Arizona Cardinals minicamp report: Part three with Jess Root

The Arizona Cardinals were one of the first NFL teams to wrap up offseason workouts, which resulted in an early onslaught of “Takeaways from OTA’s”.

We know you can take much away from OTA’s, but there was still plenty written about it.

Good friend of the program Jess Root was one to write about his takeaways from OTA’s. I'm going to respond to all of them. You can read Jess’s work here.

The team is relatively healthy

This is very relative when you consider two projected starters had surgery in May. I guess having a number of players back from injury is probably more important than the two lost for the offseason.

The biggest injury concern, at least to me, us going to be Markus Golden and his plantar fasciitis. This type of thing is a bear, the Cardinals have already replaced a ton on defense. They can't afford to have Golden hurting during the year.

Justin Bethel in the lead for starting job

This isn't a surprise if you pay attention. The Cardinals wanted and needed Bethel or Brandon Williams to win the starting job, Bethel has looked the best, he's in the lead.

Evan Boehm, Cole Toner made huge strides in offseason

The growth of the young offensive linemen on the Cards roster is maybe the most important non-QB situation going. It will allow for a massive release of cap space next year, Jared Veldheer and Mike Iupati. Boehm is the starter, Toner is the guy who can be a starter or the all important flex backup, a massive role for any team.

Their progress is something to watch.

Robert Nkemdiche made necessary strides

The Cardinals need a former first round pick to step up… We've seen this before. So far, the Cardinals have been ⅔ on that. I'm confident it'll be ¾ after this year. Nkemdiche has been the buzz of camp. Let's hope it continues.

Carson Palmer looks great

This is… not surprising.

WR depth impressive

We've talked about this a little bit, but is the depth great for top tier wide receivers or for bottom of the roster wide receivers? It'll be something to watch going forward to see how good they really are.

First-round pick Haason Reddick shining

There's definitely a level of hyperbole to this, but Reddick picking up how to play inside linebacker is extremely important. It gives the Cards a roster full of players who can do different things and play multiple positions.