DJ Humprhies growth is key to Arizona Cardinals success

Nothing is more humbling to an athlete than realizing you're no longer "the man". For some athletes it happens after little league, some people have the realization in high school and even more see it in college, but if you're lucky enough, and good enough, that reality can come in the form of professional sports.

For DJ Humprhies, that reality was harsh and came in the way of riding the bench his entire rookie season, "I can’t feel like that ever again," Humprhies told Dan Bickley of AZCentral.com.

Humprhies, the Cardinals 2015 first round pick was looked at as the future of the offensive line, but it wasn't until after rookie camp that everyone realized the future was not in 2015.

After a year of sitting and learning Humprhies is now expected to man the right tackle position for the again revamped Arizona Cardinals offensive line, and he'll have a traveled veteran in Evan Mathis to lean on. Mathis will be a guiding light in off season work outs and through camp, but he's not going to be holding any hands during the games.

The Cardinals face Aaron Donald twice, Gerald McCoy, Muhammad Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson, Kawann Short, Star Lotulelei, and Ndamukong Suh this season, Evan Mathis won't have time to worry about DJ Humprhies during the games. And that's the reality of the Humphries situation. Not getting him on the field in 2015 means that his on the field learning curve will be in 2016. The Arizona Cardinals need that learning curve to be short, because they have unfinished business.

Based on his off season, Humprhies is doing everything in his power to make sure that learning curve is as short as possible. He's spent the entire off season at LeCharles Bentley's O-Line Performance, putting in the time to be ready for 2016.

He's doing everything in his power to be ready, now it's just about him putting it on the field.