But but going back to your
original point, I absolutely think Trey Benson's going to be
a bigger part of this. But unless he gets hurt,
I'm not counting out James Connor. And if you think
he wants to punch you in the face because you're
(42:36):
trying to lower his practice reps in the offseason, I
can only imagine what kind of damage he might want
to do if you're trying to take away his playing time.
Speaker 5 (42:43):
During ye season, no doubt, no doubt. Yeah, you keep
your distance from James Conner on the sideline in game day.
That's an absolute. Let me ask you this, how many
emails do you get in the mail bag about the
receiver room? Huh?
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Once a week? Baby?
Speaker 5 (42:58):
And and I bring that up because you know, I
think that is still a question to me. There's two questions.
On offense, do you end up signing a veteran interior
offensive lineman? I think you wait to camp, you see
what you have probably And then number two, Okay, is
there a need or a want for a veteran receiver?
I don't know exactly who's out there, if they'd be
a good fit. And I don't necessarily mean a speed receiver.
I don't think that's nearly as necessary as finding another
(43:19):
reliable third down target to go along with Trey McBride.
Who could it be, Michael Wilson, Could it be Greg Dortsch,
you know, could it be Zay Jones? You know, is
that guy on the roster? Because to me, you just
Kyler needs another reliable go to guys.
Speaker 6 (43:32):
So you're not saying third down and you're taking Marvin
out of the equation.
Speaker 5 (43:35):
Oh Marvin, I'm sorry, Marvin Aerson. He was the default.
He was the default, there's no doubt, but on third
down he's probably gonna get doubled. Probably, I mean, who
else is able to step up?
Speaker 6 (43:45):
I think these are all legitimate questions. I don't think
there's going to be any significant changes in my head
until we get to camp. I think they're gonna want
to see we talked at the outset about the nine practices.
I think John think Gannon and his coaching staff are
gonna want to get through these nine practices and see
what it kind.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Of looks like.
Speaker 6 (44:04):
Now at receiver, they kind of already know what it
looks like because these are all the guys that are back.
So what does that mean? Are they looking for somebody?
Have they been holding off? Is there just somebody out
there that they might want but wants too much money
for the role they're gonna have. I mean again, when
we talk about receiver, part of the issue is what
are you bringing him in for? How much are they
(44:25):
gonna do and what are you willing to pay a
guy for doing what I think is gonna be a
very limited.
Speaker 5 (44:31):
Role, or maybe I'm just overthinking it, and that's why
I missed Marmon Irrison Junior. And if he makes that
year one to year two leap, if his production matches
the muscle mass that he added, then that's all you need.
Trey McBride, a pro Bowl tight end and a legit
wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
One.
Speaker 5 (44:49):
Maybe that's your answer right there. Hey be the fur
part of the Red Sea. Arizona Cardinals single game tickets
on sale now. Tickets are available online by visiting Acycardinals
dot com slash by tickets, Azycardinals dot Com slash Buy
ticket Special Thanks Cardinals rookie offensive lineman Hayden Connor for
Jim Olmahundro, Cody Fincher, Evan Reiser, Darren Urban Thank you.
(45:09):
Are you not entertained? This has been the Big Red
Rage presented by santan Ford and Gilbert. We are santan Ford.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
You've been listening to the Big Red Rage presented by
santan Ford and Gilbert right on the price, right on
the corner of the Santan two oh.
Speaker 5 (45:29):
Two Freeway in val Vista.
Speaker 3 (45:31):
The Rage is brought to you by Arizona Cardinals Podcast.
Visit Azycardinals dot com slash podcast.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
We're gonna see a little big red rage football right here.
Speaker 3 (45:43):
This has been an exclusive presentation of the Arizona Cardinals
Football Club.
Strap on the boots and scrape up the knuckles ahead.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
He got jacked.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
This is the Big Red Rage presented by santan Ford
and Gilbert.
Speaker 4 (00:12):
Terry's gonna score touchdown Slamm to the ground by Buddha
Baker like a torpedo. He came flying into the backfield.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
The Rage is brought to you by santan Ford and
Gilbert right on the Price, right on the corner of
the Santan two to two Freeway.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
In valves want a Crab by Trey McBride that was spectacular.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
And by Arizona Cardinals podcast visit Azycardinals dot Com Slash podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
All Right Sea its Rising Uard Jimpit Rising Vision, Flurry Rage,
take it over.
Speaker 5 (00:50):
Here's Paul CALVICI I'm ready. I'm one hundred percent ready.
I'm telling you I'm ready. And Darren Urban how about
this herb kid.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
The field.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
They are officially known as voluntary off season workout programs.
Not on the Big Red Rage.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Not here.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
We are fifty two weeks a year, bruh. Although Wolf
isn't here. Interesting, that's voluntary all of a sudden. More
on that later. More importantly, we are talking offense. That's
right in an off season dominated by defense, defense, Defense,
Marsha Marsha Marshall, we are gonna actually talk some offense
with rookie offensive lineman Hayden Connor. Our special guest here
(01:35):
tonight is we are officially putting the big in the
Big Red Rage presented by santan Ford in Gilbert. We
are santan Ford and in a different way, in for Wolf,
our big get. Not just anybody can sit in for
Ron wolf Ley Darren Irvan joining us here and yes, Darren,
you know, I only partially blame you as the lead
content creator at Easycardinals dot Com. I mean just you know,
(01:59):
the spot light on defense all off season. I think
it's about time that we give equal airtime to the
offense tonight.
Speaker 6 (02:06):
Yeah, it doesn't hurt that you were given an offensive
player to talk to this week, Paul, that dovetails well,
I design, you know, I just want to say that
always feel good about filling in for Wolf. You know,
he doesn't have that many duties anymore now that he's
slowly pulling away from everything. So now that he's gone,
and I got to be honest, being in the studio,
(02:26):
it's weird, Like normally we're in here. I'm in here
for the podcast that Cardinals Underground podcast with you, Paul
and Danny Shrek, and normally I've got other things going on.
I'm trying to like write down what we're talking about
as we go so I can do the description later. No,
all I gotta do is walk in, sit down, pontificate.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
That's right.
Speaker 5 (02:44):
I mean, just dad water, here we go. We just
want your expertise, we want your opinion, we want what
you think of this off season. But hold that thought.
