June 18, 2025 • 41 mins
Ep. 894 - Is it possible? Of course. Is it realistic? Good question. The Cardinals do like to run the ball, and if they can play from ahead more times than not, then Craig Grialou and Zach Gershman see no reason why to disagree with Trey Benson’s outlook on the season ahead for him and James Conner. Plus, Craig and Zach see plenty of benefits of having two starting-caliber running backs. Also part of Wednesday’s show, how former high school teammates Jordan Burch and Xavier Thomas are once again helping one another both on and off the field. And speaking of off the field, players spent a lot of time together away from the facility in the offseason. Will that matter in the regular season?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
So Trey Benson said it. Do we believe him? Let's
talk running back Bird gang god Zach Ershman joining me.
Benson is expecting to be more involved this season, and
he should. Does that involvement though, equate to in his words,
two RB one's on this team. We also discussed the
outside linebacker room, more specifically former high school teammates Jordan
Birch and Xavier Thomas, plus team chemistry. It's important. It's
(00:28):
Cardinals Cover two, episode eight ninety four, and it starts now.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Welcome to Cardinals Cover two.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hoona Baker? What Heart? What rent? This guy's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Cardinals Cover two is presented by Hyundai, proud partner of
the Arizona Cardinals, and by Arizona Cardinals Podcast. Visit Azycardinals
dot Com slash podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
He's at the ten half of five. He's it again,
so more hurry magic. WHOA, here's Craig Graeler.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
So welcome to day one without a Boss, Zach.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I mean when you put it like that, I guess
you're right. It is day one without a boss.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Now some context here, Darren Urban.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
But why are we here? The boss isn't here?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That is true?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Have a good one.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Everybody, Darren Urban our boss supervisor on vacation. So as
they say, when the cat's away, the mice will play.
Yet here we are doing what we always do. It's
Cardinals Cover two.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I was when I was growing up in school, you know,
all like a few years ago, we used to have
a thing that's like, well, if the teacher doesn't walk
in the room within the first to fifteen minutes, then
you have an excuse to leave.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Fifteen minutes. I believe in college it's like a ten
minute in.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
College if you even show up. Well, there you got
that's true, you get applauded. Yeah, but yes, no days off.
We're here. We're Cardinals cover too.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Just make sure Darren is aware that we are here
documenting it, documenting everything, providing content phraseycardinals dot com on
its many platforms.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
But when he is going to be, you know, off
in the middle of wherever he's going off to, when
he gets to listen to this, hopefully he gets a
chuckle out of it, and hopefully he learned something. He
was a little bit upset, or actually it was you
who was a little bit upset. Let's go back here.
I was listening to the Red Sea Report. Driving in
after my launch and Craig says to me, you were listening,
(02:32):
did you learn anything? I'm like, no, but that is
not because you didn't talk about anything that was not valuable.
Of course it was all valuable, but because I'm so
honored to sit in this chair across from you at
least once a week, I get to, you know, take
it all in good.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Safe, I'll say, I was expecting maybe a different answer.
Of course I always learn when I listen to you,
or listening to Red Sea Reports or Cardinals Underground or
the Big Red Ray. You're always learning.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
You know. I was hoping you would say, Wow, I'm
just so honored to have lunch with you, Zach Gershman,
knowing that you know you sat in your car in
this Arizona heat, wanting to listen to us with the
air conditioning on, though yes, the air conditioning was on.
If you eat lunch outside in this weather, you need
to be checked.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, it's not pleasant at least after what eight eight thirty.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
When you wake up in the morning, by the way,
when you wake up till when you go to sleep
in this heat. I was walking with Jordan Birch somebody
will talk about a little bit later. And he looks
at me and he goes, bro, is it always this
hot outside? Now? Mind you? This guy was shirtless, so
I was saying to him, I'm a Jordan. It's not
even bad yet, but it's going to get bad. Mean,
it's bad. It's gonna get even worse.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Keep your shirt on zech for all of us.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
I asked him if I if that was like a
prerequisite for to do the interview, as if I had
to also take it off, and he thankfully said no.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
It's again, thankfully for all of us. Uh. Speaking of
learning things as we get this show, we're learning a lot. Yeah,
I learned this that Trey Benson. He's always been confident,
but there seems to be a little bit extra confidence
in how he is speaking and even in his appearance
(04:19):
and how he looks out on that football field. And
I think it's a good reasons. It's that year one
to year two jump, the first full offseason which you
can fully concentrate on your job the Arizona Cardinals. Yet
first offseason it's all right, you're getting ready for the combine,
you get drafted, you're learning to playbook and where am
I supposed to be where am I supposed to go,
(04:41):
and then training camp hits, the regular season begins, and
for a lot of rookies, it takes a little while.
And it was interesting to hear Benson say he was
starting to feel get into a bit of a groove
at the time of his ankle injury late last season.
Not that it ailed his first season, but he was
(05:02):
starting to get it. And I think that's a good
sign going into this season.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
For players coming out of college and entering the draft,
like Trey Benson was in twenty twenty four, they only
get about three weeks and we're actually right now beginning
day one of what the rookies are currently going through
in terms of their time off and their time away
because you spend so much of your time doing the forty,
getting the drills ready, doing whatever you have to do
(05:28):
to prepare yourself for the draft, and then a week
later you come into the building and you have rookie
Mini Camp and then Phase three and mandatory Mini camp
and everything else that goes into training camp, which then
goes into the regular season. So Trey Benson's first offseason
true offseason, only took place just a few short months ago,
and he still was one of those players that lived
in the facility every single day with Marvin Harrison Junior,
(05:50):
with Darise Robinson, with a lot of other rookies in
that twenty twenty four class. However, you hit on it, Craig.
When he's sitting there at the podium, you see that sense.
It's a swagger that you start to see at Florida
State quite a bit because he's confidence. No longer that
wide eye rookie, that wide eye freshman that has no
idea what they're in for. Trey Benson now knows what
(06:12):
he's in for. And it was up until the game
against the Chicago Bears in the New York Jets that
week nine, week ten stretch when the Cardinals were on
that winning streak, when Trey Benson was bouncing off a
handful of tackles and then started to realize and something
clicked and he said, all right, I am ready for this.
I am built for this. You hit on the injury
that he had that sort of the railed the season
(06:32):
towards the back end, but it still lit a spark
in Trey Benson's rookie season that gets you excited for
what year two could bring.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
We saw a more decisive Trey Benson middle of the season,
understanding that in college, when you bounce it to the outside,
you can outrace those defensive ends, those outside linebackers. In
the NFL, when you bounce it to the outside, more
times than not, you're going to get caught. So being
more decisive if you see that that hole run up
(07:01):
the middle, even if it's not much of a hole
that you're expecting, but trusting yourself and how well you
can attack that hole and the blocking in front of you,
and not just rely on or attempt to rely on
that speed to get the outside, because again, the quickest
way to get between point A and point B is
(07:21):
a straight line. And I think Trey realized that middle
of the Season's like, hey, let me just go right
up the middle as opposed to angling to the left
or the right.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
And I think towards the middle of the season that's
when you start to see the tape from Florida State
start to transfer over to State Farm Stadium with the
Arizona Cardinals. Tray Benson in the beginning half, and I'm
not sure if it was just the trust between himself
and the offensive linean once again, this is a whole
new group of guys that you're playing behind. And this
isn't just like you're just you're just trying to get
(07:53):
a couple of yards. You're getting hit, So there's a
mental component to this as well. Trey Benson found himself
as an east west runner moving to the side and
then when that gap was you know, was clogged, he
kind of stuttered. He didn't know what to do. He
stalled right there and there was a lot of yards
that were lost through those plays. Then you will get
a guy like James Connor, who is one of Trey
(08:13):
Benson's mentors in this facility, and Trey and James Connor
is that north South bruiser running back, willing to take
the hits and get a couple of yards after contact.
When you started to see that start to click for
Trey Benson, you started to see that one two punch
that and Trey Benson talked about how he has the
confidence that the Cardinals have two RB ones and it's
(08:36):
because of moments like that where it doesn't look like
there's a drop off from James Connor to Trey Benson
because they have the same skill sets. You just didn't
see that in the first few weeks due to a
plethora of reasons. Towards the middle half and towards the
back end of the season, Trey Benson was an extension
of Trey McBrien, or of Trey Benson was an extension
of James Connor.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
And I think Trey Benson is how is how he
has worked this offseason on his body. I think he
is now better suited to be a North South runner.
He mentioned he's seven pounds heavier. So if you look
at what he was listed at last season, to sixteen
ad seven, we're doing math here, Zach. That's okay, so
(09:17):
you too, sixteen ad seven, you get to two twenty three.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Three, which is I didn't even he's a calculator for that.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Not far off from James Connor. And it's what that
two twenty three looks like in the amount of time
in the weight room that Benson has worked on this
offseason to where he says he feels he's way more explosive,
even with the added weight, because typically sometimes you add weight,
(09:45):
it slows you down. But it's what kind of weight
and what have you done to the rest of your
body that he believes he feels much more explosive to
not only hesitate, but when you're that decisive attacking the hole,
he's gonna get there a lot quicker. And then when
he does get that first contact, he's going to get
by the first contact and not go down with that
(10:06):
first tackle.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
For rookies going into that second year, their frame is
often discussed. But Craig, have you ever experienced a rookie
class that has had this much change? You know, especially
with their first few picks. Max Mountain looks good, you know,
Elijah Jones lean but good. He looks really strong, as
Xavier Thomas looks very built obviously, Marvin Harrison junior, Darius Robinson.
