TEMPE -- The Arizona Cardinals opened their second portion of OTA's to reporters today, counting their fourth of six practices they'll hold ahead of mandatory mini-camp next week.
"A lot to do. Good first week - but we've got a lot of work to do," Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon told reporters ahead of practice.
Last week, all of Josh Sweat, Dalvin Tomlinson, Calais Campbell, Hjalte Froholdt, Walter Nolen, Jonah Williams, Kelvin Beachum and B.J. Ojulari were not actively practicing with the team.
This week, we saw some notable names return to the field - and one star who was working off to the side.
Froholdt, Nolen, Williams and Beachum were back with the team today. Nolen and Williams were off to the side last week doing their own thing, but were indeed with the team during the portion of practice open to the media.
Froholdt and Beachum weren't spotted at all last week but were fully with the team today.
Sweat, Tomlinson, Campbell and Ojulari still were not with the team. A new face added to the rotation was Akeem Davis-Gaither, who did practice last week.
Most notably, Budda Baker was spotted working off to the side today.
It's unknown exactly why each player was missing, though Gannon did stress to reporters that these offseason programs are merely voluntary and he's had good communication with players who wouldn't be available.
"There are not a lot of good answers all the time for (the media) from me," Gannon told reporters in regards to injuries (h/t AZCardinals.com).
"'He's doing great.' What does that mean? He was doing great two days ago but then yesterday didn't have a setback -- I don't want to use that word -- but it's not linear, it doesn't just go great in a rehab. If you remember the first time we got here, the hot topic was Kyler (Murray) coming back from a knee. I've been around guys that have knees. Here's the timetable, here's what he has to do for his position, all that. It's not a linear progression of 'I'm just doing great and I'm on the timeline the doc says and the training room says and this is when I can go out and play football.' It doesn't work like that.
"I trust our process on how we do things. You'll see Jonah out there today, but that's just the step we're taking for return to play. Everybody is different. What you guys see on the practice field, 'Oh maybe he's getting closer' and he might not even be closer than a guy you don't even see out there. That's truthful."
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