An interesting conversation came up for me in Twitter on Thursday afternoon. We were discussing the Cardinals, of course, specifically the backfield. Talks went from one thing to the next and we were discussing Ryan Williams and what he seems to be doing instead of working out -- getting tattoos. The question then arose -- what are these players doing right now during the lockout when they would normally have finished OTAs and minicamps?
From what I have read and heard, not many of the rookies have been out to Arizona yet. Williams via Twitter told me that he hasn't been out here yet but coming "soon" and he did not yet have a playbook. Robert Housler is still back east.
Patrick Peterson has been here and was with Adrian Wilson a bit and they have been in contact. Seventh rounder DeMarco Sampson was here staying in Larry Fitzgerald's house not long after the draft. But Fitz is now back in Minnesota. Sampson? I haven't heard anything else.
The only draftee I know has been here and working with his teammates is Sam Acho, who has buddied up with A-Dub. According to Wilson, Acho knows the defensive playbook. Other than Acho, the rookies have not been here.
One might ask why because they are going to have a shortened amount of time to learn things and they are going to have to fight for roster spots. They should be doing all they can. However, none of these players is getting paid yet and rookies don't typically come out to work with teammates until the must be. Some don't until they have their contract signed.
Williams was the big example because he has been getting inked up and, as one person on Twitter said, has been "being illiterate on Twitter."
I don't look too much into these "absences." Rather than focus on those who are not here, I think it says so much more about the young Sam Acho. He should be able to make some sort of positive impact as a result of his hard work before he had to.
But I wanted to throw the question out to you. Do you think they should be out here working out? Are you concerned with the lack of more of the draft picks being in town?
Again, I'm not worried. It will be noticeable once the season begins, but that is going to be the case with practically everyone else in the league. rlin