(10:28):
Can you even recall a moment where it seems like
an entire rookie class has started to just transform their body.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
It's it's a good point and I had not thought
about that. But everyone again, when you have that time
to really devote, and more importantly that listen to the
training's death, listen to the nutrition staff that is in
the building, and not just here but across the NFL,
and now, all of a sudden, I think those first
(10:55):
year players understand what it takes to get through a
seventeen game regular season, plus the preseason, hopefully the postseason,
and understanding like, Okay, I need to do things a
little bit differently to make sure I'm ready physically, obviously mentally,
but then how I recover Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday to ramp
back up for a game day on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
And I think that's what's going to be interesting for
future generations, for future draft prospects. Even some of the
guys like this year, what is Cody Simon going to
look like? In year number two? He experienced what it
was like to play basically a full NFL season because
of the college football playoffs and all the different rounds
that they had once they expanded the playoff format, and
(11:37):
obviously Ohio State taking it all the way to win
the National Championship. They've experienced what an NFL schedule might
feel like, or at least more they've experienced it to
a closer extent than they otherwise would have. I'm interested
to see how bodies are going to start to train
just simply from you know, when the season ends in
college football to the start of the regular season. But
(12:00):
this year's group, this year one to year two class,
they've talked about how much they live in the building,
and I think in some cases everybody talks about how
they live in the building, and it's all good and
all nice headlines to have, but when you get to
actually see it, visibly see it, it's impressive. Not only
did we hear and see Trey Benson, but you brought
(12:23):
it up as far as what we heard from him
talking about I feel like we can have two RB
ones on this team. And that stood out to me because, hey,
you've got your number one running back in James Connor,
but do you have enough confidence trust in Trey Benson
to wear Okay, he believes he's getting more opportunities this season,
(12:47):
and he should believe that year two, you should get
more opportunities based off your year one performance, did you
show that you're capable of more opportunities. So one, I
think he's earned those opportunities. And then two, if Trey
Benson's on the field are getting more touches, whether that's
running the ball or catching the ball, then yeah, you
don't have James Connor, but you're keeping James fresh. And
(13:11):
I know he likes he likes more reps during the
course of a game because as the game progresses, he
feels he gets better.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
I get that. Yet later in the season, can you
take a couple of touches or snaps off of James
Connor to where now, all of a sudden Week thirteen, fourteen,
fifteen and so on, he feels better physically and also
understanding that even though I'm not on the field, the
confidence that this team has that I have is RB
(13:41):
one and Trey Benson, We're gonna be just fine.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah. I think the leader in James Connor believes that
if he does step back a little bit and Trey
Benson get some more runs in, I don't think he's
gonna have any problems with that. From a leadership component,
it's the competitor in James Connor that wants to live
and die on that football field and do absolutely whatever
it takes, because we've seen James Connor play through injuries
(14:07):
because he just doesn't want to get off the field. However,
knowing that he has that trust in Trey Benson, maybe
he's a little bit more willing to say, Hey, I
could use a breather right here. I don't need to
overly exert myself in a way that might be actually
detrimental to the Arizona Cardinals because they know what they
have in Trey Benson. It's gonna be interesting. You expect
(14:28):
to see a little bit more involvement from a player
going into their second season, and we've talked a ton
about all the different guys going into their second season
and what that additional play might actually end up looking like.
With Trey Benson, though you've seen a lot of clips
on social media about him in the passing game as well,
that could be another avenue for him to see more
feel time.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I'm glad you brought that up. Last season, Benson targeted
six times, had six catches. Can he elevate that part
of his game to where maybe you don't have James
Connor on the sideline, Maybe you have both James and
Trey on the field at the same time, maybe even
in the same backfield, or you have one lined up
(15:10):
as a wide receiver or one motion out of the backfield.
That's another way to both have two RB ones on
the field, because within that particular play or that drive
or that quarter, you've got two running backs joining maybe
two tight ends and a wide receiver. Another wrinkle within
this offense in year three that perhaps Drew Petson didn't
(15:33):
have in his first two seasons because of what Trey
Benson has shown in year one and then the work
that he put in this offseat and say all right,
let's see if we can't get number thirty three on
the field just a little bit more, but not at
the expense of less snaps for James Connor.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Yeah, I think with I'm looking right now at Trey
Benson and his receiving numbers and just where he was
projected where he received the ball mostly and it was
all behind the sticks. It was a lot of those
screen pass plays that you wanted to see him break
free and go down the field. James Connor because he's
a little bit bigger, and now I guess with the
(16:11):
seven pounds added bringing him to do twenty three, they're
right around the same size. But the physicality that James
Connor plays the game with, you don't necessarily need to
only throw screen passes to him. He could be a
receiving back with Trey Benson. Maybe it was because of
the size, maybe it was because of the speed. I mean,
I'm looking at it here. In a lot of cases,
it's five yards behind the line of scrimmage where Trey
(16:32):
Benson has received the football a lot of checkdowns. So
if you want to get him more involved in the
passing game, I saw the Arizona Cardinals posted on social
media clip of Trey Benson on a will rat. It
looked like you want to have a speed guy go
down the field. That's another way for him to get involved.
Trey Benson is a competitor, just as James Connor is.
So whatever he has the ability to do to get
down the field and make plays and get additional yards
(16:54):
for this Cardinals offense, I think he's gonna be willing
to do that. Benson had less than seventy total touches
last season, and just looking at his carries a year ago,
finished with sixty three, so it's not a lot when
you break it down by game. Only twice in the
thirteen games that he played he had at least ten carries.
There were four games in which he had eight or
(17:15):
more carries. All right, can you add maybe that thirteen
fourteen carry average? Because you look at what James Connor
he had a career year a year ago, but he
also had a career high with two hundred and thirty
six rushing attempts. It seems like an awful lot over
(17:35):
two hundred. Yeah, I get that, but two thirty six,
maybe by design, maybe by necessity, But can you lower
that number and increase the reps rushing rushing attempts for
a Trey Benson. Not that they're equal, not that they
both have one hundred and fifty, but there's a little
bit more.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
There's a little bit more of Trey Benson on the foot.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Yeah. I think it also depends on how much you're
gonna have Kyler Murray running the football.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Is Well, there's the wild card.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Because that's what that's what it comes down to. When
you have a quarterback with that rushing capabilities and that
that dual threat ability, you don't necessarily need to hand
it to the running back every single time. I do
appreciate how unpredictable it is when you do have Trey
Benson out on the field. You're not always gonna be
expecting and I think now going forward, rather you're not
(18:27):
only going to be expecting a run play because Trey
Benson is starting to grow in the passing game. So
when it comes down to it, you have the ability
to give him the rock. You have the ability for
Kyler Murray to take it himself and just run down
the field with it. But now you want to see
a little bit more in the passing game. But at
the end of the day, goes back to your point,
(18:47):
James Connor had a lot of rushes in twenty twenty
four and he's getting up there in age now. He
will smack you in the face if you start to
say it like that because it comes with that negative connotation. However,
Connor has defied age. He's gone better as the years
went on, back to back a thousand plus rushing guard seasons.
Had his best rushing season last year, so he one
(19:10):
ninety four rushing guards in total. He's only getting better.
But some time you gotta look at it. The stereotype
is a stereotype for a reason.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yeah, running backs when they hit that thirty year age
mark all of a sudden, that's when typically there's a decline.
Have not seen that with James Connor. We have this
conversation knowing this Berd gang. James Connor is Trey Benson's
number one supporter. You watch last season whenever Trey did anything,
(19:39):
James was one of the first guys, if not the
first guy up off the bench on the sideline, ready
to congratulate his teammate. This is not a competition in
which the young guys trying it's to plant the veteran.
Maybe that happens over time, but this is more two guys,
the veteran and the young guy working together. And we
(20:01):
heard that from James earlier this offseason. He was the
one that first mentioned how much Trey had been in
the building working on his body in the weight room,
getting ready for this season, and high praise from the
starter when the guy over his shoulder is chopping at
the bit to get on the field a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
So, it's also because of that friendly competition. They're trying
to make each other better. And I think back to
when Kyler Murray took all the guys to Los Angeles
to UCLA and they're all working out and he posted
on his vlog James Connor was in the weight room
meleague two in the morning. So when you see that
that's who you're competing with, not against, you're competing with
(20:43):
them to make the Arizona Cardinals a better football team.
You gotta be willing to step it up. But to
break down the passing because now I'm just looking at
it as you and I are talking here, Craig, Trey
Benson was on the field for forty five different pass plays.