Let's hear from Jonathan Gannon, who met the media this week,
and here's what the head coach likes about what he's
seen this offseason.
Speaker 7 (02:59):
It's been cool to see, you know, a lot of
guys came back and took it to heart with what
we wanted to see. Some new guys have come in
that We've done some work with those guys, not as
much because you don't cut the full bank of time
with them, but free agents or you know, the draft
picks right now, they're all working hard.
Speaker 5 (03:15):
All right, just like a lot of the team leaders.
Darren Erman, you've been in the building every single day.
What stands out so far? If you go big pick
on the big red.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
You know, I think generally, what really stands out for me,
and we're early, early in this process. They just put
on the helmets a couple of days ago. The fact
that Jonathan Gannon, and we've known this for a couple
of weeks now, but the fact that Jonathan Gannon cut
back the OTAs. You know, every team has done. Every
(03:43):
team has the option to do ten OTAs plus their
three day managatory mini camp, and it's always been ten.
There might have been one to nine somewhere in there
with all the coaches that I've covered over like the
last twenty five years, but he cut it back to six,
and I was asking about it, and he basically said, look,
I figure with the nine practices, the six OTAs now
(04:04):
that they have instead of ten plus the three mini
camp practices, he goes, we can get all the work
done on the field that we need. And I thought
that was interesting as they continue to balance as he
was talking about that balance between developing players and health
related ideas in terms of not overtaxing these guys.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
Does it signal a different stage in the building of
this team that really you're going from building and reloading
to competing in year three Kelvin Beacham Junior has talked
about it. James Connor has talked about it most recently.
I mean, the time is now. You know, maybe the
last couple of years to some degree it was development,
it was restocking the cabinets. But don't you get the
(04:43):
sense that, Okay, the urgency is here, right here, right
now more than ever.
Speaker 6 (04:47):
Oh, I don't think there's any question about that. I mean,
there's expectations going into year three of a general manager
coach tandem. That's just how it is, and you know,
in some ways, to be honest, and that's what we'd
like to be here, Paul. You know, three years is
an eternity in the NFL. Not normally there isn't a
three year run up to expectations, but that's where we were.
(05:11):
It's kind of where the organization was when those guys
came in. I think it was the proper amount of time.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Now.
Speaker 6 (05:17):
You could argue that they were in a position to
make a push last year, and they did for the
first half of the year, and it was a disappointing
second half of the year. So maybe there's a different discussion,
but yeah, absolutely, after what they've been through and what
they've done and how they've reshaped the roster. There is
a lot on the line this year, and I don't
think anybody's going to argue that.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
Later we're near from James Connor and the urgency of
the moment of this season, one of the team captains.
And yes we'll be talking some offense there, but for
all my talk about offense, we're not going to talk defense,
and we're going to talk about the young corners. Because
for all the takeaways so far in the off season,
Marvin Irrison, junior Darius Robinson most definitely winning the offseason
adding muscle mass, the real news headline had to do
(06:00):
with veteran corner Sean Murphy Bunty done for the season
injury knee injury on the non football injury list. Okay,
so where does that leave the Cardinals in terms of
that position room. Look, they had twelve, now they have
eleven corners. We'll see if any are added between now.
In training camp, obviously, they're assessing what they have on
the roster and the head coach, whose area of expertise
(06:22):
is the cornerback position group here, he is just on
everything he sees the young guys in that room.
Speaker 7 (06:28):
For the young guys. You know, there'll be some learning
on the job, you know what I mean. You need
reps to learn. I truly believe that, and really bad
reps to really learn. But that's an ongoing process for
all our guys, no matter if you play eighteen years
like Kalais Hill, learn from good and bad reps, you know,
to a rookie that's never played in the NFL before.
So everyone's at different stages in their career. But feel
(06:50):
really good about that room, feel good about the guys
that are coming back, and feel really good about the
guys that we added.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
How would you handicap that right now? That cornerback room,
I said, Darren, we need a depth chart right now.
The two outside corners to go along with Nickel corner
Garrett Williams. How would it stack up?
Speaker 6 (07:08):
Off the top of my head, I'm going to guess
at this very early stage, will Johnson's probably not in
the starting lineup because he's a rookie and he just
got here. You've got Garrett Williams as your slot guy.
You've got Starling Thomas with two years of experience as
a starter, and you've got Max Meltin, who you drafted
in the second round last year to be a starter,
and you know, played well as the season went on.
(07:30):
So you know, if I had a guess, right, if
they had a play game tomorrow, you're talking about Starling
Thomas and Max Melton on the outside with Garrett in
the slot, and then I think Will Johnson is going
to probably come on pretty fast. And it's funny when
you look at that group, Paul Sean Murphy Bunting was
going to have to fight to get playing time, I
(07:51):
think in the first place, and with as many guys
as they've piled up, and this is no shot at
Sean Murphy Bunting. And this is because basically I'm just
talking about a number here rather than a particular player.
But like they've got too many guys as it is.
They've got a Darren Hall who played well enough to
make the team last year and showed some things and
(08:14):
has a little bit of time in this in this league.
They've got Kee Trew Clark who started a little bit as.
Speaker 5 (08:19):
A rookie, Isaiah Jones.
Speaker 6 (08:21):
Isaiah Jones are Elijah Jones.
Speaker 5 (08:23):
Elija Jones, my bad, we don't.
Speaker 6 (08:24):
Have we don't know what he brings in the table.
But he's a third round pick last year.
Speaker 5 (08:28):
I mean he was so far off the raidar. I
just screwed up his name for Pete's sake. See that's Evan.
It's right there. But you're right now. Here's the only
thing I'll throw out there for all the names you
just mentioned. And I agree if you had to play
a game today, Max Melton's Starling Thomas. But you have
to keep in mind the moment Patrick Certan was drafted.
He started fifteen games as a rookie. Sauce Gardner started
(08:50):
all seventeen games as a rookie. Derek Stingley has started
every game he has played in three years, and Devin
Witherspoon of Seattle, who's a fifth pick overall, he's been
a two time All Pro in two years. So if
Will Johnson is thought to be a top fifteen, top
ten talent when healthy, I wouldn't be shocked if in
Week one he's cornerback one. I mean, on paper he
could be that talented.
Speaker 6 (09:11):
I think that's absolutely pot possible.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
But I also I'm wary of.
