This is my final post on this platform, and it will serve as the reminder we are on the new platform and that commenting is being done there now (meaning I will not be monitoring the comments made here any longer.) If you are looking for my blog on the new platform, here is the page: https://www.azcardinals.com/news/blogs/words-from-the-birds For those who want to comment, it can be found at the bottom of any blog post or any article. You are going to have to either sign in through a social account (those icons are self-explanatory by where you comment) or open a Disqus account. That too has a ..read more

After news broke that Christian Kirk had been charged following a February arrest at the Phoenix Open, the Cardinals pointed out they had done their own research and were confident in their selection of the rookie wide receiver. That has been underscored now that the charges against Kirk have been formally dropped. “From the beginning, I was confident that the facts and the truth would ultimately validate the type of person that I am,” Kirk said in a statement. “I am grateful that was indeed the case. I appreciate all the support I have received while this process has played out, particularly ..read more

The Cardinals made a recent move to add to their secondary when they traded for cornerback Jamar Taylor. Perhaps another move to add a safety is forthcoming. Multiple tweets indicated veteran safety Tre Boston — who spent last season with the Chargers but was with Steve Wilks in Carolina before that — will visit the Cards. Boston has been a name thrown around quite a bit this offseason as a match with Arizona, especially after Tyrann Mathieu was released. Boston played with the Chargers on a one-year deal hoping to get big bucks this offseason. That market never materialized. This is the area ..read more

As I have hinted toward in some comments, change is coming to this website and this blog. The site itself will have a different look, and it also means the blog will finally move within the site on the backend. What that means for you, the reader (and in many cases, the commenter) is that there will be a new way to post comments going forward. The commenting platform that will be used is called Disqus. I am sure that some of you would rather not have anything change, but progress is inevitable, and given that this has been the blog’s platform for nearly a decade (and, might I add, kept on this ..read more

Steve Wilks did not know Mike Thompson, but that didn’t stop the Cardinals’ head coach from reaching out to Thompson’s widow recently after Thompson’s unexpected death. Thompson was a Pop Warner coach and an assistant for Desert Ridge High School, and was only 51 years old. “I did not have the pleasure of knowing Mike but feel as if I did after reading of his dedication to the sport of football as a coach at the Pop Warner and high school levels,” Wilks wrote in the letter to Carri Thompson. “We share in your grief over his loss but know that he lives on through the countless individuals that ..read more

One of the things on the owners’ agenda during their current meeting in Atlanta are — again — tweaks to the kickoffs. The idea, of course, is to try and make the play a little safer, given that the rate of concussions on kickoffs remains considerably higher than any other part of the game. Most of the changes won’t be in-your-face. The wedge, which was already pared down from a handful of players once upon a time to just two, will likely be eliminated entirely (meaning only one-on-one blocks.) That’d be a win for the coverage team. Eight of the 11 return men would also have to be within 15 yar ..read more

It sounds like there will be no Bashaud Breeland signing. But there would be a good reason for that — multiple reports Friday have the Cardinals closing in on a trade for veteran Browns cornerback Jamar Taylor. Taylor is a one-time second-round pick of the Dolphins in 2013, and the cost in the trade — again, by multiple outlets — is a sixth-round pick not next year, but in 2020. In structure, it looks a lot like the deal the Cards made in 2016 for cornerback Marcus Cooper (who was acquired for a seventh-round pick in 2018.) If the Cards were to get Taylor, having him pan out like Cooper would ..read more

You can see the emphasis Steve Wilks is putting on special teams early on in his tenure, devoting a good chunk of both Phase Two and Phase Three on-field work every day to let special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers do his thing. Along those lines, the Cardinals have had some pretty good special teamers over the years, and that was noted when veteran NFL reporter Rick Gosselin — who has long had a detailed system on how to rank special teams units and is an expert on that part of the game — created his all-time special teams lineup. Three Cardinals made the list, all for their coverage work. Fo ..read more

Veteran cornerback Bashaud Breeland was one of the first free agents signed back in March. He signed a three-year, $24 million contract with the Panthers — only to have the deal voided when he came in for his physical and he had a foot infection suffered while on vacation. Since then, Breeland, who played last year in Washington, has been trying to get healthy. He’s apparently OK now, because he reportedly is making visits again, and the Cardinals are on his list. Rob Demovsky of ESPN said Breeland is supposed to visit the Colts today and the Cards Thursday. The order in which a player makes h ..read more

Clearly — and especially in this day of instant Internet reactions — Josh Rosen is a lightning rod. It wasn’t hard to notice from afar pre-draft when the quarterback was just a potential NFL player, but it’s a lot easier after the Cardinals drafted him. The emotions he apparently stirs, for fans everywhere but notably for fans of teams for which Rosen does not play, are oddly strong. (And often having nothing to do with football.) It’s not difficult to find this stuff, and you’d think for a 21-year-old, it would weigh on him. But Rosen insists it does not, and he sounds genuine when he says th ..read more