He had all different types of routes, but on first
and second down is when he was mostly used in
those past situations because on third down it was all
(21:04):
James Connor.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
And third down is another area in which maybe a
Trey Benson could see the field more. Third down obvious
passing situation. How good has Trey Benson worked on his
blocking the blitz protection? Typically, That's that's why Mario de
Mercado is on this team, was on this team, still
is on this team, is because he was able to
(21:27):
protect the quarterback. But if you have year two, Trey
Benson can run the ball more explosive, hits the hole,
catches the ball out of the backfield. Now, all of
a sudden, is he a three down back? Can he?
Does he have the trust of the coaches?
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Does he have.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Kyler's trust to step in front of an outside linebacker
or a corner blitz to pick up that extra defender
and be in again. Now, all of a sudden, that's
another snap he's on the football field.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
And when you start to put on your general manager's
cap and you have to trend this roster down from
ninety to fifty three. The more you could do if
you could have Trey Benson both being a receiving running
back and a blocking running back. Not to say that
Amario de mer Kyle is gonna end up getting cut,
but that completely changes the roster configuration around here. I'm
just watching some of these plays, and the forty five,
(22:17):
according to True Media, were plays where he could have
been an intended receiver. It wasn't necessarily he was out
there for more than just forty five offensive plays when
Kyler threw the football, but in some of those he
could have been blocking as the as the running back there.
But according to True Media, was a route running receiver
at least forty five times.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
So a designed route as opposed to maybe just a
security blanket a safety.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Essentially, he wasn't just going to be there as an
additional blocker. He wasn't just going to be by Kyler
Murray's side. Now there are moments here, as I'm watching
through the film start to start to taper through here
a little bit. He you know, he had moments where
he had an initial chip block and then went out
for a receiving pass to be a route runner. But
I will say this, when Trey Benson's in motion, and
(23:06):
we talk a lot about receivers being in motion. When
Trey Benson's in motion from the backfield, I'm watching the
film here from the game against the New York Jets,
it confuses opposing defenses.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
I would love to see more two backs on the field,
whether that's backfield receivers or combination of both. And I
do think that's the way for Trey to get on
the field more and feel like he did when he
told us, I feel like we can have two RB
ones on this team. Was at a hints of things
(23:38):
to come. Does he know stuff that we will see
maybe in training camp or not until the regular season
based off how this offense evolves into year.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Three, potentially I'm looking out of clip here from the
game against the Chicago Bears, where you have it's twenty
two personnel because you have Tip Ryman and Trey McBride
out there. You have the two running backs James Connor
and Trey Benson's in motion, and the other wide receiver
quote unquote wide receiver is Elijah Higgins, he's on the outside,
but because he's in that wide receiver role, it doesn't
become thirty two personnel. I don't it just or twenty
(24:09):
three personnel rather, I don't know. It's fascinating to see.
We know about Drew Petsing's innovation with the offense, it's
moments like this where you could truly expand on that.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
It's run first, maybe even run second, but how do
you get how do you get those pieces together to
where maybe you do see some more explosive plays in
the passing game as far as run after catch, run
after contact, and it's good, it's it's I don't I
(24:38):
don't mind the comment. And I'm not dismissing Trey Benson's
belief that he feels that there are two starting running
backs on this team, because I can certainly, as we've
been discussing, there is a way for that to happen
without same number of rushing attempts. But maybe the playing time,
the number of snaps between he and James Connor are
(24:58):
a little bit more in balance as opposed to James
always being on the field and Trey White waiting biding
his time.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
And we could we talk a lot about the or
at least I have talked a lot about just Trey
Benson being in the passing game. That could also be
all for not because if you're going to be looking
at your weapons out there, you don't want to be
getting Tredy bentson the football unless you have to get
Trey Benson the football. You want to be able to
get Marvin Harrison Junior, Michael Wilson, Trey McBride, Elijah Higgins.
You want to be able to get your playmakers the
football out in space and do what they could do.
(25:28):
But it's how you utilize both that balance between Trey
Benson and James Connor, because when James Connors out there,
you know number six is going to get his touches.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
It's a fascinating discussion and it's a hopefully dynamic duo
in that running back room coming up this season. Now
there's another dynamic duo perhaps on the other side of
the ball, that is outside linebacker with Jordan Birch and
Xavier Thomas and Zach You've got a story up on
Azy Cardinals dot com or soon to be posted on
(25:58):
Azycardinals dot com. Blast from the Past to Present day.
Jordan Birch and Xavier Thomas reunite your title I do.
Did you come up with that or was that a
It was instead a suggestion. It's someone else.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
You know, it's stemmed from a quote I asked Jordan Birch.
You know, he's shared the practice field already with Xavier Thomas,
but when he gets out to State Farm Stadium for
the first time during the preseason and he looks across
the line and sees somebody that was his high school
mentor out on the field, Xavier Thomas called himself his
big brother to Jordan Burch, when that moment happens, what's
(26:33):
that going to feel like? And he said, it's gonna
feel like a moment from the past. So I went on,
blast from the past. He could go with that, neither
here or there, but it was, you know, to see
guys from the same small town flor in South Carolina
to be on the big stage over two thousand miles
away here in ten Pi, Arizona, repping the same team,
coming from a city where not a lot of people
(26:53):
make it out. According to Jordan Birch, Xavier Thomas was
the standard for a lot of those players and now
followed suit It's pretty special to see him on the
same field. Big brother, little brother.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
It was big brother Xavier Thomas who got all the
accolades in high school, yet I mean in college, in
high school and in college.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
One of the top players in high school in the
recruiting class.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
And yet David Thomas had to wait until round five
to hear his name called last season. Jordan Birch a
third round pick, and just looking at two outside linebackers that,
at least size wise, I think are dramatically different. Zay
is six two two forty four. Jordan is sixty four
two seventy nine, closer to what Darius Robinson is as
(27:38):
a defensive end. Yet we know Jordan is going to
be a stand up outside linebacker. He has he can
put his hand in the dirt. But you're talking about
Jordan Birch, who has the physical traits of an outside linebacker,
just goes straight ahead. Zavid Thomas maybe more like an
inside linebacker body type.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Go Craig Greenlule, you hit it on the head. We'll
share a little bit of breaking news here because it'll cut.
The article will be posted on Thursday on Asycardinals dot
com and it'll be called blasting the past, Jordan Bird,
Savior Thomas re unite, as we previously alluded to. But
Xavier Thomas, when I was talking to him, he told
me that his role was going to expand a little
bit because when we saw him out there fourteen games played,
(28:21):
only had you know, ten tackles two and a half sacks.
Obviously made a big play in that game against the
New York Jets, bringing down Aaron Rodgers on that strip
sack fumble. But I asked him how much different that
role was actually gonna look because we only primarily saw
him on third down. He said that the Cardinals had
been moving him around a little bit, putting him in
a little bit more of a sam linebacker role, dropping
(28:42):
him back into coverage. He's gonna be playing on earlier downs,
not just on third down like we saw him in
twenty twenty four, just strictly getting after the passer. So
it's it's fascinating because when you start to put on
the GM cap, as we previously talked about, where does
Xavier Thomas fall in a room that you resigned Baron Browning,
you bring in Josh Sweat, you have Zavon Collins who
(29:03):
you put on a contract extension during the previous offseason.
B Jo Julari's returning from injury. Oh yeah, and you
just drafted your high school teammate Jordan Birch in the
third round. Where does Xavier Thomas fall into the mix?
And now in his case, you have to try to
find a role. When you're giving a jersey on game day,
what are you going to do with it? It seems
like Nick Rollis and his innovative ways is trying to
(29:24):
move Xavier Thomas from not just a pass rush role,
but into more of an inside linebacker willing to drop
back into coverage.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
And remember with outside linebacker and why the Cardinals love
Zave and Collins so much, is are you a three
down linebacker? It's not just last year for Xavier Thomas,
you had one job. All this passing situation, Go get
the quarterback. Yet, what Nick Rolis likes is the versatility
you stay on the field. It's not a tell, Hell,
(29:54):
here comes Xavier Thomas, they're rushing. If you're a three
down linebacker, it's you'll get the quarterback, stop the run,
set the edge, and oh yeah, drop in the coverage
to where now you might have the same outside linebacker
on the field for all three downs, but you don't
know what they're going to do on that particular play.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
And I think Xavier Thomas I didn't include this in
the article, so once again, this is some juicy details
coming right here. On Cardinals Cover two. He told me that,
you know, warning the defense as a rookie was a challenge,
you know, he said to me, He goes, straight up,
I didn't really feel like I knew the defense all
that much. And he still started to see some flashes
of why the Cardinals were willing to take a flyer
(30:36):
on Xavier Thomas considering his six years at Clemson and
everything else that he went through. But he said, now
it has made a lot more sense draft the offseason,
now that he's had more time to work on it.
The opportunities are growing. And I said to him, I go, well,
it sure has to feel nice knowing that you have
a nice pass rush on the interior defensive line with
(30:57):
Kalay's Campbell, Dalvin Thomlinson, Walter Nolan, Darius Robinson being fully
healthy going into this point of the season. And he said, yeah,
because all of us now are able to just get
home and go after the quarterback and it doesn't have
that tell. As you mentioned that when Xavier Thomas is
out there, it only means that that's happening now because
of his expanded role, that's not always going to fully
be the case.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
You look at last year's Week one roster five outside linebackers.
