TEMPE -- The Arizona Cardinals have begun mandatory minicamp at their practice facility here in Tempe, marking the first of three sessions the organization will have before the team breaks for roughly a month.
Then, training camp arrives and football season will be here with plenty of hope for the Cardinals moving into 2025.
Here's what we captured today:
"So the schedule is a little bit different wit how much we're doing with them for the next three days, but we are going to use all three days," Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon told reporters ahead of practice today.
"Some people that we're going to just be smart with out there today, the likes of like [Josh] Sweat, [Dalvin] Tomlinson, Zay Jones, Justin Jones, Will Johnson, a couple other guys, but guys that we're just gonna be smart with at this time of year. Other than that, everybody's good to go, and we're looking forward to a good day today."
All of the names Gannon mentioned were indeed at practice, as the Cardinals had full attendance at camp today according to their head coach.
The Cardinals - like every other team in the league - are prohibited from being extra physical during camp, which factors into the evaluation process for Gannon and his staff - especially in the trenches.
"We're not in pads. So I've made the mistake before where I kind of instant evaluated without pads on. It's not real. It's just not. So I do think both offense and defensive line has improved since we've been here," said Gannon.
"Do we have a long way to go? Yeah, [on] both lines, but we have to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball if we want to have a chance to win.
"Every day you think about it. Where it's at, where it's headed, who's trending, who's not, who's going to show up a little bit more in pads, who's going to disappear a little bit in pads? That's real too.
"Yeah, I think about it every day, talking to Monti [Ossenfort] about it every day. Talk about it with the coaches every day. But also we've got to see them in padded practices and live settings."
Padded practices won't come until late July when the Cardinals begin training camp, though no dates have been announced. Arizona will have their first preseason game on Aug. 9.
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