Arizona Cardinals mini-camp ends early, Bruce Arians happy with competition, health of team

The Arizona Cardinals are done with the offseason until training camp. After Wednesday's mini-camp practice, head coach Bruce Arians decided to cancel the final practice scheduled for Thursday. He was pleased with what his team accomplished in the three weeks of OTAs and week of mini-camp.

"It was outstanding day of mini-camp," he said after practice to reporters. "The competition has been so good the last two days, we decided not to practice tomorrow and make sure we come into training camp healthy with that type of attitude."

Practice ended with four field goal attempts by Chandler Catanzaro. He hit two and hit the other two of each upright. But it wasn't about Catanzaro, who wasn't even warmed up. Arians said it was about his two undrafted long snappers -- Kameron Canaday and Daniel Dillon.

He wanted to put them in a pressure position to perform in front of everyone. "We wanted four perfect snaps in front of everybody with those two young kids, and Kameron and Daniel came through," he said.

Arians said the team is "very good" with health. With the exception of Frostee Rucker and Tyrann Mathieu, everyone should be ready to go when training camp opens. Rucker and Mathieu will be close. Rucker is recovering from offseason ankle surgery and Mathieu is coming back from his torn ACL.

Veteran guard Evan Mathis did not participate in mini-camp. He recently had a bone fragment removed from his ankle. Defensive tackle Xavier Williams sprained his ankle in practice on Tuesday, but "he should be fine."

Outside linebacker Zack Wagenmann might be the one guy to watch. He suffered a foot/ankle injury in practice on Tuesday. He is having it examined to see the extent of the damage. It is the third time he has injured his foot since coming out of college. He was in a walking boot in the locker room after practice.

Unlike other times entering a bye or a long break, the message was not "don't be that guy."

Instead, it was "come back with that attitude."

"We went through 13 practices (actually 12) of just great football and great competition -- guys going after each other really well," he said. "Come back with that etiquette of going extremely hard and protecting each other, and we'll be fine."

Now is time for down time. No practices and probably no real interviews until training camp.

Can you wait until then?