So twenty twenty five, you still keep five? Do you
go one fewer because of what you have at defensive line? Oh,
by the way, Mac Wilson Senior can rush the quarterback
and be that quote unquote outside linebacker type. He's shown
(31:39):
he can rush the passer. So again it goes back
to the innovation and the exotic packages that Nick Rolis
sometimes was forced to use last season based off personnel.
Now it's based off personnel and what they do well.
You can make mix and match a little bit differently.
(31:59):
But maybe he utilized to say, same eleven for an
entire set of downs because you are confident in moving
those pieces a little bit, giving the offense a different
look even though the personnel hasn't changed.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
You saw a rotation. How much of that was because
of just the talent difference between some of the guys
that you had in there and you needing to give
guys like Xavin Collins a break on every couple of snaps,
just to let him, you know, get his get to
get his uh get, just get some air back into
his system. After playing all those other snaps and being
used in all the different ways, you didn't know how
(32:35):
much of a difference it was between just the talent
structure versus Nick Rolis just trying to scheme things together.
Now Nick Rolis has all the toys out there to
play with and to make magic happen out on the field.
It's gonna be very exciting. I want to go to
a quote here that I didn't include, but when I
asked Xavier Thomas about the Russian cover, cover and rush,
(32:55):
he said here that the philosophy that we have and
everything just makes a lot more sense now in the
defense for another year, everything is starting to come together
a lot more and things like that allow you to
play free and play fast, especially once you know the
defense that way.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
And that's the advantage Xavier Thomas has over his little
brother Jordan Birch little in terms of years, not the
size size wise, because Zay's been here and Jordan Birch
is still learning. How quickly now can Jordan pick this
up to where all of a sudden he sees playing
(33:30):
time or a lot of rookies. It takes a little
while and all of a sudden you get passed on
that depth chart because maybe not based off of talent,
but based off of knowledge and how well they understand
the defense and can play fast as opposed to thinking
out on the field.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Look, and kudos to Xavier Thomas. He's still playing that
big brother role. Their lockers are right next to each other,
Jordan Birch and Xavier Thomas, so when they're standing down
next to each other, they reflect a lot. And Jordan
Birch told me that he's always asking Xavier Tomas questions,
and Xavier Thomas told me he's always giving him advice
to be like, hey, you got to keep the main
(34:05):
thing the main thing. Keep your head up, don't don't
let days that are too high be too high, don't
let low days be too low. You know, find that balance.
And for somebody who has gone through the emotional challenges
that Xavier Thomas has in the past, and you know,
his story has been a well documented on asycardinals dot com,
to have that sort of leader and it's not just
a veteran leader, but somebody that just went through it.
(34:28):
It's fresh in his mind. If you ask Kalis Campbell
stuff about his rookie season, things might be a little
bit more foggy compared well, I guess Kalais has the
you know, the the the mindset of still a rookie
with just the fierce competitiveness that he plays the game with.
And that rookie season was certainly, you know, a time
for the Arizona Cardinals, but when you think back to it,
(34:50):
it was a long time ago from Kalais being a
kid again, being in Xavier Thomas's shoes, being in Jordan
Birch's shoes. When you have a guy like Xavier Thomas
who just went through this, it hits a little bit differently.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
And that's why I think Xavier Thomas and Jordan Birch,
it's not just the time they're spending together here at
the facility, but it's time away from the facility. That's
something we've heard consistently throughout this entire offseason from a
number of different players, and we've seen it as well.
You specifically, you are a part of Mac Wilson Senior
(35:24):
schedule release rap video behind the scenes you are at
the d Backs game, most recently with the rookie class,
in which Walter Nolan the third throughout the first pitch.
So guys are spending time together away from like the
x's and oh's the football part. And does that equate
to wins in a regular season. Who knows. But I
(35:44):
just know that if you enjoy being around your teammates,
you respect your teammates personally, you're gonna fight a little
bit harder for your teammates as opposed to Yeah, I
don't care what you do. I'm gonna do my own thing. No. No,
we're working together together for the benefit of the team.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Look. I go back to DJ Humphries talking about rehabbing
with Kyler Murray and how they got to know each
other a lot closer, and hump said during that press
conference during training camp, you play a lot harder for
the people that you love, And that moment stuck with
me because there was all this talk about Kyler Murray
and his personality and this and that, and hump I
(36:24):
think saying that being a leader on the team at
the time truly showed that a brotherhood is needed for
in order to put a solid product out onto the field,
and every year that Jonathan Gannon has been here, the
team has gotten closer and closer. A connected team is
a dangerous team in a lot of ways, and I
think that that's something that you're starting to see a
(36:44):
lot more players are open to doing stuff in the community.
Mac Wilson Senior had his community day, Kyler Murray had
his celebrity softball event, and you had guys from the team.
It wasn't just a bunch of celebrities coming in from
different teams. You had a lot of your own dudes,
a lot of your teammate It's your friends, the guys
that you share a locker room with. Is they're supporting you.
Does that connect to a win? Maybe maybe not, But
(37:07):
at least you know that you have the trust and
the friendship and the camaraderie so that you could hold
that you could at least hold each other accountable. When
it comes to the rookie class and at that Diamondbacks game,
I mentioned it in my article on azycardls dot com
about just the connection that this rookie class has only
being in the building for a little over a month
a month and a half at this rate, Walter Nolan
(37:28):
went out to the mount. I asked him before him,
I'm like, well, you're throwing from the rubber what are
you feeling right now? And he said he wanted to,
and then was told no, he's not allowed to. So
all of his rookie buddies started to, you know, give
it to him. They start to heckle from the foul line,
and Walt turned back over to them and started giving
it back to them, and then he turns to me.
He goes, make sure you know I have this on
(37:48):
video too. He's like, you guys are my witness. They
wouldn't allow me to throw from the mount. But just
that connection, that brotherhood, it's it's a stark. It's very evident,
is what I should say. It's very evident, very early on,
and that could only help this team.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
And whether or not you believe that that team chemistry
equals wins and is a product or vice versa wins
and now all of a sudden you have team chemistry.
But let me just say this, and someone who played
the game for a number of years, Kalayis Campbell. Yeah,
he's played the game since two thousand and eight. He
mentioned this when asked about how everyone seems to be
(38:25):
getting along, at least from our perspective watching on the outside.
But he mentioned quote the best teams have that camaraderie,
and I think that safe to say. If Klayus says it,
he believes it, and it's true at least in a
player's mind. So again, I do think it matters how
well you get along, not that your best friends are
(38:47):
hanging out all the time, but yeah, what you do
away from the facility as a team can help on
the football field. On Sunday, is.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
It awesome during the open portion of practice to watch
Kalayis working with Dalvin Tomlinson and working with Darius Robinson
and Walter Nolan and giving him tidbits right there on
the spot. Yeah, it is awesome. What stands out to
me is seeing that how did Kyler Murray refer to
him as a gargantuan human being?
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Yeah, what was the.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Yeah, gargantuan human being? And seeing him dance with Walter
Nolan and Darius Robinson and Dante Stills. Those moments stand
out a lot more because, yes, the impact that Khalaius
is going to have on this defensive line room will
show on the field, but it allows the personalities allow
a guy like Walt Nolan and Darius Robinson to feel
(39:41):
a lot more comfortable to ask a Venter in those
type of questions.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
Yeah, you want to be able to feel comfortable to
approach your elder if you will, much like how you're
comfortable approaching myself or even older than me, Darren, I
can as I can't because.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
He's not here.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
We established he's not.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
How am I supposed to ask these questions? You are
my boss in the meantime, you are my supervisor.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
No, do not do not say that out loud. By
the way, since you do not have you.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
Don't you don't want me to say that you're my supervisor,
So that when I mess around and do all these
terrible things over these next few weeks, I can't blame
it on you.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
I do got to ask, you know, without a boss,
why are you still Why are you still here on
this Wednesday?
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Because I got to talk about football with Craig Greelun
What could be better than that?
Speaker 1 (40:28):
All? Right? Again, we were monitoring all this, Cody on
the other side, making sure you clip everything.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
Okay, I know that there's gonna be moments where this
is going to come back to haunt me. I'll take
it on the chin, by the way.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
Great work with the Jordan Bird Savior Thomas story on
Easycardinals dot Com in addition to the Diamondbacks game and
hanging out with the rookies on Friday. All good stuff
on Easycardinals dot Com. Anything else you want to plug
promote that you're working on into the not too not
too distant future.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
We're gonna have a lot of features on some of
the guys that you don't necessarily know about on the
Cardinals rookie in those Cardinals rookies class. Yeah, you know
about Walton Nolan and will be undrafted rookies. How about
Elliott Brown coming from the CFL. How about Valentin send
in his journey from Austria. These will be the type
of stories that you'll see in the next coming weeks
on Azycardinals dot Com and a lot more as well.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
And that's why you're still here despite not having a boss,
because somebody's got to work. Someone's got to work, and
that's what we do here. We work all the time,
all day, every day. On that note, we will put
a lid on this edition of Cardinals. Cover two presented
by Hundai probably partner of the Arizona Cardinals. As always,
special thanks to our executive producer Jim Almahare, our associate
producer Cody Fincher for Zach Gershman who works all the time. Darren,
(41:44):
I'm Craig Grioloup. We'll talk to you next time you're
on Cardinals Cover two,
So Trey Benson said it. Do we believe him? Let's
talk running back Bird gang god Zach Ershman joining me.
