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The Arizona Cardinals began their final round of OTAs on Monday. They practice Monday through Thursday and then will have mandatory mini-camp next week.
I was at practice on Monday and here are a few things I got from it, ranging from what I saw (and am permitted to report on) and what I heard.
During the first 30 minutes of practice that I can report on, there were special team drills. I didn't see Patrick Peterson there at all, so this might have impacted who was working, but the four guys working on punt returns were Ted Ginn, John Brown, Walt Powell and Jerraud Powers.
Would you like to know who the backup long snapper is? I know...you're waiting with baited breath. It was undrafted rookie linebacker Glenn Carson. If anything else, it might be one way he finds himself on the roster.
Lorenzo Alexander appears to have been moved full time to the inside linebacker group. He isn't fully recovered from his Lis Franc injury, but he did participate. He said after practice that playing inside is a better fit for what he can do. He sounded like a man who thinks he can win a starting job.
I asked about whether or not the team would consider moving anyone else from outside linebacker to inside linebacker. That isn't going to happen, as no one on the team outside of Alexander has played inside. So to those thinking Sam Acho might be a good fit inside, it isn't going to happen.
You won't hear anyone in the Cardinals organization say anything more about Daryl Washington. That book is closed until the day he might be reinstated.
Carson Palmer thinks the team could have "a top-tier offense" this year. This would be fantastic.
Bruce Arians praised the play so far of tight end John Carlson, and then said he likes his group of players at the position. "I really like our tight end room," he said. "It's very NFL-looking." Listening to the audio after the fact I wish either I or someone else had followed up with the question about what he thought of last year's group.
Arians said that Kevin Minter is having a fantastic camp, as well as Kenny Demens.
That's a wrap for now. I'll go through the rest of the audio I got and get some stories over the next couple of days from it.
