Red Sea Report - Cardinals Tight End Trey McBride Looking To Build On Breakout Season

Published Jul 9, 2024, 8:23 PM
After setting franchise records in 2023, what does Cardinals Tight End Trey McBride have in store for the 2024 season? Dani Sureck, Zach Gershman and Rob Fredrickson discuss what McBride can do in this offense after adding more weapons this offseason and how McBride can become a compete tight end. Plus, the group takes a look at how Drew Petzing's offense might look with a fully healthy Kyler Murray and the evolution of the defense under Nick Rallis heading into his second year as defensive coordinator.

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So the fifteen of the ten Perry's Gonna Score touchdown.

Welcome to the Cardinals Red Sea Report.

Swam to the ground by Fudda Baker like a torpedo. He came flying into the backfield Connor to the ten, to the five, and then too the end zone of the touchdown.

The Cardinals Red Sea Report is brought to you by Arizona Cardinals Podcast. Visit Azycardinals dot com slash podcast.

Here we go one.

Hand to catch it a touchdown?

Oh baby, how's that film? Here's Ginny Surrek, Zach Gershman, and nine year NFL veteran Rob Frederickson.

When it starts hitting one fifteen one, eighteen degrees outside, that's when you know you're inch and closer to football season, because that's football weather here in Arizona. Though, thank you for the Cardinals. They'll be inside for training camp, which is crazy enough, just two weeks away. Every year, I feel like the off season is so long and then you blink and suddenly it's time for training camp. Got Rob Frederickson Zach Gershman. I'm Danny Sirek. And when Paul Calvic and Craig Greeley go on vacation at the same time, when you bring in.

The eighteen exactly, I mean, this is the star studded group right here.

It's a party. It's party time.

Now we can have yeah, let us hair down a little bit. But yes, once you see one eighteen on your Instagram feed from being out on the East Coast, the flight back home, it was a little it was a little dreading.

But coming back here, I get so depressed when I get into my car and it's you know, because it's it's adjusted or something's going on, and it's like it might the little thermometer on the on the dashboards as like one twenty five or something like that. That's that's that's just too hot.

That was yesterday I got my cart was one twenty three, and mentally I had to tell myself, Oh, my car's just cooling off. It's not that hot. It's a dry heat what everyone says. But at some point one eighteen, it's still one eighteen.

Actually complete opposite. I was driving over here to the studio and my car's at one hundred, and I'm like, my car's lying to me, and not in the best way, because I was expecting, you know, you're expecting to be one eighteen, one twenty kind of where we're at right now. But one hundred. They're just playing with me.

How is everybody's fourth July?

Now?

The whole football side, well, the coaches, they might be trickling back in, but players are still off. So we had a little bit of time off.

Zach, how was your fourth It was nice back out east. I had to spend some time with the family down at the Jersey Shore. So for all the people that haven't been to the Jersey Shore, it's not like the TV show Bom. Sorry to break the news to people, but I had a good time.

Rob. What about you. Well, I'm not going to cast a pall on this broadcast, but I just got to say, you know, I had to put my dog down this weekend, so that kind of that kind of monopolized the weekend, and you know, fly high Kobe. Kobe was our dog and had to put him down. But he's in a better place now. And let's get this Let's get this thing going.

Let's get it rolling, because now we're inch and closer to training camp, So July twenty third is when the players will report the first practice July twenty fourth. You can check out on Azcardinals dot com for the open practices and how you can come out to State Farm Stadium throughout training camp, OTAs and mini camp checked off the box. You can only learn so much about a team because they're not in pads and through different phases. For a large portion of it, you can't even line up against each other. However, you can still get some inklings on maybe where players are going to be positioned, if they're going to be somewhere different, or you know, get a feel for maybe what the identity of this team can be. Zach, what did you learn about this team year two under head coach Jonathan Gannon from OTAs in mini camp.

Yeah, so this was my first time actually having a front row seat to seeing what in OTA's looks like, not just from a fans perspective watching whatever you can on social media. You really can't tell too much off of players being in shorts, you know, light, it's kind of it's good on good, but there's only so much you could do. But what you can see is a player's work ethic, and that's some that's a situation like Marvin Harrison Junior, who like most other rookies, comes in towards the back of the line, and through work ethic and trying to make the most of the opportunities you have through training camp and I mean through mini camp and OTAs, he moved his way towards the front of the line. Now that's not something that was unexpected or a surprise, but to see it happened this early is definitely encouraging.

