The Arizona Cardinals concluded their first training camp practice Saturday afternoon. A rowdy crowd was in attendance to cheer on their team for the first time since their 10-6 2013 season.
What were some of things I saw?
1. Here are the first, second and third team offensive lines. The first team is as it has been. From left tackle to right tackle, it was Jared Veldheer, Jonathan Cooper, Lyle Sendlein, Paul Fanaika and Bobby Massie. It has the look that, unless someone gets hurt or they suddenly start playing very poorly, that will be your Week 1 starting line. The second team line went, from left to right, Nate Potter, Philip Blake, Ted Larsen, Earl Watford and Bradley Sowell. The third team was Kevin Palmer, Tom Draheim, John Estes, Anthony Steen and Corey Brandon.
2. The defensive first team was as it has been, but Alex Okafor was in place of the absent John Abraham. The nickel package that they ran was actually a dime package, or a dollar as they call it. Both Larry Foote and Lorenzo Alexander saw time as the one inside linebacker and rookie safety Deone Bucannon would play in the box. Jerraud Powers was the slot corner. There was one interesting formation -- on one play, they ran a base with three corners and one safety.
3. There was some work with a four-man front, but it was always with the bench group. Rookie Kareem Martin was used both as a defensive end and also lined up inside on a couple of plays.
4. On punt return drills, Patrick Peterson was involved. He, Ted Ginn, Reggie Dunn, Jerraud Powers and even Antonio Cromartie got looks. John Brown did not. My guess is he is being looked at for kick returns.
5. There is a ton of competition for the second gunner on the punt team. We know Justin Bethel will play one side. 10 guys are competing for the other side. That group included WR Brittan Golden, RB Damien Thigpen, WR Walt Powell, CB Todd Washington, WR Kevin Ozier, CB Teddy Williams, CB Bryan McCann, CB Brandon Sermons, WR John Brown and CB Jimmy Legree.
6. Chandler Catanzaro "won" the kicking competition for the day. He was 4-4, hitting from 33, 45, 40 and 46 yards. Feely was 3-5, missing from 45 and 43. He hit from 33, 40 and 46.
7. Rookie John Brown stood out. He moved really well and made some nice catches.
8. Ted Ginn caught the ball well and was fast. He accelerates so quickly.
9. Michael Floyd attacked the ball everywhere and looked great.
10. Logan Thomas ran the third team and looked as we expect him to look -- raw. His ball comes out so quickly...too quickly sometimes. He hit tight end Troy Niklas in the helmet once. Some passes looked great and others did not.
11. Rookie tight end Troy Niklas struggled a little. He dropped several passes.
12. Antonio Cromartie appeared to have twinged something. He was looking at his hand a lot, while the trainer was looking at his arm, shoulder and neck, as if something was a little out of place.
13. Larry Fitzgerald made undrafted CB Todd Washington look terrible on a double move that went for a touchdown. It was really nice to see and hopefully we get that this season. We didn't see that last season.
14. Tyrann Mathieu might be pretty close to the most popular player on the team. He showed up on the sideline to a very hearty applause. It was really cool.
15. Calais Campbell can "football." He batted down a pass and then caught it for an interception. Aren't you glad he's on out team?
If you happened to be there, what else did you note?