Arizona Cardinals Training Camp Update

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The Cardinals had Friday and Saturday off after Thursday nights' game but they have had three practices in the past two days. Sunday's practice had to be moved indoors because of rain but both practices yesterday were outside. They have four practices over the next three days (two practices tommorrow) and a walk-thru on Friday before  traveling to Kansas City for Saturday's game against the Chiefs.

Rookies Getting Praised: I honestly can't remember a draft class ever getting praised as much as this year's class. Some of the people who cover the team are already talking that it might be the best class ever and they didn't do anything on Thursday to slow that wildfire. The jewel of the class, Tim Hightower, continues to impress in practice and is getting plenty of reps considering that Edge's reps are somewhat limited. Both rookie defensive ends and DRC continue to perform well and Brandon Keith is making some noise for his solid performance at guard. He continues to impress just about everyone in practice, especially in one-on-one drills against the linebackers and defensive lineman where he's been stone-walling Chike Okeafor on a regular basis. The forgotten man has been Chris Harrington but Darren Urban says that the coaching staff has been encouraged by his progression from defensive end to linebacker but that the depth at the position will make it difficult for him to make the roster. We can't forget about Ali Highsmith either, and just about everyone has written a story on his performance against the Saints and how he's making a push for a roster spot, and if he does, I'll gloat as one of first ones to make that prediction.

Blitzing the Offense: Clancy Pendergast started installing his blitz packages this week and he's been putting constant pressure on whoever lines up at quarterback. The defense has a deep unit of pass rushers and it should be very interesting to see how Pendergast utilizes his resources. He's trying different way of getting more of them on the field, but unfortunately we probably won't see any exotic blitz packages until the regular season, after all there's no reason to show your hand until the bullets are flying for real.

Q Back on the Field: Anquan Boldin returned to practice on Sunday and continued to practice on Monday. He's still not participating in every single drill but he seems to be fully recovered and any limitations are just a precaution at this point. He's should play on Saturday and the team is also hopeful that Early Doucet will be able to suit up. He hasn't returned to practice yet but he's thought to be close. The only other new injury is Antrel Rolle's ankle but it's not considered serious (not the dreaded high ankle sprain) and he hasn't been ruled out of Saturday's game.

Rotating Quarterbacks: After not playing at all against the Saints, Kurt Warner opened Sunday's practice by running with the first team and he continued to rotate with Leinart during Monday's practice. Of course, we all know that they'll continue to rotate during practice all preseason and probably even during the regular season, but it doesn't mean anything. It's still Matt's job to lose and he took the first step towards writing his name atop the depth chart in something other than a pencil on Thursday.

Cap Position: Kent Somer's latest blog updates the Cardinals current cap position and by his accounts they're currently 3.75 million under the cap. He thinks that they probably won't make any significant moves until other teams start making cuts in order to see if an interesting offensive tackle hits the market.

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Thoughts? That's all I've got for now, but check back later as we'll try to update the projected 53-man roster. Gather your thoughts and post  your own, if you feel like it, or just blast mine for being completely wrong.