Wide receiver Andy Isabella hasn't found his groove during his Arizona Cardinals tenure. In his first three seasons, the 2019 second-round pick has posted only 31 receptions for 426 yards and three touchdowns.
The Massachusetts product was granted permission to seek a trade by the Cardinals in the offseason, but a deal never materialized. During training camp and the preseason, Isabella has had the opportunity to showcase himself to the Cardinals, but also the other 31 NFL teams.
He's been targeted often by quarterbacks Trace McSorley and Jarrett Guarantano. In last week's preseason opener against the Bengals, Isabella had four receptions for 57 yards on seven targets and drew a 40-yard pass interference penalty. In the 24-17 loss to the Ravens, he made five catches for 54 yards and also caused another interference penalty, this one for 37 yards..
Isabella's getting more comfortable in Year 4, which is something he couldn't say earlier in his career.
"I think as a man I've grown ten-fold, and I think you grow in your struggles," Isabella told reporters after the loss on Sunday night. "As a man, I've really grown and matured, and it might be too late here, but I know in the future — might not be football but something (else) — the lessons I've learned here playing will take me a long way in life."
He also believes that not getting in as much football action at the beginning of his Cardinals tenure is leading to better results now.
“I think it was actually good to maybe not play as much the first three years just to build myself and get better and better,” Isabella said. “I think this is the best ball I’m playing, so hopefully it’s not too late and we’ll see what happens.”
Isabella has been competing with Greg Dortch and Victor Bolden Jr. for the fifth wide receiver spot. The first four spots belong to Marquise Brown, A.J. Green, Rondale Moore and Antoine Wesley for the first six games of the season due to DeAndre Hopkins' suspension. Of course, that also assumes Wesley will be healthy by the beginning of the season.
Head coach Kliff Kingsbury has been in Isabella's corner throughout his time in Arizona.
“I’ve always been a big fan,” Kingsbury said. “Couldn’t be more impressed with how he’s attacked this camp."
The Cardinals have been playing against mostly backups during the preseason. Still, Isabella's showing against Baltimore displayed the similar 4.31-second 40-yard dash speed from his NFL Combine numbers.
Kingsbury is seeing the results from a hungry and confident Isabella.
“We’ve got a bunch of obviously big-time names at wide receiver and he came in and hasn’t missed one day, runs every route as hard as he can go, takes as many reps as he can take and has really produced at a high level this camp. So I’m excited to see that hard work paying off for him," Kingsbury said.
Isabella was also thirsty as he brought a container labeled "special juice" heading into State Farm Stadium before the Sunday night prime-time matchup.
You haven't seen the last of Isabella's special concoction.
"The special juice is going to make a reappearance soon," Isabella told 12 News Luke Lyddon.
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