Cardinals
In an appearance on the I Am Athlete podcast, Cardinals WR DeAndre Hopkins was asked what he’s looking for from a team at this point in his career. He listed a stable front office, a great quarterback, and a great defense.
“What I want is stable management upstairs, that’s something I haven’t really had the past couple years of my career coming from Houston and then to Arizona,” Hopkins said via Darren Urban of the team website. “A QB who loves the game, a QB who brings everybody on board with him, not just himself but everybody around him … and a great defense. A great defense wins championships.”
It obviously begs the question of whether he has those things in Arizona right now. Most would probably say no and Hopkins tip-toed around the answer somewhat to avoid disrespecting new GM Monti Ossenfort or QB Kyler Murray. Although the team has given him permission to seek a trade, nothing has come together yet and it’s not outside the realm of possibility he’s playing in Arizona in 2023.
“This is Monti’s first year as a GM, but from what I understand and talking to Monti, I think Arizona is in good hands,” Hopkins said. “We have Budda Baker [and] Isaiah Simmons [on defense]… Kyler is a quarterback who loves the game but he’s injured. Right now, I’m playing with Colt McCoy, who I love. But who knows. Right now I don’t currently have a Pro Bowl quarterback or a quarterback who I would say…”
He left the thought unfinished.
Rams
- Rams secondary coach Aubrey Pleasant was selected to participate in this week’s Coach Accelerator program at the May NFL owners meetings. The program is intended to increase exposure between owners and executives and diverse coaching talent with the goal of increasing the number of minority head coaching hires.
Seahawks
- The Athletic’s Michael-Shawn Dugar writes the way the Seahawks split the reps at center will provide a hint as to how they see the competition at that spot. If they divide the reps, it’s wide open. If they give the bulk of the first-team reps to one player, that means the ones behind him have to demonstrably outplay him to win the job.
- Dugar notes the Seahawks signed C Evan Brown to a one-year, $2.25 million deal, re-signed C Joey Hunt who had a starting stint for the team in 2019 and hasn’t really played since, and drafted C Olu Oluwatimi in the fifth round.
- One other notable thing to watch from OTAs, per Dugar, is whether LB Bobby Wagner is the green dot player on defense who calls the signals. Logic suggests he would be but Dugar points out Seahawks GM John Schneider previously hinted Wagner’s role with the team could be different this time around. If he’s not on the field for every snap, it’d make sense to give the green dot to a player who is.
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