Speaker 6 (09:18):
The whole like, well, he's a top fifteen guy when
he didn't go till forty seven, which was actually a
few picks later than Max Meltin went the year before.
Speaker 5 (09:28):
Yeah, facts, I.
Speaker 6 (09:29):
Mean, I'm not and I'm not trying to take anything
away from Will Johnson, but.
Speaker 5 (09:34):
The only the only qualifiers that Ian rapid bard Adam
Schefter tweeted out the night of the draft knee injury concerned.
So to what degree was that group Bink and other
teams started getting freaked out people? Was injury related versus
talent related?
Speaker 6 (09:47):
Oh no, obviously if it's injury late that that's some
that's a part of it. But like once you once
you get past twenty, I feel like that fades a
little bit to me if that's all it is.
Speaker 5 (10:02):
Here's what I will say. With an improved pass rush.
Remember the Cardinals third down percentage defense was twenty eighth
in the NFL a year ago. The Cardinals completion percentage
allowed is a defense twenty ninth. So there's room for
improvement when it comes to the pass coverage. And you
know what's going to help improve everything is that defensive
front and an improved pass rush. That's gonna be the
(10:24):
rising tidele lifts all boats. Hey join the Bird Gang
in Dallas Monday Night Football. This season Cardinals Premier Travel
hosted by Cardinals Legends. We're talking travel packages to the
November third game. Gonna include transportation, hotel, accommodations, pregame, tailgate experience,
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azcardstravel dot com. Azcardstravel dot com. Already played sixteen games
(10:46):
for Texas last year, started every one of them, six
hundred and seventeen pass block snaps, zero sacks allowed. Hayden
Connor is next in the Big Red Rage presented by
Santan Ford in Gilbert With.
Speaker 6 (11:03):
The two hundred and eleven pick in the twenty twenty
five NFL Draft to Arizona Cardinals select Hayden Connor, guard Texas.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
He's a big, strong guy.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
He can get movement.
Speaker 5 (11:16):
Texas runs the ball a lot, He's played well in
that system, and he holds up really well in passbrooks.
So I think he's a good fit for what we
try to do.
Speaker 8 (11:23):
You can put on a lot of tape where this
guy's playing Guys who got drafted this year, got drafted
last year NFL player, so it's not a question of
Kenny block NFL players.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
He's been doing.
Speaker 8 (11:31):
He's got I think forty three consecutive starts in Texas.
That's that's pretty damn good. So you got a big
guy who's really smart and who's fundamentally sounds So we
were excited that Hayden was still there.
Speaker 5 (11:43):
All right, Cardinals' decision makers on the player has started
every game, will last three years at Texas. We have
a question about that. Momentarily drafted on his twenty second birthday,
recently married, because good things happened in threes. As I
try and keep a straight face. He appears on The
Big Red Rage presented by Santan Ford and Gilbert. We
are Santan Ford, Paul Calvici. Here, Hayden Connor. There all
(12:07):
six foot six, three hundred and fourteen pounds of them. Hayden.
Welcome to the Cardinals. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Thank you for having me. I'm very excited.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
So the Cardinals tweeted out when you were drafted. All right,
all right, all right? Have you met Matthew McConaughey.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
Not formally but in passing seeing in the locker room.
Give him a high five or something, but nothing like, hey,
I'm a huge fan of Interstellar, Like none of that.
I wish I did but I never never had the courage.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
He's a pretty ubiquitous presence though on the sideline, isn't.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
He Oh yeah, he's He makes him stuff known. He's there.
Speaker 5 (12:38):
That's great. We mentioned and heard from the decision makers
right there. What do you think of your head coach
Jonathan Gannon so far?
Speaker 2 (12:46):
I like him a lot. I know that. In my
first presser I had some nice words, and you know,
I'll say it again. He's He's an awesome guy. He's
got a lot of good energy. He's got high standards
for what we were going to do here, and so
I'm really excited.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
You know, his energy. What does that do for a player?
When your coach is that.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Enthused, It makes it really easy to do all you
can for him and for the team. You know, if
you have a coach that is just like, Okay, guys,
we're gonna go here and do this, like like I
don't want to do that for you, I'm gonna do
it for me. But instead he brings that energy and like, Okay,
I'm gonna do this for the team and for everybody
else and him.
Speaker 5 (13:19):
What are you most curious to find out about the NFL?
I'm already learning a lot so far, so jazz, I
remember you mentioned you mentioned your press conference the fine structure.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Yeah, the fines are real. M. I've already had to
get some snacks for the O line room, me and
the other guys have.
Speaker 5 (13:36):
But see that's the norm. We learned that Walter Nolan
the Third recently got Epsom salt bags for the dem Lineman.
I've never heard that one before.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
No, we didn't have ebsence slow. We had a bunch
of chips and some fancy clearly Canadians. I've never heard
of it. A mountain valley. What I like? Mountain valley,
So I get it.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
I love the I love maybe because I live vicariously
through the big guys as someone who goes by the
nickname Polly pencil Neck. You got the big guys, and
you've got big personalities in the old line room. Tell
us about life in the old line room.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
There are a lot of personalities, you know. I feel
like I'm starting to warm up to them and they're
starting to warm up to me. Obviously, Beacham isn't here yet.
I'm excited to meet him. I've heard a lot about him.
But I mean, I love all the guys in the room.
You know, I got lucky coming here with Christian Jones.
Me and him played together for three years, so I
already kind of know his personality.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
Yeah, you talk about energy Christian Jones, right.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Yes, Oh, it never has a bad day. Most positive guy.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
Hayden Connor is our guest. We mentioned you know you
started every game last three years, including sixteen games a
year ago. How equipped for the NFL do you feel?
I mean, I think, like rookie Wall, there's always that cliche.
I mean, you've already played an NFL season in a
lot of ways. Just last year in college.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
Not really, no, No, I mean it was the sec
best conference in college football, but it's not the same.
You know, we got to play more games. It was
like a mini NFL season. I'd say that, all right,
but the competition is obviously gonna be a lot more different.
It did give me the ability to build good routines
for myself on and off the field, and you know,
(15:07):
I'm hoping to translate that over.
Speaker 5 (15:09):
Tell me about some of your battles in college. We
had Dave Sears recently on the Big Red Rage systet GM,
and when asked about you, we said, go turn on
his game film against Michigan Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant.
First off, if I said which game film are you
most proud of? Would you cite the Michigan game?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah? I do that one.