Benson is expecting to be more involved this season, and
he should. Does that involvement though, equate to in his words,
two RB one's on this team. We also discussed the
outside linebacker room, more specifically former high school teammates Jordan
Birch and Xavier Thomas, plus team chemistry. It's important. It's
(00:28):
Cardinals Cover two, episode eight ninety four, and it starts now.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Welcome to Cardinals Cover two.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Hoona Baker? What Heart? What rent? This guy's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Cardinals Cover two is presented by Hyundai, proud partner of
the Arizona Cardinals, and by Arizona Cardinals Podcast. Visit Azycardinals
dot Com slash podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
He's at the ten half of five. He's it again,
so more hurry magic. WHOA, here's Craig Graeler.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
So welcome to day one without a Boss, Zach.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I mean when you put it like that, I guess
you're right. It is day one without a boss.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Now some context here, Darren Urban.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
But why are we here? The boss isn't here?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
That is true?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
Have a good one.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Everybody, Darren Urban our boss supervisor on vacation. So as
they say, when the cat's away, the mice will play.
Yet here we are doing what we always do. It's
Cardinals Cover two.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
I was when I was growing up in school, you know,
all like a few years ago, we used to have
a thing that's like, well, if the teacher doesn't walk
in the room within the first to fifteen minutes, then
you have an excuse to leave.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Fifteen minutes. I believe in college it's like a ten
minute in.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
College if you even show up. Well, there you got
that's true, you get applauded. Yeah, but yes, no days off.
We're here. We're Cardinals cover too.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Just make sure Darren is aware that we are here
documenting it, documenting everything, providing content phraseycardinals dot com on
its many platforms.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
But when he is going to be, you know, off
in the middle of wherever he's going off to, when
he gets to listen to this, hopefully he gets a
chuckle out of it, and hopefully he learned something. He
was a little bit upset, or actually it was you
who was a little bit upset. Let's go back here.
I was listening to the Red Sea Report. Driving in
after my launch and Craig says to me, you were listening,
(02:32):
did you learn anything? I'm like, no, but that is
not because you didn't talk about anything that was not valuable.
Of course it was all valuable, but because I'm so
honored to sit in this chair across from you at
least once a week, I get to, you know, take
it all in good.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Safe, I'll say, I was expecting maybe a different answer.
Of course I always learn when I listen to you,
or listening to Red Sea Reports or Cardinals Underground or
the Big Red Ray. You're always learning.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
You know. I was hoping you would say, Wow, I'm
just so honored to have lunch with you, Zach Gershman,
knowing that you know you sat in your car in
this Arizona heat, wanting to listen to us with the
air conditioning on, though yes, the air conditioning was on.
If you eat lunch outside in this weather, you need
to be checked.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, it's not pleasant at least after what eight eight thirty.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
When you wake up in the morning, by the way,
when you wake up till when you go to sleep
in this heat. I was walking with Jordan Birch somebody
will talk about a little bit later. And he looks
at me and he goes, bro, is it always this
hot outside? Now? Mind you? This guy was shirtless, so
I was saying to him, I'm a Jordan. It's not
even bad yet, but it's going to get bad. Mean,
it's bad. It's gonna get even worse.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Keep your shirt on zech for all of us.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
I asked him if I if that was like a
prerequisite for to do the interview, as if I had
to also take it off, and he thankfully said no.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
It's again, thankfully for all of us. Uh. Speaking of
learning things as we get this show, we're learning a lot. Yeah,
I learned this that Trey Benson. He's always been confident,
but there seems to be a little bit extra confidence
in how he is speaking and even in his appearance
(04:19):
and how he looks out on that football field. And
I think it's a good reasons. It's that year one
to year two jump, the first full offseason which you
can fully concentrate on your job the Arizona Cardinals. Yet
first offseason it's all right, you're getting ready for the combine,
you get drafted, you're learning to playbook and where am
I supposed to be where am I supposed to go,
(04:41):
and then training camp hits, the regular season begins, and
for a lot of rookies, it takes a little while.
And it was interesting to hear Benson say he was
starting to feel get into a bit of a groove
at the time of his ankle injury late last season.
Not that it ailed his first season, but he was
(05:02):
starting to get it. And I think that's a good
sign going into this season.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
For players coming out of college and entering the draft,
like Trey Benson was in twenty twenty four, they only
get about three weeks and we're actually right now beginning
day one of what the rookies are currently going through
in terms of their time off and their time away
because you spend so much of your time doing the forty,
getting the drills ready, doing whatever you have to do
(05:28):
to prepare yourself for the draft, and then a week
later you come into the building and you have rookie
Mini Camp and then Phase three and mandatory Mini camp
and everything else that goes into training camp, which then
goes into the regular season. So Trey Benson's first offseason
true offseason, only took place just a few short months ago,
and he still was one of those players that lived
in the facility every single day with Marvin Harrison Junior,
(05:50):
with Darise Robinson, with a lot of other rookies in
that twenty twenty four class. However, you hit on it, Craig.
When he's sitting there at the podium, you see that sense.
It's a swagger that you start to see at Florida
State quite a bit because he's confidence. No longer that
wide eye rookie, that wide eye freshman that has no
idea what they're in for. Trey Benson now knows what
(06:12):
he's in for. And it was up until the game
against the Chicago Bears in the New York Jets that
week nine, week ten stretch when the Cardinals were on
that winning streak, when Trey Benson was bouncing off a
handful of tackles and then started to realize and something
clicked and he said, all right, I am ready for this.
I am built for this. You hit on the injury
that he had that sort of the railed the season
(06:32):
towards the back end, but it still lit a spark
in Trey Benson's rookie season that gets you excited for
what year two could bring.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
We saw a more decisive Trey Benson middle of the season,
understanding that in college, when you bounce it to the outside,
you can outrace those defensive ends, those outside linebackers. In
the NFL, when you bounce it to the outside, more
times than not, you're going to get caught. So being
more decisive if you see that that hole run up
(07:01):
the middle, even if it's not much of a hole
that you're expecting, but trusting yourself and how well you
can attack that hole and the blocking in front of you,
and not just rely on or attempt to rely on
that speed to get the outside, because again, the quickest
way to get between point A and point B is
(07:21):
a straight line. And I think Trey realized that middle
of the Season's like, hey, let me just go right
up the middle as opposed to angling to the left
or the right.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
And I think towards the middle of the season that's
when you start to see the tape from Florida State
start to transfer over to State Farm Stadium with the
Arizona Cardinals. Tray Benson in the beginning half, and I'm
not sure if it was just the trust between himself
and the offensive linean once again, this is a whole
new group of guys that you're playing behind. And this
isn't just like you're just you're just trying to get
(07:53):
a couple of yards. You're getting hit, So there's a
mental component to this as well. Trey Benson found himself
as an east west runner moving to the side and
then when that gap was you know, was clogged, he
kind of stuttered. He didn't know what to do. He
stalled right there and there was a lot of yards
that were lost through those plays. Then you will get
a guy like James Connor, who is one of Trey
(08:13):
Benson's mentors in this facility, and Trey and James Connor
is that north South bruiser running back, willing to take
the hits and get a couple of yards after contact.
When you started to see that start to click for
Trey Benson, you started to see that one two punch
that and Trey Benson talked about how he has the
confidence that the Cardinals have two RB ones and it's
(08:36):
because of moments like that where it doesn't look like
there's a drop off from James Connor to Trey Benson
because they have the same skill sets. You just didn't
see that in the first few weeks due to a
plethora of reasons. Towards the middle half and towards the
back end of the season, Trey Benson was an extension
of Trey McBrien, or of Trey Benson was an extension
of James Connor.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
And I think Trey Benson is how is how he
has worked this offseason on his body. I think he
is now better suited to be a North South runner.
He mentioned he's seven pounds heavier. So if you look
at what he was listed at last season, to sixteen
ad seven, we're doing math here, Zach. That's okay, so
(09:17):
you too, sixteen ad seven, you get to two twenty three.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
Three, which is I didn't even he's a calculator for that.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Not far off from James Connor. And it's what that
two twenty three looks like in the amount of time
in the weight room that Benson has worked on this
offseason to where he says he feels he's way more explosive,
even with the added weight, because typically sometimes you add weight,
(09:45):
it slows you down. But it's what kind of weight
and what have you done to the rest of your
body that he believes he feels much more explosive to
not only hesitate, but when you're that decisive attacking the hole,
he's gonna get there a lot quicker. And then when
he does get that first contact, he's going to get
by the first contact and not go down with that
(10:06):
first tackle.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
For rookies going into that second year, their frame is
often discussed. But Craig, have you ever experienced a rookie
class that has had this much change? You know, especially
with their first few picks. Max Mountain looks good, you know,
Elijah Jones lean but good. He looks really strong, as
Xavier Thomas looks very built obviously, Marvin Harrison junior, Darius Robinson.
