Cardinals’ Robert Nkemdiche learning what it means to be a pro

Something is different about Robert Nkemdiche. He’s carrying around his playbook like it’s the Holy Grail. He’s embracing the concept of professionalism, something that rarely appealed to the free spirit during his rookie season with the Cardinals.

He looks hungry for something new and different. It’s called success, the kind that doesn’t come easy.

“I’m starving,” he said.

The 2017 Cardinals have a lot of moving pieces. Key offensive linemen have changed positions. The secondary is full of new faces. Few will play a bigger role than Nkemdiche, 22, who is expected to help the team replace the loss of Calais Campbell on the defensive line.

Nkemdiche has all the tools. He’s powerful and aggressive, with hands seemingly chiseled from granite. During recent practices, offensive lineman Evan Boehm has marveled at the raw skill that Nkemdiche possesses.

“He’s a monster,” Boehm said. “If he gets going and gets a full head of steam, good luck.”

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So what’s changed? Nkemdiche was one of the biggest question marks coming out of the 2016 NFL draft, a player with successful Nigerian-born parents, a strong intellect and the ability to play the saxophone. Yet he played in only five games as a rookie, made only one tackle on the season and struggled to learn the intricacies of his position.

And in one of the strangest postgame scenes in memory, he had to borrow clothes from teammates to meet the dress code for a flight home after a loss.

It wasn’t pretty. Rarely has someone so smart seemed so out of place, so baffled by workplace requirements.

“It was humbling at times,” Nkemdiche said. “Everything doesn’t always go as you envision it. As long as you can take the lesson, learn from it, grow and let it have a positive influence on yourself, you can become so much better than anything I could’ve been in my first year.

“I’m not a person that really takes into account what people have to say (about me). It’s not anything that is going to move me. I know what I have to do. I know my purpose and I know what I want to do. I know what I’m going to be. I’m just going to keep striving for that.”

Nkemdiche is almost too inquisitive, often questioning the structure and discipline that defines life in the NFL. It’s obvious that success came too easy for him in the past, the residue of freakish size and athleticism. He was the No. 1 recruit coming out of high school. He was a 296-pound defensive lineman with pronounced abs. And when he was given a rep on offense during a game against Tennessee-Martin, he responded by catching a pass out of the backfield and racing 31 yards for a touchdown.

He thought the NFL was going to be just as easy.

“I think I could’ve done some things differently,” Nkemdiche said. “It didn’t go the way I was thinking it would go. There are a lot of things that go into being a pro. It’s taking care of the small things and sacrificing things. It’s bigger than people understand. There are a lot of layers to this whole professional football league, and this defense that we run. There were a lot of things I had to hone up, harp on, clear up and make better.”

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Nkemdiche was labeled with character issues coming out of college, which is why he fell all the way to Arizona, which held the 29th pick in the first round. Those concerns came to life during his rookie season, but not with off-field transgressions. It was his immaturity and lack of work ethic that failed him most.

His second impression is much easier on the eyes. Defensive line coach Brentson Buckner has observed a noticeable change for the better. Frostee Rucker, Josh Mauro and other teammates have taken time to mentor Nkemdiche, illuminating a path to success. It seems to be working, just like it did when D.J. Humphries shook off a brutal rookie season and became the team’s starting left tackle.

“I have the skill-set and the physical talent,” Nkemdiche said. “But (football) has never been as complicated as it is in the present day. There are lot more plays that go into this, and a lot more good players. Things I didn’t focus on as far as fundamentals and the little things were the key problem I had during my rookie season. Being a pro, you begin to understand responsibility. You understand the things you have to fish out of your characteristics to make sure you’re the best you can be.”

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Nkemdiche is a fascinating athlete. Like how he felt strangely at home during a recent trip to Japan, a culture that fits his personality, spirituality and passive demeanor away from the football field.  

“They’re humans,” Nkemdiche said. “And I don’t know if in America we have that perception of what that means. It was amazing to see the love and compassion between people, and it’s so regular to them. In America, if someone does something nice, it catches your eye. Like, what are you doing?

“It was just amazing to see people who are good people in this world. And that’s something that’s supposed to be a simple fact. But it’s not, sadly. We’ve created a complex world that we live in, and it’s supposed to be very simple. And simplicity is what I love. Because I’m a simple man.”

Nkemdiche does not fit the NFL stereotype. He is not motivated by criticism or pep talks. He’s at his best when people accept him for who he is. He’s also learned a hard lesson about life in the NFL:

Different is fine. As long as you make a difference on the field. 

Reach Bickley at [email protected] or 602-444-8253. Follow him on twitter.com/dan.bickley. Listen to “Bickley and Marotta” weekdays from 12-2 p.m. on 98.7 Arizona’s Sports Station.