It is interesting how many players have talked about how Marvin Harrison Junior doesn't seem like a typical rookie from the physical attributes, the mental attributes, and from the interactions that we've had with them, a very humble, down to earth person. I mean, that's exactly what you want to hear though. From fourth overall pick Rob.

Well, he's had a great mentor his whole life in his father and you know, has really shown him the way and how to be a pro. He's he's grown up with that, and so he's he's wide receiver one ready from day one, and he has been since he got here. Really, so I don't even really like look at him as a as a rookie, I kind of I feel like, you know, he's always had this pressure, whether whether it was self induced or other people putting it on him, but he's always had this pressure, you know, to to be the best or to live up to the shadow that was cast by his father, and and and he's done that every everywhere he's been. And so I don't I don't think he's a he's a guy that's gonna come in here and be nervous or you know, dropping passes or running the wrong routes. He's I think Marvin Harrison Junior is a player that is ready from day one and will be and and we'll really have an excellent season.

You're not just saying he's wide receiver.

One.

We saw throughout the offseason program he ended up finding his way to the front of the line when it comes to you know, those exercises and when they're running routes. And typically when you are the first receiver to go out and run arount with your quarterback, you're starting white.

One hundred percent.

And when you use the fourth overall selection on a player like that, and with the skills and the acumen and the generational pedigree that we saw coming out of college. Being a Penn stater, I just had a first hand seat to our front row seat to seeing Marvin Harrison Junior in college and it wasn't you know, pleasant for me or my fellow Nitney Lions. But Rob, I want to ask you a question because it was asking the mailbag earlier this week, which I had the opportunity to step in and you know, take a hack at it in place of Darren Urban. Somebody asked when a rookie comes to the front of the line, like how Marvin did so early on. Obviously have a lot of veterans in the room from the inside the locker room, putting in perspective a little bit, can a player feel some type of way knowing the guy's coming in a rookie like that and they could right away kind of earn their keeps. But also, like you know, there's there's a personal element to this. People want to get their own reps too.

Well, it's all on how you handle it. I don't think Marvin Harrison Junior is handling it, you know, with he's not he's not cocky, he's not like over arrogant or anything like that and putting other players on the team in a position where they feel inferior, which they're not. But you know, I also too, I think where you're drafted. So he's drafted fourth overall, that says a lot. That says something that that automatically says, you're front of the line. We expect you to be front line. We expect you to be a starter, We expect you to be a wide receiver one. And everybody knows that. It doesn't have to be said, it's just understood, and so you know, it's just just kind of natural evolution and a pecking order that that goes on there.

Offensive Corny or Drew Petsing spoke to the media recently and was asked about moving the ball around and him saying, you know, I'm not worried about that because we have the right type of character in the locker room and not having egos, and that's real. That's important. What general manager Manti Austin Fort has prioritized. The reality is is Marvin Earrison Junior was drafted fourth overall for a reason, and the more impact he can have on this offense is only going to be beneficial for every other offensive weapon and their ability to get open or to have one on one So it is important that they do have the right type of veterans, which this team does in the locker room. Here's what Petsng had to say to the media on how the offensive program went year two for him in this staff, I.

Think we took a lot of strides coming together as a team, you know, continuing to prove on a lot of the fundamentals. I think that's what we really focus on in the off season. You know, you're not going against an opponent, so you really have a chance to hone in on the finer details of your position and your job and really try to improve individually and then put it together collectively there towards the end of the offseason, so I thought it was good.

Petsing said that he feels more prepared going into year two, which makes sense, right. He has a better feel for the pieces that have stayed on this offense, what he wants to accomplish, and what he's working on after last year, which I know that there were some rocky points that first half of the season, rob when they didn't have quarterback Kyler Murray. There was a bit of a carousel going on in that position, and you know, they had zach Ertz and then it became Trey McBride. There there was a lot of moving parts when you look at the second half of the season when Murray returned and seeing the chemistry that was built. This offense really has a lot of good things to work off of.

Yeah, and you know, you talk about culture all the time, the culture change here, but we don't talk as much about the identity of this offense in particular. And really that second half of the season last year, it really became evident what the identity of the Arizona Cardinals is going to be going forward, and that is a run first offense with play action coming off of that. And you know why they put together some games where you know, they were rushing the ball for over two hundred yards a game and I think they were leading the league in second half of the season rushing average. So the identity of this offense really became crystallized in my opinion, and you know, it's something that Drew Petson can build off of. Going into the sea this year.

