5 observations on the Arizona Cardinals coming out of minicamp

As the Arizona Cardinals mandatory minicamp came to a close, the reality that we are now six weeks until football again set in.

So, what did we get left to marinate on coming out of minicamp?

1. Sam Bradford is the man until he isn’t: The calls for Josh Rosen will come, it’s inevitable, but this team and regime is going to give the team over to Sam Bradford for 2018. It’s Bradford’s job and with how Sam has played nearly his entire career when healthy, it’s likely only injury will cost him his spot.
2. Running back is thin: No David Johnson… lots of problems. The Cardinals after David Johnson are young, inexperienced, or one dimensional. This isn’t about the holdout, but more that the Cardinals will need either Chase Edmonds or T.J. Logan to mature quickly to give some feel of comfort to the fans and staff if Johnson misses anytime in 2018.
3. Robert Nkemdiche finally sounds comfortable: There was always an odd feeling on Nkemdiche and his fit within Bruce Arians roster. He and James Bettcher never gelled and in turn, Nkemdiche has been labeled as a “bust” through his first two seasons. Now, in a defense that lends itself to Nkemdiche’s strengths, he sounds like he is ready to take the next step. The philosophy of the Steve Wilks/Al Holcomb defense, which is from the Ron Rivera coaching tree, made a star out of Kawann Short. Nkemdiche will hopefully play a similar role and have similar results.
4. Patrick Peterson’s football life is going to change: Peterson is likely going to spend less time trailing. It’ll be good and bad. Good in that it will save Peterson and potentially help even lengthen his career. It’ll be bad because we have no idea who is going to win the starting job opposite Peterson or if they’re capable of playing at a high level.
5. This is a different tone for the team under Wilks: Music, benign coaches quotes, practicing outside, in the heat and closed practices. This is no Bruce Arians run program.