The Rise Up, See Red podcast

Cardinals preseason updates: Joint practices and more with Howard Balzer

The Arizona Cardinals are in Indianapolis for a pair of joint practices before their preseason matchup Saturday with the Colts. Howard Balzer gives us an update on the Cardinals. He speaks of the trend around the league for joint practices. He talks about the quarterback play for the Cardinals and what the rotation might be this weekend.

He also discusses the notion of trading for a player like Haason Reddick.

Duration:: 18m
Broadcast on:: 15 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

You slept through your alarm, missed the train, and your breakfast sandwich. Cool. Sounds like you could use some luck. I'm Victoria Cash, and Luckyland is where people go every day to get lucky. At Luckyland, you can play over a hundred casino-style games for free for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. Go to Luckylandslots.com and get lucky today. No purchase necessary, VGW Group, prohibited by law, 18-plus terms and conditions apply. You're so coy, alluring. Angel with a wicked smile, sleeping 20 hours a day. Never lay a paw on dusty clay. I'll keep your litter natural. No chemicals in your nostrils. Just corn below, so every time you go, you'll know you're a shh, don't stick. World's Best Cat litter for the world's best cat. [Crowd chanting] This is Howard Balzer, and welcome to this Cardinals Camp Update for the Rise Up C Red podcast, the best hour of Cardinals Talk on the web. Well, it's been a few days since I visited with you all audio-wise. We have some catching up to do, but still mostly, it's a look ahead for this Cardinals team that is now starting its fourth week of training camp. We always talk about how camp can move pretty quickly once it gets going, and that's certainly the case here, as like I said, with camp opening, with reporting day to lie 23rd, and the first practice the next day, here we are with three weeks in the books, and not that much time left until this regular season begins. After all, when you look at it from this standpoint, entering the fourth week, even though the Cardinals listed it as camp breaking last week because there's nothing more at State Farm Stadium, this is still officially part of training camp as next week will be when the Cardinals return from Indianapolis, which of course is becoming more and more popular around the NFL with teams practicing against each other in advance of a preseason game, and will probably continue to see more and more of this, and if the league, whenever that might be, goes to 18 games, and two preseason games will probably see even more of that. And the reality is, teams feel in some respects they get more out of those practices than in preseason games because it's controlled, you can work on specific things and not be having to deal with what can happen in a game and different situations. You can dictate the situations in these practices, and as long as the teams have respect for each other and the coaches lay down the ground rules and it limits the fighting, they can be very productive. And when I say more and more teams doing it, this week, just this week alone, there are 20 teams in the NFL participating in these joint practices, and there would be even more if the 49ers hadn't called off their practice stint with the Saints because of the number of injuries that San Francisco has. Last week, there were nine teams involved in these practices, and right away you're saying, "Hold it, hold it, how can it be an odd number?" Well, that's because the Rams actually had practice against two teams last week, all in their general area, the Chargers, of course, they share a stadium, and the Cowboys who have training camp in California. Next week, the final week of preseason games, there will be another 10 teams having practices. So we can see how popular this has become and how it will be even more so. And certainly the teams like it, the coaches like it, because it's going against different guys in a practice setting, and the players are also together in a hotel for several days, which they are during training camp, but it's a little different when you're practicing against each other. Now it's against another team, and I mentioned the respect that coaches have for each other. Of course, Shane Steichen is the head coach of the Colts, and he and Jonathan Gannon were on the same staff in Philadelphia. When Steichen was the offensive coordinator, and Gannon was the defensive coordinator, the rest assured they've had a lot of talks about how they want these practices to go. And where they rank in importance, for example, we've talked about Kyler Murray, James Connor, all these players that probably won't get a snap in a preseason game, but they will participate in these practices, and that's where that can be a big plus also. And what ends up happening with rotations