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Arizona Cardinals defensive end Calais Campbell took some time to answer some questions for Revenge of the Birds when he was in Phoenix for the Gatorade "Beat the Heat" campaign, teaching kids about how to take care of their bodies in the heat (parents and kids can download the Gatorade Heat Safety Kit here).
I asked Campbell about players that stood out to him in the offseason, trying to get some names of players to watch.
He mentioned Justin Bethel, Alex Okafor, Deone Bucannon and John Brown (although he called Brown "Josh" and Okafor "Okeafor...like Chike Okeafor, Campbell's former teammate).
Here is what he said about each:
On John Brown:
"On offense, you see John Brown, the third round pick. That guy is special. He’s a good player for us. He makes us that much better just having that depth as a slot guy and gives us a chance to throw deep."
On Okafor:
"He comes off the edge and is playing real good, but we were in shorts, so you can’t really judge guys and how good they are right now. But I saw him in pads (last year). I saw he could do well in pads. I see how athletic he is coming off of injury."
On Bethel:
“I really like what Justin Bethel has been doing as well, even though he’s not really a young player because he was in the Pro Bowl last year. He’s still very young as far as defense goes because he han’t really played a lot. I really feel like he's going to give us the ability to start moving around people in the slot because he’s really good in man cover as well. He’s been doing great."
On Bucannon:
"I’m really excited to see what Deone Bucannon can do. He’s a very talented player and very smart, I can tell already. He just understands the game at a high level, so anytime you get those kids that are smart and come in right away and contribute, it makes your team so much better."