Speaker 5 (15:26):
In Clemson Clemson, Okay, Yeah, I mean Georgia, Ohio State,
right South Carolina, Kentucky had a touted defensive lining room.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Florida did too. Yeah. We got to play a lot
of dudes this year and it was fun to put
it all on tape.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
So how equipped do you feel for the NFL? Which
I guess sort of gets back to what are you
most curious to find out? I mean, do you what
do you feel like this transition? How monumental is it
in your mind?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
I'm just excited for the opportunity to prove myself. You
know that I was picked for a reason, you know,
all the work that I've put in, all the sacrifices
my family has made. I'm just excited to show everybody like, Hey,
I'm here and I'm legit.
Speaker 5 (16:02):
Was there something in your scouter report you did not like?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
It?
Speaker 5 (16:05):
Always seems like there's something like Kalaya Scmpbell was a
host of this show for four years. Yeah, believe it
or not. In his skountery report, I think it was
mel Kiper said suffers from a bad motor. Lack of motor.
That's why he went top a second round. Right, He's
in his eighteenth season. It couldn't have been more wrong.
What was in your scouter report that maybe you didn't
agree with?
Speaker 2 (16:22):
I have no idea. I didn't read my scouting report.
That's good.
Speaker 5 (16:26):
Well, they called you an above average run blocker.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Okay, agree or disagree. I mean I think I'm good
at run blocking. Yeah, I think I'm decent at it.
Speaker 5 (16:34):
Is there such a thing as a good fit, a
good scheme fit. Will Johnson has been called a good
scheme fit by Jonathangana. How about an offensive lineman, for example?
This team likes to get its guards out into space
and pull. Would that be a strength of your game?
Speaker 2 (16:48):
Yeah, I mean turn on the film. I remember there
was a game where I think I pulled over twenty times,
So I'm used to it. We did it a lot
of Texas. I know we have the ability to do
it here, and so whenever I get that chance, I'm
gonna go out there and do what I've done.
Speaker 5 (17:01):
What else about your Texas career are you proud of?
I mean, think of the guys you just had to
practice against an idealy basis, that's right.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Yeah, it was a lot where I got a lot
of practice against, you know, T sweat Byron, Alfred Vernon,
like a bunch of a bunch of stellar athletes. But
I don't know one thing I guess I'm most proud of.
I don't know. I mean, you know, when I committed
Texas wasn't fantastic, right, and I wanted to be a
part of the change. And I was lucky enough to
(17:28):
get there. When Sark and Flood and all them got
hired and they're like, hey, we're going to change stuff
around here, I'm like, all right, I'm in. And so
I'm I'm glad to say I was a part of
that process for sure.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
Hayden Connor is our guest here on the Big Red
Rage Round six pick offensive lineman. What was your reaction
when you first saw the Cardinals playbook?
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Different? Yeah? Different? And it was a lot. But I
pride myself on having really a good football I Q
and so I'm like, okay, I just gotta hunker down
and figure it out. And I feel like I've got
a good grasp of it, right, Like JG talks about
no no, right, I'm trying to get to that no no, right,
I'm getting there. But I mean there's so many little
nuances here and there that you know, I'll get with time, right,
(18:06):
But I feel like I'm on a good trajectory.
Speaker 5 (18:09):
So if you were tracking to be an aerospace engineer
before football got in the way, I'm guessing just your
IQ period is pretty high. Why aerospace engineering? Did I
read that you wanted to do that ever since you
were a little guy.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Yeah, when I was in eighth grade, I'm like, you
know what, I want to be airspace engineering. And I
mean it could be because I was a big Marvel guy.
I liked iron Man. I like Guardians of the Galaxy,
and so I'm like, you know, I'm gonna do that, right, Like,
if there could be any superhero that I could become,
it would be iron Man because he doesn't have any powers, right,
So growing up, I'm like, you know, that'd be really cool.
(18:43):
I did a NASA Space settlement design competition in high school.
I was a part of the NASA High School Airspace
Scholars program in high school and then get to college
and I got into the physics school. I wanted to
transition to aerospace, but then found out that I wouldn't
be able to because of the class schedule would have
conflicted with their practice schedule. So I'm like, all right, Well,
so I just chose geography. I did a lot of
(19:06):
that similar stuff in that one of the high school
programs I took, and so I thought it was a
good fit.
Speaker 5 (19:10):
So is your favorite quarterback Josh Stobbs, who has an
aerospace engineering degree and it's sporked at NASA.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, I mean I've always wanted to meet him. I
remember being in college in hearing about him, like this, dude,
he's doing it. He did it. Good for him. I couldn't.
Speaker 5 (19:24):
He played here two years ago, and I asked him
in a press comments and you know, I hesitated, but
asked him the tough question.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Aiden.
Speaker 5 (19:30):
I asked him, do you or do you not believe
in aliens?
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Yeah? I absolutely believe in aliens?
Speaker 5 (19:34):
You do?
Speaker 2 (19:35):
Oh yeah?
Speaker 5 (19:36):
Because he said no, really, is there an easy answer
as to why you believe in aliens?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Well, I mean define alien? Right, You're gonna talk about
the little microscopic organisms on different planets? Like, sure, those
are those are living creatures? Right? But they are intelligent? Right?
But then you know there's the question is there other
intelligent species out there? And I think there is, right.
I believe in the ancient a Aliens theory. It's on
History Channel. Go watch it. It's awesome show.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
See there's just far more that we don't know, though
we do know in this universe, right, it's crazy. All right,
lightning round questions. Here we go, Hayden Connor, you're ready,
we'll just go rip through these.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
Let's do it.
Speaker 5 (20:13):
Number fifty eight good, bad, or no matter? And I
bring up your number because Luther Burden the Third he
got number eighty seven and they asked him, well, why
eighty seventy? He said, because all the good numbers were gone?
Even more number three of the zoo. Does it even
matter for an offensive lineman? What number you're rocking?
Speaker 2 (20:30):
I mean, if you've got history with a number, maybe,
but I don't. My dad wore fifty and fifty five
in college, and so I'm like, oh, I get something
close to that. I thought that was a good choice.
Speaker 5 (20:40):
Okay, next question, do you trash talk?
Speaker 2 (20:43):
No? No?