I think a part of that too, especially in the second half of the year, you didn't have Hollywood brown out there, Michael Wilson was still coming off of his injuries. So the passing game and the connection between Kyler Murray and his targets, they didn't have the time to do that. So a large part of it was because of the success you had on the ground, but it was also because they didn't necessarily have the chemistry targeting the wide receivers. I remember going into the game against Philadelphia after a rough outing against Chicago trying to get the wide receivers involved outside of Greg Dersch's thirty plus yard touchdown run that he had or touchdown scamp Row. He got away from there, breaking a couple ankles along the way. The question was where are the wide receivers? So it's not a surprise that the run first identity, you know, started to come to fruition in that second half of the season. But thinking about to what Drew Pets said about the first year in OTAs, his quarterbacks were Colt McCoy, Jeff driscoll, David blou and Clayton Tune, who was in the building for only about two months. It's a very different look in that quarterback room in general.

Absolutely, there were multiple games that second half of the season where your leading receiver was not a wide receiver, a tight end, and they really got the running backs involved and it's part of the reason we saw Trey McBride pop off the way that he did. Here's what McBride said he's looking forward to about training camp.

I like that it's inside.

Truthfully, it's hot outside.

No.

I just think it's a great opportunity for all the guys to get together, to compete and to kind of carve out a role for the team. And it's just a cool little, you know time because you're you're away from home. You know, they put us up in a hotel for a month and you're away from home. It's all ball. You're just kind of their meetings, football meetings, football. That's kind of all it is for a month. And I think that's really cool if this is what you love and that's what you want to do, and it's just fun to be around the guys for a month away from home and it's just all football.

Twenty four to seven.

Can't say I blame McBride for being happy that training camp is indoors, because same, Yeah, that'll be nice for sure. McBride was saying, you know it feels significantly different for him in this offense from where they were last year, and again that just makes sense of having continuity with each other as teammates and with the coaching staff, and again having your quarterback out there. McBride's saying that part of the reason he's so excited for training camp is because quote sky's the limit for this offense and they have lots of different weapons. McBride is talking about rob the mental aspect and being around essentially just your teammates for a month and it really is just football practice meetings, practice meetings. How significant is that just being able to focus on football with your teammates and the chemistry and the camaraderie that is built during training camp.

Well, it's especially important for the new guys, right, so the rookies and the new free agents that have been brought in training camp and just that full immersion of meetings and practice and lifting and training room and everything is football focused. That whole immersion is really important for those new guys to really get get to understanding of what it is as culture is, what the identity is, what the playbook is, and so you're going to see that in training camp. You're going to see mistakes. Obviously, that's that's the time to get them out. That's the time to make those mistakes and move forward and hopefully in a in a good place.

Rob How do players both rest up without taking a step backwards during this time before.

Training camp, before training camp.

Yeah, they've got this break now. You don't want to take steps back.

You get some time off, you get you get a little time off to to reboot and recharge and and kind of you know, get ready for for the first day of training camp. You want to you want to you know, obviously be working out towards training camp, but take some time off, get away.

Single game tickets are on sale now. Visit Azycardinals dot com forward slash buy tickets to secure your seats today. Coming up on the Cardinals Red zero, we're going more in depth on how this offense is going to look year two under Drew Patsy. Stay with us, hurry.

Back to throw lobs it from your side and what a beautiful grand by McBride.

Kyler Murray just flicked a p into a.

Thimble looking deep, firing far side and it's caught inside the forty by Brown down to the thirty great throw by Kyler Murray. Just drop the dime snapped to Murray and he's gonna keep it running left. He's at the five pennies into the ends up before the touchdown, Kyler.

Murray is packed the mighty Kyler.

Murray restep dropped in trouble, moving to his left and he spins away from a defender running to the right at the twenty five, at the thirty, at the forty, at the fifty, and dives to the forty five yard line in Falcon territory from first down gate of thirteen. That's the Kyler Murray Lee rememper.

