NFC Notes: Dre’Mont Jones, Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua, Cardinals, Rams, Seahawks

Cardinals

Cardinals LB Kyzir White tore his bicep late in the 2023 season but made sure to be around the team throughout rehab. White knows his days in the NFL aren’t forever and he’s committed to getting the most out of his time.

“I don’t get bored because I know I’m going into Year 7 and you can’t take this for granted because within a blink of an eye this could be gone,” White said, via Howard Balzer of the Cards Wire. “So especially with getting hurt, I’m not taking anything … I’m never gonna get complacent, take this for granted.”

“I’m just gonna come in and keep working every day. Even if it’s boring, I’m gonna keep doing the same thing over and over.”

Rams

Rams WRs coach Eric Yarber said his goal for WR Puka Nacua during his rookie year was to study Cooper Kupp closely.

“The first thing I wanted him to do is hold on to Cooper Kupp’s coattails and train with him and do everything he does,” Yarber said, via Sarah Barshop of ESPN. “And he took that to heart.”

Yarber said Nacua has spent time working on his body control and is now more “fundamentally sound.”

“I’ve just seen him work on his weaknesses,” Yarber said. “Some of his weaknesses were his body control. He’s learned how to control his body and he learned how to fall, learned how to torque his body, and he learned how to cut off the correct foot all the time. But he’s more fundamentally sound now.”

Seahawks

Seahawks DL Dre’Mont Jones diversified his skillset in 2023 by lining up on the inside along with the edge. New Seattle HC Mike Macdonald talked about how they plan on maximizing Jones this upcoming season. 

“I think his skillset lends to trying to play a little matchup ball with him or setting another guy up,” Macdonald said, via ESPN’s Brady Henderson. “He can do a lot of things. We’ve talked about it, but we’re really excited about Dre’Mont.”

“When you have guys that can do multiple things, play different gaps in the run game and rush at different levels in the pass game and you can have more big guys, it just opens up more personnel groups, more looks you can generate. Overall, it’s good for us. … We’ll kind of reassess how the spring has been, reassess our plan going into camp, and then as camp goes, we’re going see how it evolves throughout camp. I think you have to have that attitude. If you just cookie cutter it … I think you limit yourself on how far you can take your team.”