Speaker 5 (20:44):
What if someone pokes the bear? What if you're provoked,
no scoreboard, bro. Best and worst thing about being a
big guy six six, three fifteen or so, give or
take best and worst thing?
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Oh no, I mean one of the worst things is
trying to fun clothes that fit you, especially growing up.
It was horrible. I still don't have I don't have
a big closet. I grow all my stuff still, I'm
constantly changing. But good thing. People don't sit next to
you on airplanes.
Speaker 5 (21:12):
It's true. You're right. I see for me every every
economy seat is the first class seat. Yeah, no, sir,
all right, you're from Katie, Texas outside Houston. Friday Night Lights.
What's better the book, the movie or the TV series
Friday Night Lights?
Speaker 2 (21:27):
The movie? Absolutely?
Speaker 5 (21:29):
Have you seen the TV series?
Speaker 2 (21:30):
I've seen. I've seen some episodes, but I've I've watched
the movie probably five times.
Speaker 5 (21:35):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, me too. I think good over and above. Yeah, probably. Okay,
Katie Texas, We're going out to dinner. What's the quintessential
meal I would order? You know in Katie.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
Texas and Katie?
Speaker 5 (21:46):
Yeah, well what I order?
Speaker 2 (21:49):
Uh, there's not a lot in Katie. You could you
could go to Pearl and Vine. It's a newer and
Newer Steakhouse. It's really good. I would go there, but
for me after games, it was always water.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
Burger, gotcha?
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah?
Speaker 5 (22:01):
What is your go to on a cheat day? You know,
like if you had to put on weight? You know
what what what direction you're going?
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Well, I will never have to put on wait, thankfully
realized that would be too easy.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
So you're not that guy who has to eat peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches between meals or anything.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
No, my metabolism is not fast anymore. It used to be,
but not anymore cheat meal. I mean, I'm a big
burger guy, so it'd be like, it could be any burger,
like I like, I like In and Out, but I
like Waburger more because I'm kind of biased, grew up
on it. But just a big, big cheeseburger, milkshake, maybe
French fries. Kah.
Speaker 5 (22:32):
That's probably you probably have to bring some of that
into the old line room at some point, right, Probably
Christian Jones giving you any advice on that front, being
a rookie of year ago.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Yeah, he's he's helped a lot. He actually sent me
the list of snacks to get and he's like, hey,
like for the special teams, meaning you got to let
him know or you'll get fined. Okay, sure that's right.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
Well is that new for you being on special teams?
Speaker 2 (22:52):
No, No, it's not. I was on field goal as
a freshman college, so I'm used to it in a
different position, but you know, I can call it. I
was able to do both interiors in high school. I snapped,
so I can do it right.
Speaker 5 (23:06):
And you called yourself a five position offensive lineman. As
you wrap it up here with Hayden Connor, I mean,
how do you envision your role with this team? As
you guys get closer and closer to camp, where do
you think you're going to get the most reps?
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Wherever Coach Fry wants me. I really do pride myself
on being an all five guy, mainly the three interior.
You know I can do all three interior very well.
But you know, I'm just trying to find my role
right now, and whatever that is, I'm going to be
happy with and I'm going to do it the best
that I can.
Speaker 5 (23:31):
Well, I'll tell you what I liked your quote earlier.
I know I'm good enough to fight for a starting job,
but humble enough to fit in wherever. Yeah, tell me
about your mentality. Last question, just your mentality and maybe
any advice you've received as an NFL rookie.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I mean that quote right there kind of kind of
says it. You know, I'm I I was picked for
a reason, right, I've got to go prove that. I
got to go prove that they made the right choice.
And you know, I'm confident in my ability to go
out there and do what I've been doing for the
past four years. Right, But you know, I'm not naive
to the fact that this is a completely different ballgame
than it was in college. And I'm just excited to learn.
(24:08):
I'm trying to try to learn from the older guys,
and you know, I'm just excited. Okay.
Speaker 5 (24:11):
And you found a place to live in Arizonia? Are
you still looking?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, me and my wife found a place nice. Okay.
Speaker 5 (24:17):
Well, congratulations all around.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
There you go, Hayden Connor. Everyone, we continue. It's the
Big Red Rage presented by Santan Ford in Gilbert. How
about rookie Darius Robinson penetrates it takes down Hi and Williams.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Darius Robinson stuffed.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
It awso to TfL for the first round rookie. I
feel like this is the obligatory. Darius Robinson questioned, But
how do you think he played? Coach disruption?
Speaker 7 (24:49):
He had some knock back, he made some plays in
the run game.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
I thought he rushed. Well, yeah, he's he's doing well.
Speaker 7 (24:54):
I thought it was his best game that he's played.
Speaker 5 (24:56):
JG on his TV show said that he felt like
the Grams game was your best game. Did you kind
of feel the.
Speaker 7 (25:01):
Same, Uh?
Speaker 9 (25:02):
JAJ said, yeah, you know, whatever he say, I'm with it.
So this is obviously this is the last thing everyone's
gonna remember you from your last time you're on tape.
So I'm just focused on competing on Sunday and putting
good things on tape.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
So that's the last memory everybody has.
Speaker 5 (25:16):
The man, there's Darius Robinson. The end of last season,
much of his season curtailed by injury. But based on
what we've seen this offseason, tick tock, he is coming.
He looks really good and we are really excited about
what's to be this year. In his second year. It
is a big red rage presented by Santan ford in
(25:36):
Gilbert Paul Calvic, Darren Irvan filling in for the aforementioned
Ron Wolfley who was in there, and special thanks to
Hayden Connor not only a three year starting offensive lineman
for Texas, but he was a guy who was on
track for an aerospace engineering degree before football got in
the way. And big guy, big iq. And how about
(25:58):
the fact he believes in aliens. So that counters Josh Dobbs,
who two three years ago aerospace engineer, does not believe
in aliens. So right now, I know that's a big
thing for you. So we're working if you're scoring at home,
Just thought I mentioned that. Beyond that, Darren, what stood
out to you about Hayden Connor to the sixth round
rookie offensive lineman.
Speaker 6 (26:14):
I know he talked about this before, but again in
this interview, you know how he's mentioning how comfortable he
is on the interior spots. And we've talked about this
a million times, Paul, like that's a place where they
needed some depth another body. And even if you go
back to the draft, like people were freaking out that
they had already gotten to the sixth round before they
(26:36):
addressed that position. Yeah, and then they got Hayden Connor.
And I mean to me, sixth round like, that's a
pretty good pick for a six round. Now we're gonna
have to see what happens on the field and how
this all plays out. But you can absolutely find a
starting guard in the NFL in the sixth round. I
mean that's been that's happened a million times. So I
(27:00):
like what he brings to the table. I love kind
of his mindset and you can kind of hear it
in that interview, and if he can be a guy
that is versatile enough to play all those those three
interior positions and maybe even I mean there's an open
guard spot. Well I shouldn't say it open. You would
assume Isaiah Adams and Evan Brownie your starting guards this year,
(27:20):
but I mean there's nothing guaranteed, and we'll see what
happens with Hayden Connor. And if he can put himself
in a place where he's ready to start next year,
like Isaiah Adams might be one year removed, that's awesome.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
And you know what, the Rams, to your point, took
a six round out of Arkansas who ended up being
their starting center as a rookie last year, started fifteen
games and beat out a highly paid free agent. So
and we know one thing about Jonathan Ganna, if you
can play, you will play, regardless of draft position. So
we'll see what's the opportunity he gets. We know Daris
Robinson is a twenty seventh pick overall two years ago,
(27:55):
is gonna get every opportunity for a rebound season. In fact,
one of the questions this week to the Cardinals defensive
lineman was whether we've seen what he can really do yet?
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Not really this visc and pieces.
Speaker 9 (28:06):
You know, I was out there, I did my very best,
but I think this jump from year one, year and
two is gonna be huge. So because I'm just excited
to compete and just put it on tape and just
super excited for this year.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
He also said I feel like I have a lot
to prove this year. I mean, you talk about all ball,
that's definitely Darius Robinson. That's something that Jonathan Gannon maniasin
for look for in the person. That's the first filter
they have. Okay, is this guy deadly serious about football?
We know he is, just based on the work he
puts in off the field. You can see it in
the added muscle mass and Darren I really hesitate to
(28:38):
do this and you're probably gonna tell me to go,
I'll polly pump the brakes, but I'm gonna say it anyway,
based on him working the sled and one offseason workout
and then him hitting the bags, there'll be like eight
or nine guys in line, and then there's Darius Robinson.
Now Walter Nolan the third wasn't participating. I'm just saying
his quickness in his explosion just this week out on
that field really stood out and a guy his size,
(29:02):
I mean, to the point earlier, have we seen the
best of what he's been able to do. I would
say absolutely not. Ever since that calf injury going into
week one a year ago, I don't think he's been
fully healthy until now.
Speaker 6 (29:16):
That's why I asked the question, I mean, the when
he just was asked about whether it had been seeing that.
I asked that, like, do you feel like that because
of exactly what you just said, Paul, Like he was
playing so well in training camp before he got hurt
and it just didn't look the same when he came back.
And the only question that anybody would have and I
(29:40):
know it got brought up to Jonathan Gannon and to
I can't remember if Darius was asked, But like.
Speaker 2 (29:45):
Does.
Speaker 6 (29:47):
Does the time miss last year? Is that something he
still has to make up before he really finds his
way because he missed so much time. Now, Jonathan Gannon
seemed very confident that he's gonna make the year two jump,
even though he only played in six games. I'm looking
forward to it. But yes, I'm gonna say two. Well,
I'll say three things. Number One, I would never tell
(30:10):
you to pump the breaks, Paul. I'm just not that
kind of person.
Speaker 5 (30:13):
Appreciated. Number two.
Speaker 6 (30:16):
I do think he looks different than most players, which
is why he was a first round pick. I mean
that's the reality of what he brings. He's a physical specimen.
He is if you drew up a disruptive interior defensive
lineman literally in a lab, that's what you would get.
But three, you gotta do it on the field. Like
(30:38):
it's it's funny kind of off in the corner here,
there's a James Harrison football life going on on the
TVs while we're recording this. And James Harrison, he was
a nobody when it came out. And the way he
was built, I mean he was super strong, but he
was short like no one would have drawn what he
looked like in a lab and he was awesome. So again,
you gotta you gotta produce it. But he's got every
(31:01):
spot there and and I truly believe he's got the
mental makeup that one is gonna push him to get there.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
And I'm gonna go back to your first point. I
think it's very valid in this case is you know what,
nothing replaces game reps. And in talking to the media
at the end of last season, he said, his first
two three games, he realized, you know what, he's almost hyperventilating.
He was so fired up. Gap integrity wasn't even there.
He's just running around looking to make a play. No,
the plays will come to you. Man your spot, man
(31:28):
your gap. So as things calm down, he was more
productive in those last couple of games. The other thing
I'll cite is the d lineman taken after him two
years ago was Braydon Fisk of the Rams. He had
eight sacks, seven of them were in the last eight
games of the year. Yeah, so it's almost like he
took that first half of his rookie season to get
acclimated and then boom, once you know the game, you
can really excel and you're you know, and so it's
(31:48):
all about putting that game film out there. In fact,
Darius Robinson said, yes, that is one of his objectives
this year.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
I only played six games.
Speaker 9 (31:57):
I was just constantly rethinking about those six games and
thinking about what I need to do to make that
next jump in my game because I feel against training
cant like it was hot, Like the tag was hot,
like all the like everybody it was hot, and you know,
coming back, you know, it was just it was just cool.
So I gotta find a way to you know, in Phoenix,
(32:18):
I got to get it hot again.
Speaker 5 (32:19):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
That was a great quote.
Speaker 5 (32:21):
It's good. And the other thing you have to consider,
and he said this that last year, twenty twenty four
was both the best year of his life and the
worst year of his life. He was the first round
draft pick, a guy only played two years of high
school football because he was a basketball player. In the
elation of that and then the devastation of losing his
mother as a young man, so he had a lot
to deal with now mentally if he's back and now
(32:45):
it zoom out to that D line room. Yeah, I mean, Darren,
you know, you look, you just look at those d
line drills again, and it just it drives home how
different the defensive front will look this year, and then
how different the results could be starting Week one.
Speaker 6 (33:01):
I have again covered this team for more than twenty
five years. I do not recall a season in which
a particular position group was transformed to the level that
this one was.
Speaker 5 (33:18):
Now.