on Saturday night could be determined by what happens in these practices this week in Indianapolis, which in case anyone is wondering, they will begin at 6 p.m. Eastern time. That's 3 o'clock here in Arizona. And the first practice scheduled for Wednesday is two hours, and the one on Thursday is an hour and 20 minutes. And so what will be seen in those will determine, might determine how the game rotation goes against the Colts on Saturday evening. And that could definitely be the case with the two quarterbacks. We saw last week that Desmond Ritter got the start, and then Clayton Thune came in in the second half. And Thune, let's be honest, as better as he played in that game, he was not only, of course he was playing with deep backups, but he was also going against the Saints backups, whereas Ritter, when he was in the game, was with all the backups on the Cardinals offense, but for a good part of that first half, going against Saints starters on defense. So that certainly has an impact on those plays. And so it will be interesting to see what Ganon and offensive coordinator, Drew Petzing, decide to do in terms of the quarterback rotation for Saturday. This Thune start the game, and then Ritter in the second half. Do they go with the same way it was last week? And what will the Colts be doing on defense? Those are the things we don't know at this point, but they will be things to watch and consider. And another point about this preseason and where it is as close as we are to the regular season beginning, consider that next week the Cardinals will be back at their Tempe Arizona practice facility, getting ready for a Sunday game against the Denver Broncos and on the road, of course. And why do I mention that and emphasize Sunday is because in the preseason, Sunday games are rare. In fact, next week, there are two games on Thursday in the NFL, three on Friday, eight on Saturday, and three on Sunday. And where that really comes into play is that the cut down day in the NFL this year, where rosters have to go from 90 or 91, whatever the teams have, you go to 53 in one day, and that happens on Tuesday. Or at least that's the deadline. We all know that teams will end up cutting some guys the day before the deadline, but by four o'clock Eastern, one o'clock Arizona time on Tuesday, August 27th, all teams must be at 53 players. That's only two days after you just played your final preseason game. So the other teams now granted some will say, well, they pretty much know where the roster stands. And to a large degree, that's close to being true. But there still could be some final decisions come down to what happened in that Sunday game. And you're playing in the late afternoon and you're flying back to Arizona from Denver, and then you don't have a whole lot of turnaround time in terms of making those roster decisions, keeping in mind that -- and by the way, it's by 9 a.m. on Tuesday. The roster cut -- oh, I'm sorry, no, the roster cut is later in the day on Tuesday. The 9 a.m. is when teams are informed of guys who have cleared waivers from the Tuesday. But still, that's not a lot of time for the turnaround. But as soon as that noon Eastern 9 Arizona time hits on Wednesday, that's when teams can start officially adding players to the practice squad. And so that will be -- I'm sure a lot of the players that might make the last five spots on the roster, or however many spots you want to mention, a bunch of them, assuming they clear waivers, will end up on the practice squad. So there's a lot of scurrying around and a lot of work that has to be done in those hours. And practice squads, of course, now are 16, 17, if you have an international exemption, which all teams are able to do this year. But again, the point being that there's a lot of work to be done from that game Sunday through the final -- oh, I just violated my own rule. I started to call it the final cut, which we know is not the case in the NFL. There's nothing final. And all it is is the roster reduction of 53, because we know by the next day, players will be claimed on waivers. One of the biggest mistakes -- especially rookies who are battling for a spot -- the biggest mistake they can make is after Tuesday passes, and they take a deep breath and say, "Ooh, I made the team." Well, not so fast. I've seen many instances where a team will then pick up guys on waivers, however many it is, and then they're cutting a guy that had made the team the day before. And of course, last year, I believe it was four players that the Cardinals were assigned on waivers after the cut to 53. So we're coming up on that in very short order and shows all the business that will have to take place in the NFL between now and August 27th. A couple of points wanted to make coming off the game on Saturday, and Jonathan Gannon spoke very highly of the play of Xavier Thomas, the fifth round pick who's an outside linebacker