Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
On the Cardinals site, Darren Urban asked questions about the following players. I offered some hunches:
* Palmer—he faces quite the test from Bill Belichick who can get into QBs heads very adeptly—thus, Palmer may continue to struggle early on. He’s been carrying the Carolina monkey on his back and while he has been trying to shed it through hard work, it might not be as easy as he would hope. The other thing is—with more attention being paid to the running game—it may be more difficult for him to get into a rhythm—Kurt Warner often spoke about this very thing when he was here—he wanted to throw to set up the run and by doing so, establish a rhythm.
* Boehm—he might be closer to earning the starting job than people think. Here’s a tweet that K-Somers received today from Doug Farrar:
Doug Farrar
@BR_DougFarrar
As far as rookies, Ryan Kelly impressed me, but man — Evan Boehm kinda blew me away. Power, agility, meanness. He’ll be a starter soon IMO.
Boehm has a very good chance to be the starter by mid-season—kind of the way BA was patient last year with David Johnson.
* Humphries—needs to be thought of as a rookie and will need the TE to his side versus fast and physical edge rushers. He has a big test versus DE Chris Long who played a ton of snaps this pre-season and looked very good. In game adjustments will be key for DJH.
* David Johnson—he will be featured, but with BA using some new 2 RB sets and a consistent RB rotation, Chris Johnson and Ellington will get their fair share of snaps. BA put some added pressure on David Johnson by comparing him to Marshall Faulk, which incurred a stiff rebuttal from Bill Belichick.
* Keeping all skill players—with more emphasis on the running game and throwing to the RBs, it is going to be difficult to keep the WRs and TEs happy. Gresham turned down more money on a longer term deal to return—but, realistically how often will he get targeted? Carson Palmer likes to spread the ball and he helped talk Gresham into returning—but sometimes trying to spread the ball can be a deterrent. If the players check their egos, just as the coaches have been asking the to do, then chances are Palmer won’t find himself wanting to force the ball as much to WRs and TEs he wants to keep happy.
* Brandon Williams—in the pre-season he was given the opportunity to cover some #1 WRs. Now, his assignment will be the #2 or #3 WR and it would be wise for the coaches to shade the FS to his side more often than not. If the coaches stay patient with BW, by mid-season he could be very good. But these first 8 games he needs safety help.
* Chandler Jones—he is going to get chipped and double teamed a lot. Hopefully Calais Campbell will make teams regret doubling Jones. The key with Jones is moving him around—which one would imagine the coaches are planning to do.
* Honey Badger—BA says that HB will play every snap in game one after saying all off-season that they won’t rush him back. There is no way that HB is in tip-top game shape after tow weeks on non-contact practices. Yes, HB is the Energizer bunny—but expecting him to play every snap this early is throwing caution to the wind.
* Nkemdiche—BA got away with playing him on way too many consecutive series and snaps versus Denver. But now that the real games begin and the DE/DT rotations are in place, Nekmdiche could be a very nice surprise as an interior disruptor off the bench and in short yardage situations. With Kareem Martin out, the coaches could rush Nkemdiche from the edge some too!
* Fitzgerald—was kind of surprised to hear Larry call training camp a “drudgery.” For most players they understandably think of it that way, but typically Larry Fitzgerald loves to carpe every football diem. Is it a mistake to play Larry so much as an in the box blocker in the run game?—the pounding is getting to him, even though he hates to admit stuff like that. Plus, he needs to keep his legs fresh and out of the way from getting rolled on from behind. He’s great running routes from the slot and out of motion—but—at his age he needs to spend more time running and blocking in the open field, than hammering away down in the box. Plus, he’s already nursing a leg injury. Thus, to answer the question about this being Fitz’s final year, if the physical toll and responsibility remains extensive, it may break his will to return. One usually wouldn’t think so, but Fitz is a genuine philanthropist and a man of the world—so much so that he will embrace life beyond football.
* Palmer—he faces quite the test from Bill Belichick who can get into QBs heads very adeptly—thus, Palmer may continue to struggle early on. He’s been carrying the Carolina monkey on his back and while he has been trying to shed it through hard work, it might not be as easy as he would hope. The other thing is—with more attention being paid to the running game—it may be more difficult for him to get into a rhythm—Kurt Warner often spoke about this very thing when he was here—he wanted to throw to set up the run and by doing so, establish a rhythm.
* Boehm—he might be closer to earning the starting job than people think. Here’s a tweet that K-Somers received today from Doug Farrar:
Doug Farrar
@BR_DougFarrar
As far as rookies, Ryan Kelly impressed me, but man — Evan Boehm kinda blew me away. Power, agility, meanness. He’ll be a starter soon IMO.
Boehm has a very good chance to be the starter by mid-season—kind of the way BA was patient last year with David Johnson.
* Humphries—needs to be thought of as a rookie and will need the TE to his side versus fast and physical edge rushers. He has a big test versus DE Chris Long who played a ton of snaps this pre-season and looked very good. In game adjustments will be key for DJH.
* David Johnson—he will be featured, but with BA using some new 2 RB sets and a consistent RB rotation, Chris Johnson and Ellington will get their fair share of snaps. BA put some added pressure on David Johnson by comparing him to Marshall Faulk, which incurred a stiff rebuttal from Bill Belichick.
* Keeping all skill players—with more emphasis on the running game and throwing to the RBs, it is going to be difficult to keep the WRs and TEs happy. Gresham turned down more money on a longer term deal to return—but, realistically how often will he get targeted? Carson Palmer likes to spread the ball and he helped talk Gresham into returning—but sometimes trying to spread the ball can be a deterrent. If the players check their egos, just as the coaches have been asking the to do, then chances are Palmer won’t find himself wanting to force the ball as much to WRs and TEs he wants to keep happy.
* Brandon Williams—in the pre-season he was given the opportunity to cover some #1 WRs. Now, his assignment will be the #2 or #3 WR and it would be wise for the coaches to shade the FS to his side more often than not. If the coaches stay patient with BW, by mid-season he could be very good. But these first 8 games he needs safety help.
* Chandler Jones—he is going to get chipped and double teamed a lot. Hopefully Calais Campbell will make teams regret doubling Jones. The key with Jones is moving him around—which one would imagine the coaches are planning to do.
* Honey Badger—BA says that HB will play every snap in game one after saying all off-season that they won’t rush him back. There is no way that HB is in tip-top game shape after tow weeks on non-contact practices. Yes, HB is the Energizer bunny—but expecting him to play every snap this early is throwing caution to the wind.
* Nkemdiche—BA got away with playing him on way too many consecutive series and snaps versus Denver. But now that the real games begin and the DE/DT rotations are in place, Nekmdiche could be a very nice surprise as an interior disruptor off the bench and in short yardage situations. With Kareem Martin out, the coaches could rush Nkemdiche from the edge some too!
* Fitzgerald—was kind of surprised to hear Larry call training camp a “drudgery.” For most players they understandably think of it that way, but typically Larry Fitzgerald loves to carpe every football diem. Is it a mistake to play Larry so much as an in the box blocker in the run game?—the pounding is getting to him, even though he hates to admit stuff like that. Plus, he needs to keep his legs fresh and out of the way from getting rolled on from behind. He’s great running routes from the slot and out of motion—but—at his age he needs to spend more time running and blocking in the open field, than hammering away down in the box. Plus, he’s already nursing a leg injury. Thus, to answer the question about this being Fitz’s final year, if the physical toll and responsibility remains extensive, it may break his will to return. One usually wouldn’t think so, but Fitz is a genuine philanthropist and a man of the world—so much so that he will embrace life beyond football.
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