(10:28):
Can you even recall a moment where it seems like
an entire rookie class has started to just transform their body.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
It's it's a good point and I had not thought
about that. But everyone again, when you have that time
to really devote, and more importantly that listen to the
training's death, listen to the nutrition staff that is in
the building, and not just here but across the NFL,
and now, all of a sudden, I think those first
(10:55):
year players understand what it takes to get through a
seventeen game regular season, plus the preseason, hopefully the postseason,
and understanding like, Okay, I need to do things a
little bit differently to make sure I'm ready physically, obviously mentally,
but then how I recover Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday to ramp
back up for a game day on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
And I think that's what's going to be interesting for
future generations, for future draft prospects. Even some of the
guys like this year, what is Cody Simon going to
look like? In year number two? He experienced what it
was like to play basically a full NFL season because
of the college football playoffs and all the different rounds
that they had once they expanded the playoff format, and
(11:37):
obviously Ohio State taking it all the way to win
the National Championship. They've experienced what an NFL schedule might
feel like, or at least more they've experienced it to
a closer extent than they otherwise would have. I'm interested
to see how bodies are going to start to train
just simply from you know, when the season ends in
college football to the start of the regular season. But
(12:00):
this year's group, this year one to year two class,
they've talked about how much they live in the building,
and I think in some cases everybody talks about how
they live in the building, and it's all good and
all nice headlines to have, but when you get to
actually see it, visibly see it, it's impressive. Not only
did we hear and see Trey Benson, but you brought
(12:23):
it up as far as what we heard from him
talking about I feel like we can have two RB
ones on this team. And that stood out to me because, hey,
you've got your number one running back in James Connor,
but do you have enough confidence trust in Trey Benson
to wear Okay, he believes he's getting more opportunities this season,
(12:47):
and he should believe that year two, you should get
more opportunities based off your year one performance, did you
show that you're capable of more opportunities. So one, I
think he's earned those opportunities. And then two, if Trey
Benson's on the field are getting more touches, whether that's
running the ball or catching the ball, then yeah, you
don't have James Connor, but you're keeping James fresh. And
(13:11):
I know he likes he likes more reps during the
course of a game because as the game progresses, he
feels he gets better.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
I get that. Yet later in the season, can you
take a couple of touches or snaps off of James
Connor to where now, all of a sudden Week thirteen, fourteen,
fifteen and so on, he feels better physically and also
understanding that even though I'm not on the field, the
confidence that this team has that I have is RB
(13:41):
one and Trey Benson, We're gonna be just fine.
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah. I think the leader in James Connor believes that
if he does step back a little bit and Trey
Benson get some more runs in, I don't think he's
gonna have any problems with that. From a leadership component,
it's the competitor in James Connor that wants to live
and die on that football field and do absolutely whatever
it takes, because we've seen James Connor play through injuries
(14:07):
because he just doesn't want to get off the field. However,
knowing that he has that trust in Trey Benson, maybe
he's a little bit more willing to say, Hey, I
could use a breather right here. I don't need to
overly exert myself in a way that might be actually
detrimental to the Arizona Cardinals because they know what they
have in Trey Benson. It's gonna be interesting. You expect
(14:28):
to see a little bit more involvement from a player
going into their second season, and we've talked a ton
about all the different guys going into their second season
and what that additional play might actually end up looking like.
With Trey Benson, though you've seen a lot of clips
on social media about him in the passing game as well,
that could be another avenue for him to see more
feel time.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I'm glad you brought that up. Last season, Benson targeted
six times, had six catches. Can he elevate that part
of his game to where maybe you don't have James
Connor on the sideline, Maybe you have both James and
Trey on the field at the same time, maybe even
in the same backfield, or you have one lined up
(15:10):
as a wide receiver or one motion out of the backfield.
That's another way to both have two RB ones on
the field, because within that particular play or that drive
or that quarter, you've got two running backs joining maybe
two tight ends and a wide receiver. Another wrinkle within
this offense in year three that perhaps Drew Petson didn't
(15:33):
have in his first two seasons because of what Trey
Benson has shown in year one and then the work
that he put in this offseat and say all right,
let's see if we can't get number thirty three on
the field just a little bit more, but not at
the expense of less snaps for James Connor.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Yeah, I think with I'm looking right now at Trey
Benson and his receiving numbers and just where he was
projected where he received the ball mostly and it was
all behind the sticks. It was a lot of those
screen pass plays that you wanted to see him break
free and go down the field. James Connor because he's
a little bit bigger, and now I guess with the
(16:11):
seven pounds added bringing him to do twenty three, they're
right around the same size. But the physicality that James
Connor plays the game with, you don't necessarily need to
only throw screen passes to him. He could be a
receiving back with Trey Benson. Maybe it was because of
the size, maybe it was because of the speed. I mean,
I'm looking at it here. In a lot of cases,
it's five yards behind the line of scrimmage where Trey
(16:32):
Benson has received the football a lot of checkdowns. So
if you want to get him more involved in the
passing game, I saw the Arizona Cardinals posted on social
media clip of Trey Benson on a will rat. It
looked like you want to have a speed guy go
down the field. That's another way for him to get involved.
Trey Benson is a competitor, just as James Connor is.
So whatever he has the ability to do to get
down the field and make plays and get additional yards
(16:54):
for this Cardinals offense, I think he's gonna be willing
to do that. Benson had less than seventy total touches
last season, and just looking at his carries a year ago,
finished with sixty three, so it's not a lot when
you break it down by game. Only twice in the
thirteen games that he played he had at least ten carries.
There were four games in which he had eight or
(17:15):
more carries. All right, can you add maybe that thirteen
fourteen carry average? Because you look at what James Connor
he had a career year a year ago, but he
also had a career high with two hundred and thirty
six rushing attempts. It seems like an awful lot over
(17:35):
two hundred. Yeah, I get that, but two thirty six,
maybe by design, maybe by necessity, But can you lower
that number and increase the reps rushing rushing attempts for
a Trey Benson. Not that they're equal, not that they
both have one hundred and fifty, but there's a little
bit more.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
There's a little bit more of Trey Benson on the foot.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Yeah. I think it also depends on how much you're
gonna have Kyler Murray running the football.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Is Well, there's the wild card.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Because that's what that's what it comes down to. When
you have a quarterback with that rushing capabilities and that
that dual threat ability, you don't necessarily need to hand
it to the running back every single time. I do
appreciate how unpredictable it is when you do have Trey
Benson out on the field. You're not always gonna be
expecting and I think now going forward, rather you're not
(18:27):
only going to be expecting a run play because Trey
Benson is starting to grow in the passing game. So
when it comes down to it, you have the ability
to give him the rock. You have the ability for
Kyler Murray to take it himself and just run down
the field with it. But now you want to see
a little bit more in the passing game. But at
the end of the day, goes back to your point,
(18:47):
James Connor had a lot of rushes in twenty twenty
four and he's getting up there in age now. He
will smack you in the face if you start to
say it like that because it comes with that negative connotation. However,
Connor has defied age. He's gone better as the years
went on, back to back a thousand plus rushing guard seasons.
Had his best rushing season last year, so he one
(19:10):
ninety four rushing guards in total. He's only getting better.
But some time you gotta look at it. The stereotype
is a stereotype for a reason.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
Yeah, running backs when they hit that thirty year age
mark all of a sudden, that's when typically there's a decline.
Have not seen that with James Connor. We have this
conversation knowing this Berd gang. James Connor is Trey Benson's
number one supporter. You watch last season whenever Trey did anything,
(19:39):
James was one of the first guys, if not the
first guy up off the bench on the sideline, ready
to congratulate his teammate. This is not a competition in
which the young guys trying it's to plant the veteran.
Maybe that happens over time, but this is more two guys,
the veteran and the young guy working together. And we
(20:01):
heard that from James earlier this offseason. He was the
one that first mentioned how much Trey had been in
the building working on his body in the weight room,
getting ready for this season, and high praise from the
starter when the guy over his shoulder is chopping at
the bit to get on the field a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
So, it's also because of that friendly competition. They're trying
to make each other better. And I think back to
when Kyler Murray took all the guys to Los Angeles
to UCLA and they're all working out and he posted
on his vlog James Connor was in the weight room
meleague two in the morning. So when you see that
that's who you're competing with, not against, you're competing with
(20:43):
them to make the Arizona Cardinals a better football team.
You gotta be willing to step it up. But to
break down the passing because now I'm just looking at
it as you and I are talking here, Craig, Trey
Benson was on the field for forty five different pass plays.
He had all different types of routes, but on first
and second down is when he was mostly used in
those past situations because on third down it was all
(21:04):
James Connor.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
And third down is another area in which maybe a
Trey Benson could see the field more. Third down obvious
passing situation. How good has Trey Benson worked on his
blocking the blitz protection? Typically, That's that's why Mario de
Mercado is on this team, was on this team, still
is on this team, is because he was able to
(21:27):
protect the quarterback. But if you have year two, Trey
Benson can run the ball more explosive, hits the hole,
catches the ball out of the backfield. Now, all of
a sudden, is he a three down back? Can he?
Does he have the trust of the coaches?
