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SportsPulse: USA TODAY Sports’ Mackenzie Salmon breaks down the expectations for each team in the NFC West this season.
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There were two schools of thought from the NFL talking heads and other prognosticators this offseason when the Cardinals added a handful of longtime star players in their 30s:
Either the Cardinals are in it to win and are pushing all their chips into the center of the table or they’re blindly throwing their money at a bunch of aging greats and are just hoping for the best.
Whichever side of the equation you happen to fall on, know that deep down, it doesn’t really matter to defensive end J.J. Watt, wide receiver A.J. Green or center Rodney Hudson. Together, they’ve been through all the ups and downs life brings to an NFL player and they’ve seen both the best and the worst.
Just don’t call them washed up, whatever you do.
“I’ll take it. I’m not going to turn it away,” Watt, 32, bristled when asked if the doubters serve as any motivation to him. “It’s always going to be there. I mean, people are going to say whatever they want to say. What matters is Sept. 12 and what we do on game days for the entire season. I’ll be judged by that and that’s perfectly fine by me.
“But If I go out there and I perform then I want you to give me my credit. And if I don’t, then you can talk your s—t then, too. It’s perfectly fine.”
Sensing Watt’s internal motor was beginning to overheat, he was reminded that most of the skepticism was coming from outside the organization, not especially by reporters who cover the team.
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“If you do, that’s fine. And I’ll judge you by your articles,” he snapped. “And if I want to talk my s—t after your articles, then we’ll have a conversation. But no, I love it. I think as an athlete, you always have a chip on your shoulder. It doesn’t matter how great you get, it doesn’t matter how well you perform, it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re always going to have a chip on your shoulder because that’s what drives you. That’s what makes you great.
“I see negative things and I see positive things and I want to prove the negative people wrong and I want to prove the positive people right. The biggest thing I’m looking forward to here in Arizona is playing with my teammates and going out there and putting on a good show.”
Green is a seven-time Pro Bowl selection who left the Bengals after 10 seasons to sign a one-year deal worth $6 million with the Cardinals. Unlike Watt, he doesn’t really care what the critics or doubters might be saying. He mostly just shrugged it off.
“It is what it is. It’s sports,” Green, 33, said. “They said LeBron (James) was done 10 years ago. They said Chris Paul was done 10 years ago and he was an MVP candidate. They said KD (Kevin Durant) would never be KD after the Achilles. Man, it’s just like whatever.
“We play this game at a high level, we train at a high level and we know what we are capable of. The way I train in the offseason these last 11 years has been the same and I feel like I got a lot left. I was just talking to some of the young guys and I’m like, ‘This thing goes by fast.’ When you train old, you become old. So, I’m going to continue to train young and I’ll be young, I guess.”
All three of the Cardinals’ main veteran additions in 2021 – Watt, Green and Hudson – entered the NFL from the same draft class in 2011. Green was selected No.4 overall, Watt 11th overall and the 32-year-old Hudson 55th (in the second round).
Cardinals General Manger Steve Keim said he didn’t go into the offseason trying to target specific 30-and-over types to fill a handful of key starting positions. He was primarily looking for players who have excelled in a couple of important areas.
“Two of our offseason goals that really stand out to me was becoming more physical as a football team and adding leadership to our locker room,” Keim said. “And I think that those guys all bring not only the physicality of the game, but the leadership and the intangibles that you look forward to. In many respects, I call it self-policing your locker room. We can’t go home with these guys at night. We can’t tell them how much tape to watch. They have to have the passion and the want-to, and those additions certainly in my opinion have really raised the bar for us in that respect.”
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Another factor, according to Keim, was the players’ sense of self-worth and their well-documented penchant for taking care of themselves on and off the field.
“You have guys that sort of decline in their late 20s and early 30s and then there’s guys who continue to play at a high level as guys like Larry Fitzgerald have,” Keim said. “The way they take care of their bodies, the way they train in the offseason, the way they eat, all of those things gives guys the opportunity to play later in their career.”
Hudson has only missed one game in the past five seasons. Watt and Green have dealt with more injuries in recent history, and although all three missed significant chunks of time during training camp due to various ailments, each should be good to go for the Sept. 12 season opener at Tennessee.
Green said he’s coming off the most challenging season of his career and said the past two to three years overall were like a rollercoaster. It involved nagging injuries that never really healed and a real sense that the Bengals were ready to move on from him and get younger everywhere.
“I wouldn’t change what I went through last year for nothing because I think it built my character even higher,” he said. “It pushed me even more just to get through it mentally. … If you push for greatness, you’re going to have those ups and downs to where you can battle through adversity and come out on top. That’s what makes the great ones great.”
Green said he should have been smarter about trying to play through a lingering hamstring issue. He should have communicated better to the coaching and training staff. But, as he says, “I’m not a guy who’s going to point the finger. I’m going to point the finger at myself before I point a finger at anybody else.”
In many media circles, Hudson is widely regarded as the Cardinals’ most valuable acquisition of the offseason. He’s considered to be one of the best centers in the league and he’s a massively huge upgrade over what the Cardinals previously had in the middle of their offensive line. Hudson, whom running back Chase Edmonds has taken to calling “Uncle Rod,” downplayed the hype.
“I’m just one of the guys on the team trying to do my job, be a good teammate and help out however I can,” Hudson, a three-time Pro Bowl selection, said, adding, “I don’t really read the newspaper or anything like that. We’re so busy with trying to get better and me, personally, trying to learn the offense and try to grow every day that I don’t really have time to focus on anything about that.”
Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury has heard some of the negativity. Arizona’s new 30-and-over crowd, however, suits him like a pair of skinny pants and ankle socks.
“I love what they’re about. That’s the bottom line,” he said. “All those guys have been incredible professionals, have played at a high level, played in big games, done it the right way for a long time and that type of leadership is outstanding for any program. Then you throw in that they can still play at a high level, regardless of what’s said out there, we’ve never worried about that.”
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Have an opinion on the Arizona Cardinals? Reach McManaman at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @azbobbymac. Listen to him live on Fox Sports 910-AM every Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 on Calling All Sports with Roc and Manuch.
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