Cardinals will need to look out for this Chiefs rookie in preseason opener

Royals on building chemistry with Mahomes:

“”In the meeting room, he tells me everything I need to do and then, you know, off the meetings and stuff like that, where I’m just out here he’ll tell me you know corrections and stuff like that and then obviously after the play you know he let me know on the sideline. It’s complicated, I would say, but like there are times where it’s like, you know, I’m still a rookie at the end of the day, so I’m trying to learn everything and and he’s, you know, wanting me to be, you know, up to speed. So, it’s just balancing that.”

The former Utah State is a touchdown threat, scoring 21 touchdowns in his two seasons in the Mountain West Conference. The 22-year-old stands at six foot and had one of the best Combine score for a wide receiver, tying the fastest 10-yard split of any player at his position. The separation he’s able to create at the line of scrimmage and his route running will cause trouble the Cardinals secondary to keep up.

Arizona’s cornerback room is very inexperienced, with the top three cornerbacks listed on the depth chart at a combined age of 23 years old. Whoever the Cardinals line up across from Royals will need to either overpower him with their strength at the line of scrimmage or match him stride for stride.

Royals is listed as the fourth/fifth wide receiver on Kansas City’s depth chart. However, preseason will allow him plenty of reps as the game progress, which will force Arizona to choose two options to counter his speed in second-round pick Will Johnson or Garrett Williams.

Johnson was graded as one of the best cornerbacks in the 2025 draft class, and only fell due to injuries concerns. The former Michigan Wolverine has lived up to the pre-draft hype during training camp and could be tasked with lining up across Royals. Johnson’s defensive IQ is lightyears ahead of fellow defensive backs his age and could easily make up his speed deficit against Royals.

Williams was graded the best zone-coverage cornerback in the entire league in 2024, according to Pro Football Focus. The Cardinals have a heavy reliance on zone coverage and could have Williams as a lurker to hover near Royals to limit his targets.