The Arizona Cardinals had quite an eventful first weekend of training camp. Not only was the club having to deal with record crowds, they signed their first round pick and then promptly carted him off the field during his first practice. The ankle injury doesn't appear serious but the details are explained below. The Cardinals also had to cut tight end Alex Shor to make room for Wells after the signing become official. The team will be busy this week will eight practices in the next five days with two-a-days today, Wednesday and Friday, including a big night practice at Lumberjack Stadium on Wednesday.
Chris Wells Ankle Injury: So we all know that Beanie got carted off the practice field but the injury doesn't appear to be very serious. After getting the results from the MRI, Coach Whisenhunt said that it didn't appear serious but he also didn't give a timetable for his return. Some speculation is that he could miss most of this week and that the coaching staff will be very conservative with his return so that this won't turn into a lingering injury. If you're looking for a silver lining, no one has reported this as a "high ankle sprain" which, as we saw last year with Antrel Rolle, can cost a player nearly off of camp. We'll keep an eye on Beanie, but for now I'd imagine that he be firmly implanted on a stationary bike. The biggest question is how much farther does this set Beanie back after missing all of OTA's.
The Battle for the Backup QB Job: I'm sure that when Matt Leinart was drafted with the tenth overall pick just three years ago he didn't envision himself battling for the backup QB job with a 29 year old guy who had never completed an NFL pass, but that's where he stands right now. While most still don't consider this a competition, Whisenhunt did say that the two quarterbacks will rotate in and out with the second team. We speculated last year that Whiz enjoyed playing head games with Leinart in order to mentally stronger and he seems to be taking the same approach this year.
Other notes from the weekend practices:
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Bryant McFadden turned some heads with his physical play at corner. Depsite being matched up on the Cards' most physical wide reciever (Anquan Boldin), McFadden more than held his own.
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Herman Johnson continues to practice at right tackle while Brandon Keith is at right guard. There hasn't been any change in the starting lineups yet but it's pretty apparent that the biggest question mark on the line is at backup center.
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Cody Brown, rookie outside linebacker, has more than held his own during individual drills against the offensive line. Hopefully those pass rushing skills translate to game time.
- There might already be cause for concern at fullback where Dan Kreider and Justin Green are sidelined with injuries. Kreider is nursing a sore hamstring but isn't expected to miss much time while Green has been sent back to the Valley for tests on his damange knee. The severity of that injury does not look promising. When asked about their status though, Whiz commented that the fullbacks don't get many reps in practice anyways.