and edge rusher, and seems to really coming on in camp the last couple of weeks. And it's why that people just need to calm down about this whole edge rusher situation. And especially -- what really strikes me as odd is all those who have hailed the job that Monte Asenfort has done since taking over his general manager in 2023. All of a sudden, it's like he doesn't know what he's doing, and because the Cardinals haven't gone out and signed a big name or traded for a big name, edge rusher. And of course, the narrative became even louder this week when just the other day, Hassan Redick requested a trade from the Jets, and there are those who are saying that Monte Asenfort absolutely doesn't care about the edge rusher situation. He really wanted this team to compete. He'd go out and get someone. And of course, there was a column in the Arizona Republic by Greg Moore, saying they should go after Hassan Redick. And I can understand raising that as a suggestion, as a potential possibility. But what gets me quite honestly is when you have things written, or things said about how this would be a good move, and yet no one even considers what the salary would have to be to sign Hassan Redick. There's a reason he hasn't reported to the Jets throughout the offseason and training camp, because he wants a new contract. He's being paid over $14 million this year in the last year of his contract. It's why he was traded by the Eagles to the Jets for a third round pick, a conditional third round pick in 2026, because they didn't want to pay him more money. This guy was going to turn 30 in a few weeks in September. And so does anyone out there, is anyone out there just sitting on the edge of their seat, knowing, wow, this is a Super Bowl team. And without a great edge rusher, they can't make it. No, this team is not in that position at this point. And so does it make sense just because you have salary cap space? Does it make sense to go and spend a whole bunch of it? Not to mention the real cash on a guy who next year will be 31. It's one thing about having to pay him $14 million and eating into your cap space, which by the way, eats into your cap space next year, because remaining cap space in one year can be rolled over. So does it make sense to eat into that this year and add to it next year? If you were to sign him to a long-term contract, I personally, I don't think that makes sense. And I think a lot of people realize that. So those who are on that, oh, you got to do something. You got to do something. You know, calm down. As Aaron Rogers once said, R-E-L-A-A-X. And we'll see what this pass rush is this year. Next year is going to be another big step in this building process of this roster. But to go out and do something crazy this year, just because B.J. Ojalar, I got hurt, oh, I mentioned B.J. Guess what? He didn't leave. He didn't retire. He's still a young guy. He will be on the team next year. So all of that comes into the decision-making that is made. And we'll see how Zaven Collins grows. We'll see if Xavier Thomas can do the job in regular season games. We'll see how Darius Robinson, who looked very good on Saturday against the Saints, will do in potential pass rushing roles in different schemes and different game situations. So all of that is to be determined. But again, to go out, you know, there's a reason certain guys are on the market and there's a reason certain guys aren't getting the contracts they want. And one last thing I'll say on Hassan Riddick, he's on four teams. Four different teams in his last five seasons. And who knows? It might end up being a different one before we know it. So that's my rant on the whole Edge-Russia situation. We hope to see continued growth there. And as the Cardinals get ready for these two days of practices and the game on Saturday night against the Indianapolis Colts. At least that's night there in Indy. Here, it'll be a four o'clock, Arizona time. And that wraps up this Cardinals camp update. This is Howard Ballzer for the Rise Up Sea Red Podcast. We'll be back again soon. I'm Victoria Cash, and I want to invite you to a place called Lucky Land. Where you can play over a hundred social casino style games for free for your chance to redeem some serious prizes. So what are you waiting for? The best way to discover your luck is to spin. So go to luckylandslots.com, that's luckylandslots.com, and get lucky today. At Lucky Land. No purchase necessary. VGW Group, boy prohibited by law. 18 plus, terms and conditions apply. If you're a facilities manager at a warehouse and your HVAC system goes down, it can turn up the heat. Literally. But don't sweat it, Granger has you covered. Granger offers over a million industrial grade products for all your operations, including warehouse HVAC maintenance. And even better, they offer access to experts and fast delivery. 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