Arizona Cardinals News: OTA's Start With Boldin, Dockett, Warner and Fitzgerald Missing

by Hawkwind on May 20, 2009 7:22 AM MDT in 2009 Off Season Comment 5 comments

The "Whiz" watches the first day of OTA's from Tempe. (AP Photo/Matt York)

The Arizona Cardinals completed their first day of 'Organized Team Activities' yesterday and they had a pretty decent turnout. Overall 73 out of 85 players were present and accounted for, with more expected to show up in the near future. The missing in action guys included a couple of rookies who were not quite finished with school (Beanie Wells and Shane Morales), a couple of guys who were unhappy with their contract (Boldin and Dockett) and a handful of veterans who were out for a variety of reasons (Warner, Fitzgerald, A-dub, Morey, Iwebema, Berry and Okeafor). It's not uncommon for established veterans to miss a day of OTA's here or there and the only name that kind of surprises me was Kenny Iwebema.

There was also a handful of guys who watched practice from the sidelines as they nursed various injuries. The list of 'walking wounded' included Ali Highsmith (knee), Stephen Spach (knee), LaRod Stephens-Howling (hamstring), Gabe Watson (knee) and Michael Adams (toe). Spach will likely be a mainstay on the sidelines for the next couple of months as he rehabs from his ACL tear, but hopefully Watson returns to practice sooner, rather than later. He had a second operation on the knee that he injured last off season, shortly after the Super Bowl, but he's expected to make a quicker recovery.

Yesterday's organized team activities was the first of 14 'practices' over the next four weeks and we'll keep an eye on who shows up and how some of the younger guys are looking. Who do you think can help themselves the most over the next month?

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A Word of Caution

While the off-season program (most notably OTA’s) shouldn’t be underplayed, we should be careful not to overplay every single dropped pass, hangnail, absence and depth chart listing either.

True, there may be clues (i.e. a slow-to-heal knee; a speedy kick returner who lights things up; a youngster who performs like a veteran). But mostly, OTA’s represent a time to learn and improve.

The time for evaluation will come later in the summer.

CHICKEN LITTLE WAS RIGHT!

by JJeff88 on May 20, 2009 8:00 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs