Arizona Cardinals Training Camp 8/10/09 updates and notes

I promised I would bring back notes for you guys after going up to camp so here are my thoughts in whatever random order:

First thing I noticed when I walked onto the field was how BIG Alex Fields is and how small LSH is!  LSH seriously looks like a pop-warner football player out there but played like a big leaguer.  LSH seemed to get a decent number of reps (probably because Beanie is still out) but there was still one play in particular that stands out.  LSH took the ball, made a couple shifty moves and exploded up through the center of the defense while seemingly disappearing.

LB's

On the very first LB drill Gerald Hayes was set to take the first rep which was a footwork drill, on literally his first step he tripped over a bag and fell right on his face. Everyone near by (I was directly behind him about 10 yards away) started laughing ESPECIALLY the other LB's. Dansby couldn’t even finish his drill he was laughing so hard. Probably the funniest part was that LB coach Matt Raich yelled out the infamous "down goes Frasier", definitely a classic. As punishment to himself Hayes dropped to do pushups but couldn’t finish because he was still laughing.

Chike Okeafor looked awesome in his first full practice back. He looked very quick and strong in drills and on his first live down beat his man to hit Hightower just as he took the ball from Warner. Later on a quick glance over to the Oline battling Dline and LB I saw Chike demolish Gandy as he bull rushed him straight to the QB.

WR

Boldin as mentioned already on azcardinals.com sat out part of the morning practice yet returned to the afternoon practice at 100% due to some minor swelling in his knee.  In his return he mad a nice leaping grab. He seemed in good spirits as you frequently heard his insanely loud laugh across the fields. Fitz was Fitz again making a nice 1 handed grab over B-Mac. Late in the afternoon practice he gave DRC a shove on a deep ball in order to come down with it, obviously offensive PI.

I watched a lot of Onrea Jones, Michael Ray Garvin (MRG) and Lance Long today as well. Let me be the first to say Jones looks good. I didn’t see him drop a single ball and he made some nice grabs as well as seemingly getting open often. He also made a nice jumping grab with Michael Adams draped all over him (would have been PI even if there were blind refs on the field). MRG showed flashes and at one point did a double move on Greg Toler that made him fall flat on his back as MRG went on to catch a deep ball from Leinart in the end zone. Lance Long seems to be Leinart's favorite target. Leinart consistently went to Long who made several nice nice grabs but dropped one ball he should have had and dropped another iffy ball in the endzone. He made up for it though by putting a nice double move on Michael Adams for a touchdown. One more thing to note on Lance is that his teammates seemed to throw him to the ground an awful lot for mostly non contact drill. Lance responded by popping up and sprinting towards the endzone. He and MRG spent time fielding punts as well.

QBs

Warner looked excellent and the only interception on the day was a BSP pass picked off by Adams. Leinart looked good and average at times. His ball didn’t seem to have much zip on it after hearing his arm strength had well, strengthened. He did make a very nice throw to Lance Long in the back of the endzone in the morning practice where he threaded it between to defenders. BSP looked like a third string QB, Palko looked good for a fourth QB. In target practice Warner went 2-11, Leinart 3-11, BSP 0-8, Palko 1-8, and the QB coach 3-4, go figure. Leinart seemed to slightly under throw the receivers on several fade routes.

Random notes

Dockett looked like a beast on 1 on 1 drills, Iwebema looked very strong going up against E. Brown, DRC shot through a gap for what would have been a blocked punt in a game situation, Beanie took a couple slow reps in the first practice and stopped.  Saw him jogging gingerly across the field in the afternoon, Chase Bullock looked very powerful in drills, Dansby was getting worked out / stretched after practice in the skydome (looked like in a little bit of pain, hopefully just cramps)

I didn’t get any autographs on the field so,... I snuck into the skydome and got some there.  In doing so I got a few funny one liners from the players:

Rolle in regards to why he doesn’t grow out a goat like the rest of the secondary - "mine don't grow"

Haggans in regards to why he shaved the mokawk - "cut it man, everyone’s got one now"