Speaker 6 (33:19):
Again, some of that is happenstance. I mean, if we're
including edge rushers and some of this. Bjo Jalari comes
in almost like a bonus player because he was gone
all last season. Darius Robinson is almost like a bonus
player because he was a first round pick last year,
but he barely played, So some of that was happenstance.
(33:39):
But you draft Walter Nolan, you bring in Klays Campbell back,
you signed Dalvin Tomlinson, you have Josh Sweat. You have
again when we talk about bonus players, Justin Jones barely
played last year and now he's coming back. I don't recall.
And again, when I say transformation, I'm talking about from
the back half of the year. Obviously Justin Jones and
(34:00):
Darius Robinson were there at the very beginning. But the
difference between what this defensive line is going to look
like when they start the season fingers crossed to where
it was like the last six weeks of last season.
That's crazy.
Speaker 5 (34:14):
Drew stan was talking about this on the Red Sea Report.
Just the possibilities gives Nick Rolis and Jonathan Gannon coordinating
the defense if you can all of a sudden rush
for and drop seven. And what Drew made a point of,
it's not just rushing for after the quarterback, it's stopping
the run with four. And yes, the Cardinals too often
because they were so depleted in that d line room
(34:34):
had to vote extra assets to stopping the run. Then
obviously it makes you a liability in the back end.
So it could be a totally different look on defense. Hey,
get ready for this season. The latest gear from the
Cardinals team shop, Yes, including the recently dropped Marvin Harrison
junior jersey. Go to Ezycardinals dot com slash shop today.
All right, we're talking offense, we promised James Connor and more.
(34:55):
Next than the big red Rage presented by santan Ford
in Gilbert.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Hands it off to Connor running right inside the twenty
five twenty far side fifteen ten and Connor finally taken
down at the five.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
You pull out, yelled the pro hold. He gets a
kickout Paris Johnson Junior through the whole All that is
Wickedy Jingle good.
Speaker 2 (35:17):
They go two backs with Benson and Connor.
Speaker 4 (35:20):
Hurry takes the shotgun snap hand off Connor running the left,
He gets the edge and he's into the end zone
for the touchdowns. The Cardinals score again thirty to three
with ten thirty three to go in the third.
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Well, that's a little dust in the wind. You go
ahead and run another gap scheme, down blocks, playside kickouts,
well executed by the Arizona Cardinals.
Speaker 4 (35:46):
The Cardinals are gashing.
Speaker 5 (35:48):
Them, no doubt. Second year in row the Arizona Cardinals
rushing offense number two in yards per carry. How about
number two last season in chunk runs, explosive runs and
a big reason why number six James Connor and just
one of the league leaders all year in miss tackles forced.
It is the Big Red Rage presented by San tan
(36:08):
Ford and Gilbert Paul KELVC Darren are been filling in
for Ron Wolfley and Wolfe's favorite subject, the run game.
Speaker 6 (36:15):
I have to say I was very excited for wolf
to let me know to pull out my yelled defro hold.
Speaker 2 (36:19):
That was a very quality SoundBite. I enjoyed that.
Speaker 5 (36:22):
I wonder if Yelda Frohold, has he been selling protein
on the side, like Marvin Harrison Junior and Darius Robinson.
You know all these guys, it's you know, they've they've
adopted the diet of yelled afro holdt I did Avid Weightlifter.
Speaker 6 (36:33):
Although I'm going to go back to we haven't talked
about Walter Nolan Darius Robinson noting that he brought EPs
and salt for everybody, which I thought was hilarious because yeah,
and maybe it is this great thing, but like Darius
made it sound.
Speaker 5 (36:45):
Like, yeah, hey this he brought it off. I'm like, okay, yeah,
I mean Danny Sirek was impressed. Me not so much.
Hayden Connor said, yeah, I've never heard of that. Earlier
in this show here the big Red Rage said yeah,
I've just been bringing in snacks and donuts for the offensive.
So yeah, they've elevated their game in the d line room.
Very interesting. So okay, so I didn't mean it derail you, Paul, No,
(37:08):
that's good stuff. All the rookies have all their duties
and then you have team captains like James Connor, and
it's really interesting. You know this team as well as anyone,
and just to watch all the young guys follow players
like Buddha and James Connor, and it's not so much
what they say, it's what they do. It's best practices.
And I think everyone can sense. And Calvin Beacham even
(37:31):
recently voiced this on Arizona Sports is look, the time
is now, the building is over, it is time to compete.
And we asked James Connor about that sense of urgency
at this moment.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
Absolutely, yeah, this is uh, why not be right now?
You know the time is now. We got talented roster
right now, we added talented players to it. I'm ready.
You know we ain't doing this forever. I sure enough
you know doing it forever, So sooner or better We'll
put it like that.
Speaker 5 (37:56):
To me, I always start with the division, right. You
swept the forty nine ers last year. I know they
had injury issues, whatever you had. Jack stopped the Rams
in week two. You almost got it in week seventeen
at their place where they were playing really good football
and almost up ended the Eagles. You were a deflective
pass off the helmet of Tray McBride away from winning
that game Seattle. You owe the Seahawks, but now they're
minus Gino Smith, who's been a really vexing problem. So
(38:19):
to me, you start with the division, and the biggest
step maybe all of last year, other than doubling your
win total, was you were much more competitive in the division.
And now if you can take that next step in
this process, how do you think the Cardinals stack up
right now in their own division, the NFC West.
Speaker 6 (38:37):
I feel like they're in a really good place for
all the things we've already talked about. I mean, it's
gonna be interesting to see again, they've stayed fairly pat
in terms of offensively, so any improvements there is going
to have to come through jumps from the players and
whatever they might do with the playbook. But defensively, we've
already talked about that. And it's funny you look around,
(38:59):
Paul and you look at the analysis in the offseason.
That's all anybody can do right now is analysis that
means nothing because we're so far away from playing, and
some people want to call the Cardinals an underrated and
like sleeper, and then there's others that are like, it
sounds like they're dismissing the Cardinals. Maybe not out of
(39:19):
hand or necessarily totally towards the Cardinals, but they're like, look,
forty nine ers are not as bad as you think
they are, and they're playing the easiest schedule in the
league by far. The Rams are in really good place.
The Seahawks, they just seem to be going in the
right direction. And they got Sam Darnold. I feel like
some people kind of forget about him. I think this
division could be really fascinating. And if you could tell
(39:42):
me any of the combinations, and I'm not a math guy.
