Arizona Cardinals OTAs: Patrick Peterson absent, Ryan Swope sits, other OTAs observations

The Arizona Cardinals kicked off their final week of organized team activities (they are voluntary) Monday morning. I was there for the last half of practice (tending to parental duties before that) and this is what I saw.

Starting cornerback Patrick Peterson was absent. According to head coach Bruce Arians, Peterson was tending to some family business, which he has been doing for the last roughly week and a half, including a death in the family.

One thing that was noticed by all who were covering as media was the fact that rookie receiver Ryan Swope was not in pads. When asked about him, especially with the talk of his still suffering effects from concussions he suffered in college, head coach Bruce Arians went with the coy answer, telling reporters, "We don't have injury reports at this time of year." When pressed about his concern about the rookie, he said, "no, he'll be fine."

The cornerback situation was a bit thin, as Antoine Cason was apparently nursing an injury and Jerraud Powers did not see the field really in the part of practice I saw, in addition to Peterson's absence. Reporter Kent Somers reported that Powers was absent, but I did see him there. The result was seeing Javier Arenas, Justin Bethel and Jamell Fleming getting lots of reps.

Tyrann Mathieu was used as a backup safety and then as the primary nickelback.

Guard Jonathan Cooper was running with the first team line, with the group being Levi Brown, Cooper, Lyle Sendlein, Daryn Colledge and Bobby Massie.

Special teams coach Amos Jones also was absent, as there was a family funeral.

Levi Brown was on the field, returning to work for the first time.

In defensive formations, there were some looks of having Calais Campbell and Matt Shaughnessy at DE, with Darnell Dockett lined up at DT.

In nickel formations, I saw what was a mix of 2-4-5 and 3-3-5. Matt Shaughnessy, who has mostly been at OLB, would line up with his hand in the dirt like a defensive lineman with Dockett and Campbell.

Among the linebackers, I did not see Jasper Brinkley. Kevin Minter worked on the field with Karlos Dansby, while Colin Parker was on the field with Daryl Washington.

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I will post more for tomorrow. I got audio from Arians, Campbell and Daryn Colledge, among others. This will have to do for now.

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