Cardinals
The Cardinals sputtered to an 8-9 record last season, finishing third in the NFC West. Veteran OT Kelvin Beachum said they are feeling pressure to perform and reach the postseason.
“We’ve got to get things done here this year, and that’s just the nature of the NFL,” Beachum said, via CardsWire. “This is a performance-based business. This is year three of this regime. Playoffs are long overdue in some regards, and we gotta find a way.”
Beachum said players need to understand the importance of reaching the playoffs and can’t make excuses.
“You’ve got to talk about it,” Beachum said. “You can’t be like, ‘oh, we don’t have this piece. We don’t have this piece. We lack in here.’ No, no, it is time out for all those things. What is important is putting ourselves in a position to clock a ticket to be in the dance and then see what happens from there.”
Beachum believes they have established quality players at several positions.
“What about the offensive line? That box is checked. Well, what about the quarterback? Box is checked. What about the running back? Box is checked. Receivers, box is checked. DBs, box is checked. And then you spent a ton of money on the defensive line, and you drafted defensive line and you drafted corners. So like, what are we talking about?”
Rams
The Rams re-signed CB Derion Kendrick just four days after waiving him. Sean McVay is glad to have Kendrick back in their defense and made it clear to the cornerback that they wanted him to stay put.
“Really glad he was able to get back with us,” McVay said, via RamsWire. “It was really just a financial business deal based on some things that he had earned the right for his salary to fall where it was and once he got cleared, he’s done a great job this offseason. I think his ability to improve, his ability to attack the rehab the right way, his flexibility to play inside and outside – Aubrey [Pleasant] and I and Les sat down with him and told him, ‘Hey, here’s a couple of different options, here’s what we think, but let’s just make sure that you understand that we want you back if this is a place you feel you still want to be at.’ That was the end goal in mind and we weren’t really able to communicate all that to you guys, but the end goal was semantically, a business thing, then you get him back.”
Seahawks
Seahawks RT Abraham Lucas spoke about how running the ball will be a “non-negotiable” in the team’s new offense under OC Klint Kubiak.
“We’re trying to be elite at very few things, but those few things are what the offense is going to be based around, and that’s the run game,” Lucas said, via Brady Henderson of ESPN. “We’re going to be elite at the run game. That’s the philosophy with it.”
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