Speaker 5 (39:44):
We often talked.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
About this point.
Speaker 5 (39:46):
No math, no math, no math. You could give me
any of the.
Speaker 6 (39:51):
Combinations of any of these four teams in any of
the four spots at the end of the season, and
I'd be like, Okay, I could see how that could happen.
Speaker 5 (40:00):
Okay, yeah, maybe, just maybe I will say this for
everything that's different about the Cardinals this year, one similar
challenge last year is the back half of the schedule,
the degree of difficulty. So maybe the analysts, the Punnits
nationally are looking at a team that came out of
the by leading the division then went two and five
down the stretch. So that is the big challenge for
(40:22):
a team that needs to be at its best in November, December,
and January. We'll see. We do know this, James Connor
is going to be one of those team leaders. We've
said it many times. He's not just a player. He
is a mindset. He is a mentality. So maybe that's
why Jonathan Cannon said this when he was asked about, Hey,
have you ever considered now that he's thirty years of age,
(40:43):
you know, lessening James Conner's workload in the off season.
Speaker 7 (40:47):
I always have those thoughts, and then you talked to
him about it and he'll punch you in the face
and tell him that. So no, he's going to continue
to do what he does, and he's going to get
himself ready to carry the load for us.
Speaker 5 (40:58):
I know that. I would say also that there are
twelve starters on this offense, and that twelve starter is
Trey Benson. Yeah, because as hard as James Connor runs,
and as much as this team wants to run the ball,
then they're going to need a second running back. And
if James Connor is grooming Trey Benson like we saw
(41:18):
for a few games before Benson went down with injury,
and he really is winning the offseason. Like James Connor said,
look out, that's the one two punch the Cardinals desperately need.
Speaker 6 (41:28):
We talk a lot about the offense, and we talk about, Okay,
how much does Trey Benson play as opposed to James
Connor in terms of carries, and hey, is Marvin Harrison
going to get more? And look, if they can be
more successful offensively, which they need to be more successful offensively,
the numbers are going to go up, or the numbers
will be there because they weren't that consistent offensively and
(41:53):
you still got to create first downs to have more plays. Now,
I think this team, if it does it the way
it wants to do it, it's gonna run clock and
it's gonna grind a little bit and you might have
a few less offensive plays then some other teams might
or or like the twenty fifteen Cardinals might have. Because
that's the whole point is like, we're gonna ramp up
(42:16):
our defense, We're gonna have to be really good, and
we're gonna try and keep them on the sideline as
much as possible. And then then we really are cooking
with gas and so. But but going back to your
original point, I absolutely think Trey Benson's going to be
a bigger part of this. But unless he gets hurt,
I'm not counting out James Connor. And if you think
he wants to punch you in the face because you're
(42:36):
trying to lower his practice reps in the offseason, I
can only imagine what kind of damage he might want
to do if you're trying to take away his playing time.
Speaker 5 (42:43):
During ye season, no doubt, no doubt. Yeah, you keep
your distance from James Conner on the sideline in game day.
That's an absolute. Let me ask you this, how many
emails do you get in the mail bag about the
receiver room? Huh?
Speaker 2 (42:56):
Once a week? Baby?
Speaker 5 (42:58):
And and I bring that up because you know, I
think that is still a question to me. There's two questions.
On offense, do you end up signing a veteran interior
offensive lineman? I think you wait to camp, you see
what you have probably And then number two, Okay, is
there a need or a want for a veteran receiver?
I don't know exactly who's out there, if they'd be
a good fit. And I don't necessarily mean a speed receiver.
I don't think that's nearly as necessary as finding another
(43:19):
reliable third down target to go along with Trey McBride.
Who could it be, Michael Wilson, Could it be Greg Dortsch,
you know, could it be Zay Jones? You know, is
that guy on the roster? Because to me, you just
Kyler needs another reliable go to guys.
Speaker 6 (43:32):
So you're not saying third down and you're taking Marvin
out of the equation.
Speaker 5 (43:35):
Oh Marvin, I'm sorry, Marvin Aerson. He was the default.
He was the default, there's no doubt, but on third
down he's probably gonna get doubled. Probably, I mean, who
else is able to step up?
Speaker 6 (43:45):
I think these are all legitimate questions. I don't think
there's going to be any significant changes in my head
until we get to camp. I think they're gonna want
to see we talked at the outset about the nine practices.
I think John think Gannon and his coaching staff are
gonna want to get through these nine practices and see
what it kind.
Speaker 2 (44:03):
Of looks like.
Speaker 6 (44:04):
Now at receiver, they kind of already know what it
looks like because these are all the guys that are back.
So what does that mean? Are they looking for somebody?
Have they been holding off? Is there just somebody out
there that they might want but wants too much money
for the role they're gonna have. I mean again, when
we talk about receiver, part of the issue is what
are you bringing him in for? How much are they
(44:25):
gonna do and what are you willing to pay a
guy for doing what I think is gonna be a
very limited.
Speaker 5 (44:31):
Role, or maybe I'm just overthinking it, and that's why
I missed Marmon Irrison Junior. And if he makes that
year one to year two leap, if his production matches
the muscle mass that he added, then that's all you need.
Trey McBride, a pro Bowl tight end and a legit
wide receiver.
Speaker 2 (44:48):
One.
Speaker 5 (44:49):
Maybe that's your answer right there. Hey be the fur
part of the Red Sea. Arizona Cardinals single game tickets
on sale now. Tickets are available online by visiting Acycardinals
dot com slash by tickets, Azycardinals dot Com slash Buy
ticket Special Thanks Cardinals rookie offensive lineman Hayden Connor for
Jim Olmahundro, Cody Fincher, Evan Reiser, Darren Urban Thank you.
(45:09):
Are you not entertained? This has been the Big Red
Rage presented by santan Ford and Gilbert. We are santan Ford.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
You've been listening to the Big Red Rage presented by
santan Ford and Gilbert right on the price, right on
the corner of the Santan two oh.
Speaker 5 (45:29):
Two Freeway in val Vista.
Speaker 3 (45:31):
The Rage is brought to you by Arizona Cardinals Podcast.
Visit Azycardinals dot com slash podcast.
Speaker 1 (45:39):
We're gonna see a little big red rage football right here.
Speaker 3 (45:43):
This has been an exclusive presentation of the Arizona Cardinals
Football Club.
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