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Does he have.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Kyler's trust to step in front of an outside linebacker
or a corner blitz to pick up that extra defender
and be in again. Now, all of a sudden, that's
another snap he's on the football field.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
And when you start to put on your general manager's
cap and you have to trend this roster down from
ninety to fifty three. The more you could do if
you could have Trey Benson both being a receiving running
back and a blocking running back. Not to say that
Amario de mer Kyle is gonna end up getting cut,
but that completely changes the roster configuration around here. I'm
just watching some of these plays, and the forty five,
(22:17):
according to True Media, were plays where he could have
been an intended receiver. It wasn't necessarily he was out
there for more than just forty five offensive plays when
Kyler threw the football, but in some of those he
could have been blocking as the as the running back there.
But according to True Media, was a route running receiver
at least forty five times.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
So a designed route as opposed to maybe just a
security blanket a safety.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Essentially, he wasn't just going to be there as an
additional blocker. He wasn't just going to be by Kyler
Murray's side. Now there are moments here, as I'm watching
through the film start to start to taper through here
a little bit. He you know, he had moments where
he had an initial chip block and then went out
for a receiving pass to be a route runner. But
I will say this, when Trey Benson's in motion, and
(23:06):
we talk a lot about receivers being in motion. When
Trey Benson's in motion from the backfield, I'm watching the
film here from the game against the New York Jets,
it confuses opposing defenses.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
I would love to see more two backs on the field,
whether that's backfield receivers or combination of both. And I
do think that's the way for Trey to get on
the field more and feel like he did when he
told us, I feel like we can have two RB
ones on this team. Was at a hints of things
(23:38):
to come. Does he know stuff that we will see
maybe in training camp or not until the regular season
based off how this offense evolves into year.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Three, potentially I'm looking out of clip here from the
game against the Chicago Bears, where you have it's twenty
two personnel because you have Tip Ryman and Trey McBride
out there. You have the two running backs James Connor
and Trey Benson's in motion, and the other wide receiver
quote unquote wide receiver is Elijah Higgins, he's on the outside,
but because he's in that wide receiver role, it doesn't
become thirty two personnel. I don't it just or twenty
(24:09):
three personnel rather, I don't know. It's fascinating to see.
We know about Drew Petsing's innovation with the offense, it's
moments like this where you could truly expand on that.
Speaker 1 (24:18):
It's run first, maybe even run second, but how do
you get how do you get those pieces together to
where maybe you do see some more explosive plays in
the passing game as far as run after catch, run
after contact, and it's good, it's it's I don't I
(24:38):
don't mind the comment. And I'm not dismissing Trey Benson's
belief that he feels that there are two starting running
backs on this team, because I can certainly, as we've
been discussing, there is a way for that to happen
without same number of rushing attempts. But maybe the playing time,
the number of snaps between he and James Connor are
(24:58):
a little bit more in balance as opposed to James
always being on the field and Trey White waiting biding
his time.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
And we could we talk a lot about the or
at least I have talked a lot about just Trey
Benson being in the passing game. That could also be
all for not because if you're going to be looking
at your weapons out there, you don't want to be
getting Tredy bentson the football unless you have to get
Trey Benson the football. You want to be able to
get Marvin Harrison Junior, Michael Wilson, Trey McBride, Elijah Higgins.
You want to be able to get your playmakers the
football out in space and do what they could do.
(25:28):
But it's how you utilize both that balance between Trey
Benson and James Connor, because when James Connors out there,
you know number six is going to get his touches.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
It's a fascinating discussion and it's a hopefully dynamic duo
in that running back room coming up this season. Now
there's another dynamic duo perhaps on the other side of
the ball, that is outside linebacker with Jordan Birch and
Xavier Thomas and Zach You've got a story up on
Azy Cardinals dot com or soon to be posted on
(25:58):
Azycardinals dot com. Blast from the Past to Present day.
Jordan Birch and Xavier Thomas reunite your title I do.
Did you come up with that or was that a
It was instead a suggestion. It's someone else.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
You know, it's stemmed from a quote I asked Jordan Birch.
You know, he's shared the practice field already with Xavier Thomas,
but when he gets out to State Farm Stadium for
the first time during the preseason and he looks across
the line and sees somebody that was his high school
mentor out on the field, Xavier Thomas called himself his
big brother to Jordan Burch, when that moment happens, what's
(26:33):
that going to feel like? And he said, it's gonna
feel like a moment from the past. So I went on,
blast from the past. He could go with that, neither
here or there, but it was, you know, to see
guys from the same small town flor in South Carolina
to be on the big stage over two thousand miles
away here in ten Pi, Arizona, repping the same team,
coming from a city where not a lot of people
(26:53):
make it out. According to Jordan Birch, Xavier Thomas was
the standard for a lot of those players and now
followed suit It's pretty special to see him on the
same field. Big brother, little brother.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
It was big brother Xavier Thomas who got all the
accolades in high school, yet I mean in college, in
high school and in college.
Speaker 3 (27:13):
One of the top players in high school in the
recruiting class.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
And yet David Thomas had to wait until round five
to hear his name called last season. Jordan Birch a
third round pick, and just looking at two outside linebackers that,
at least size wise, I think are dramatically different. Zay
is six two two forty four. Jordan is sixty four
two seventy nine, closer to what Darius Robinson is as
(27:38):
a defensive end. Yet we know Jordan is going to
be a stand up outside linebacker. He has he can
put his hand in the dirt. But you're talking about
Jordan Birch, who has the physical traits of an outside linebacker,
just goes straight ahead. Zavid Thomas maybe more like an
inside linebacker body type.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Go Craig Greenlule, you hit it on the head. We'll
share a little bit of breaking news here because it'll cut.
The article will be posted on Thursday on Asycardinals dot
com and it'll be called blasting the past, Jordan Bird,
Savior Thomas re unite, as we previously alluded to. But
Xavier Thomas, when I was talking to him, he told
me that his role was going to expand a little
bit because when we saw him out there fourteen games played,
(28:21):
only had you know, ten tackles two and a half sacks.
Obviously made a big play in that game against the
New York Jets, bringing down Aaron Rodgers on that strip
sack fumble. But I asked him how much different that
role was actually gonna look because we only primarily saw
him on third down. He said that the Cardinals had
been moving him around a little bit, putting him in
a little bit more of a sam linebacker role, dropping
(28:42):
him back into coverage. He's gonna be playing on earlier downs,
not just on third down like we saw him in
twenty twenty four, just strictly getting after the passer. So
it's it's fascinating because when you start to put on
the GM cap, as we previously talked about, where does
Xavier Thomas fall in a room that you resigned Baron Browning,
you bring in Josh Sweat, you have Zavon Collins who
(29:03):
you put on a contract extension during the previous offseason.
B Jo Julari's returning from injury. Oh yeah, and you
just drafted your high school teammate Jordan Birch in the
third round. Where does Xavier Thomas fall into the mix?
And now in his case, you have to try to
find a role. When you're giving a jersey on game day,
what are you going to do with it? It seems
like Nick Rollis and his innovative ways is trying to
(29:24):
move Xavier Thomas from not just a pass rush role,
but into more of an inside linebacker willing to drop
back into coverage.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
And remember with outside linebacker and why the Cardinals love
Zave and Collins so much, is are you a three
down linebacker? It's not just last year for Xavier Thomas,
you had one job. All this passing situation, Go get
the quarterback. Yet, what Nick Rolis likes is the versatility
you stay on the field. It's not a tell, Hell,
(29:54):
here comes Xavier Thomas, they're rushing. If you're a three
down linebacker, it's you'll get the quarterback, stop the run,
set the edge, and oh yeah, drop in the coverage
to where now you might have the same outside linebacker
on the field for all three downs, but you don't
know what they're going to do on that particular play.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
And I think Xavier Thomas I didn't include this in
the article, so once again, this is some juicy details
coming right here. On Cardinals Cover two. He told me that,
you know, warning the defense as a rookie was a challenge,
you know, he said to me, He goes, straight up,
I didn't really feel like I knew the defense all
that much. And he still started to see some flashes
of why the Cardinals were willing to take a flyer
(30:36):
on Xavier Thomas considering his six years at Clemson and
everything else that he went through. But he said, now
it has made a lot more sense draft the offseason,
now that he's had more time to work on it.
The opportunities are growing. And I said to him, I go, well,
it sure has to feel nice knowing that you have
a nice pass rush on the interior defensive line with
(30:57):
Kalay's Campbell, Dalvin Thomlinson, Walter Nolan, Darius Robinson being fully
healthy going into this point of the season. And he said, yeah,
because all of us now are able to just get
home and go after the quarterback and it doesn't have
that tell. As you mentioned that when Xavier Thomas is
out there, it only means that that's happening now because
of his expanded role, that's not always going to fully
be the case.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
You look at last year's Week one roster five outside linebackers.
So twenty twenty five, you still keep five? Do you
go one fewer because of what you have at defensive line? Oh,
by the way, Mac Wilson Senior can rush the quarterback
and be that quote unquote outside linebacker type. He's shown
(31:39):
he can rush the passer. So again it goes back
to the innovation and the exotic packages that Nick Rolis
sometimes was forced to use last season based off personnel.
Now it's based off personnel and what they do well.
You can make mix and match a little bit differently.
(31:59):
But maybe he utilized to say, same eleven for an
entire set of downs because you are confident in moving
those pieces a little bit, giving the offense a different
look even though the personnel hasn't changed.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
You saw a rotation. How much of that was because
of just the talent difference between some of the guys
that you had in there and you needing to give
guys like Xavin Collins a break on every couple of snaps,
just to let him, you know, get his get to
get his uh get, just get some air back into
his system. After playing all those other snaps and being
used in all the different ways, you didn't know how
(32:35):
much of a difference it was between just the talent
structure versus Nick Rolis just trying to scheme things together.
Now Nick Rolis has all the toys out there to
play with and to make magic happen out on the field.
It's gonna be very exciting. I want to go to
a quote here that I didn't include, but when I
asked Xavier Thomas about the Russian cover, cover and rush,
(32:55):
he said here that the philosophy that we have and
everything just makes a lot more sense now in the
defense for another year, everything is starting to come together
a lot more and things like that allow you to
play free and play fast, especially once you know the
defense that way.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
And that's the advantage Xavier Thomas has over his little
brother Jordan Birch little in terms of years, not the
size size wise, because Zay's been here and Jordan Birch
is still learning. How quickly now can Jordan pick this
up to where all of a sudden he sees playing
(33:30):
time or a lot of rookies. It takes a little
while and all of a sudden you get passed on
that depth chart because maybe not based off of talent,
but based off of knowledge and how well they understand
the defense and can play fast as opposed to thinking
out on the field.
Speaker 3 (33:45):
Look, and kudos to Xavier Thomas. He's still playing that
big brother role. Their lockers are right next to each other,
Jordan Birch and Xavier Thomas, so when they're standing down
next to each other, they reflect a lot. And Jordan
Birch told me that he's always asking Xavier Tomas questions,
and Xavier Thomas told me he's always giving him advice
to be like, hey, you got to keep the main
(34:05):
thing the main thing. Keep your head up, don't don't
let days that are too high be too high, don't
let low days be too low. You know, find that balance.
And for somebody who has gone through the emotional challenges
that Xavier Thomas has in the past, and you know,
his story has been a well documented on asycardinals dot com,
to have that sort of leader and it's not just
a veteran leader, but somebody that just went through it.
(34:28):
It's fresh in his mind. If you ask Kalis Campbell
stuff about his rookie season, things might be a little
bit more foggy compared well, I guess Kalais has the
you know, the the the mindset of still a rookie
with just the fierce competitiveness that he plays the game with.
And that rookie season was certainly, you know, a time
for the Arizona Cardinals, but when you think back to it,
(34:50):
it was a long time ago from Kalais being a
kid again, being in Xavier Thomas's shoes, being in Jordan
Birch's shoes. When you have a guy like Xavier Thomas
who just went through this, it hits a little bit differently.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
And that's why I think Xavier Thomas and Jordan Birch,
it's not just the time they're spending together here at
the facility, but it's time away from the facility. That's
something we've heard consistently throughout this entire offseason from a
number of different players, and we've seen it as well.
You specifically, you are a part of Mac Wilson Senior
(35:24):
schedule release rap video behind the scenes you are at
the d Backs game, most recently with the rookie class,
in which Walter Nolan the third throughout the first pitch.
So guys are spending time together away from like the
x's and oh's the football part. And does that equate
to wins in a regular season. Who knows. But I
(35:44):
just know that if you enjoy being around your teammates,
you respect your teammates personally, you're gonna fight a little
bit harder for your teammates as opposed to Yeah, I
don't care what you do. I'm gonna do my own thing. No. No,
we're working together together for the benefit of the team.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Look. I go back to DJ Humphries talking about rehabbing
with Kyler Murray and how they got to know each
other a lot closer, and hump said during that press
conference during training camp, you play a lot harder for
the people that you love, And that moment stuck with
me because there was all this talk about Kyler Murray
and his personality and this and that, and hump I
(36:24):
think saying that being a leader on the team at
the time truly showed that a brotherhood is needed for
in order to put a solid product out onto the field,
and every year that Jonathan Gannon has been here, the
team has gotten closer and closer. A connected team is
a dangerous team in a lot of ways, and I
think that that's something that you're starting to see a
(36:44):
lot more players are open to doing stuff in the community.
Mac Wilson Senior had his community day, Kyler Murray had
his celebrity softball event, and you had guys from the team.
It wasn't just a bunch of celebrities coming in from
different teams. You had a lot of your own dudes,
a lot of your teammate It's your friends, the guys
that you share a locker room with. Is they're supporting you.
Does that connect to a win? Maybe maybe not, But
(37:07):
at least you know that you have the trust and
the friendship and the camaraderie so that you could hold
that you could at least hold each other accountable. When
it comes to the rookie class and at that Diamondbacks game,
I mentioned it in my article on azycardls dot com
about just the connection that this rookie class has only
being in the building for a little over a month
a month and a half at this rate, Walter Nolan
(37:28):
went out to the mount. I asked him before him,
I'm like, well, you're throwing from the rubber what are
you feeling right now? And he said he wanted to,
and then was told no, he's not allowed to. So
all of his rookie buddies started to, you know, give
it to him. They start to heckle from the foul line,
and Walt turned back over to them and started giving
it back to them, and then he turns to me.
He goes, make sure you know I have this on
(37:48):
video too. He's like, you guys are my witness. They
wouldn't allow me to throw from the mount. But just
that connection, that brotherhood, it's it's a stark. It's very evident,
is what I should say. It's very evident, very early on,
and that could only help this team.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
And whether or not you believe that that team chemistry
equals wins and is a product or vice versa wins
and now all of a sudden you have team chemistry.
But let me just say this, and someone who played
the game for a number of years, Kalayis Campbell. Yeah,
he's played the game since two thousand and eight. He
mentioned this when asked about how everyone seems to be
(38:25):
getting along, at least from our perspective watching on the outside.
But he mentioned quote the best teams have that camaraderie,
and I think that safe to say. If Klayus says it,
he believes it, and it's true at least in a
player's mind. So again, I do think it matters how
well you get along, not that your best friends are
(38:47):
hanging out all the time, but yeah, what you do
away from the facility as a team can help on
the football field. On Sunday, is.
Speaker 3 (38:58):
It awesome during the open portion of practice to watch
Kalayis working with Dalvin Tomlinson and working with Darius Robinson
and Walter Nolan and giving him tidbits right there on
the spot. Yeah, it is awesome. What stands out to
me is seeing that how did Kyler Murray refer to
him as a gargantuan human being?
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Yeah, what was the.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Yeah, gargantuan human being? And seeing him dance with Walter
Nolan and Darius Robinson and Dante Stills. Those moments stand
out a lot more because, yes, the impact that Khalaius
is going to have on this defensive line room will
show on the field, but it allows the personalities allow
a guy like Walt Nolan and Darius Robinson to feel
(39:41):
a lot more comfortable to ask a Venter in those
type of questions.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
Yeah, you want to be able to feel comfortable to
approach your elder if you will, much like how you're
comfortable approaching myself or even older than me, Darren, I
can as I can't because.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
He's not here.
Speaker 1 (39:58):
We established he's not.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
How am I supposed to ask these questions? You are
my boss in the meantime, you are my supervisor.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
No, do not do not say that out loud. By
the way, since you do not have you.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
Don't you don't want me to say that you're my supervisor,
So that when I mess around and do all these
terrible things over these next few weeks, I can't blame
it on you.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
I do got to ask, you know, without a boss,
why are you still Why are you still here on
this Wednesday?
Speaker 3 (40:24):
Because I got to talk about football with Craig Greelun
What could be better than that?
Speaker 1 (40:28):
All? Right? Again, we were monitoring all this, Cody on
the other side, making sure you clip everything.
Speaker 3 (40:32):
Okay, I know that there's gonna be moments where this
is going to come back to haunt me. I'll take
it on the chin, by the way.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
Great work with the Jordan Bird Savior Thomas story on
Easycardinals dot Com in addition to the Diamondbacks game and
hanging out with the rookies on Friday. All good stuff
on Easycardinals dot Com. Anything else you want to plug
promote that you're working on into the not too not
too distant future.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
We're gonna have a lot of features on some of
the guys that you don't necessarily know about on the
Cardinals rookie in those Cardinals rookies class. Yeah, you know
about Walton Nolan and will be undrafted rookies. How about
Elliott Brown coming from the CFL. How about Valentin send
in his journey from Austria. These will be the type
of stories that you'll see in the next coming weeks
on Azycardinals dot Com and a lot more as well.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
And that's why you're still here despite not having a boss,
because somebody's got to work. Someone's got to work, and
that's what we do here. We work all the time,
all day, every day. On that note, we will put
a lid on this edition of Cardinals. Cover two presented
by Hundai probably partner of the Arizona Cardinals. As always,
special thanks to our executive producer Jim Almahare, our associate
producer Cody Fincher for Zach Gershman who works all the time. Darren,
(41:44):
I'm Craig Grioloup. We'll talk to you next time you're
on Cardinals Cover two,
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