An electric return for quarterback Kyle Murray last season, coming off that ACL injury the year prior, reminding everybody, Cardinals fans as well as opponents what he's capable of. Welcome back into the Cardinals Red Sea Report with Rob Frederickson and Zach Gershman. I'm Danny Sirek. There was hype last season about Kyler making his return. There is I feel like more hype online of Kyler having a full off season and being healthy now going into year two with this offense. Zach of also.

Going into year six exactly. That's what we were just talking about off air, just how the type of sentiment you're seeing on social media surrounding Kyler Murray. It isn't what you've seen in the past. You have quotes about Trey McBride saying that he's fully capable of having an MVP caliber season, the stats, there's odds about him, comeback Player of the Year, all these different type of things. But the way that the teammates are talking about Kyler, what we're able to see from social media, how it's not all talk.

How he is.

Connecting with the guys off campus, how he is how and how he is working out with them. There is a lot of excitement about what could be. And it's funny because we talked about the electrifying game against the Atlanta Falcons. Remember Jonathan Gannon like poo pooing in saying like, don't expect the same thing from Kyler Murray. It's gonna take him some time to get acclimated.

Rob he told JG. He told him, well he did. And you know, Kyler, his evolution is so fun to watch, just the way he's changed both on the field and off the field. He really has become the leader of this team and you know, what's interesting is is I don't see this offense really relying on Kyler to make every play like it did in the past, where Kyler had to throw the ball forty forty five times a game and really make every play. You know. I feel like the identity again, I'll say it again, is really more of a run first offense with play action coming off of that. And I think, you know, Kyler really has embraced that his action fakes have have really improved, and he's running this offense really, you know, and he's even said it, he said, you know, I really look, I really wanted to be under center more in previous years, and now he's really having that opportunity. And they're still going to be in shotgun a fair amount. But I just I just think this offense is set up for Kyler to not have to make every play and and that to me takes a load off of his shoulders and enables him to really play free.

That's how it should be. That's something Kyler talked about this offseason was he doesn't want to have to be relied on, maybe more so with his legs and running around and saving the day every single play of that's not what it should be, and he doesn't feel like that now with this offense. Was the point he was making is he feels like there is good communication and there's good plays that are being called. The scheme, the preparation, all of that has been working so that he feels and everybody feels prepared enough to where you have if Kyler needs to use his legs, he needs to scramble, he needs to extend a play he can, that's not what the offense is built around. I am excited because last year, when Kyler returned in the middle of the season, it's difficult to have to pick up an entirely new scheme when you can't even hold a football, and that's you know, CBA rules of when you're rehabbing. So Kyler was having to spend the entire offseason and majority of that first half of the season only in meetings and standing off on the side at practice and watching and doing the mental reps and trying to think, Okay, what would I like about this, what would I change? How would this feel? When he returned, I would imagine it was almost maybe playing catch up the rest of the season of Okay, you know, I'm figuring out this offense now firsthand for the first time. But I'm also having to really just prepare for this week's opponent. And now that he has an entire offseason, Rob, I feel like the floodgates are going to be open with the opportunities that Kyler Murray's going to have with offense.

Yeah, it was a little bit like being a going to barber school or hairstyle of school and not being able to actually cut hair.

That would be scary to sit at you.

Right, you know what I mean. I mean, Oh, you're okay, so then I do this and I use this scissor and do that. Okay, that sounds good. Well, but if you're not practicing it, if you're not actually doing it, it's hard to really implement and get the timing down and the terminology and all that. So to have him back healthy for a full off season again, can't we can't overstate this enough, just the importance of what Kyler means to this team and what his presence means to the players and to the coaching staff. And so I'm glad he's he's able to be healthy healthy number one, And I'm glad he's able to be around that more than anything, I think is so important.

Yeah, when we talk about the speed of the game, that's all very different from when you're just watching on the sidelines. But I think one of the most important and probably underrated things is when Drew Petsing told Kyler he has to switch his knees. He was going to be up and the other leg was going to be down in his formation when he was in shotgun. That does make a big difference when it comes to timing, and that's not something Kyler really had the chance to work on. All he could do was do the mental reps and do the reps on the side as he was rehabbing by himself. That all plays, That all plays a big difference. But I've been putting together these position overviews just wrapped up all the offensive ones. When we talk about Kyler not having to make every single play by himself. I have a tab on the bomb that says upgrade level. Is it a high, is it a medium? It's a low. Throughout the offense, it's really a lot of lows. You have everybody that you need, You have your star tight end, you have your wide receiver options out there. You already have a three headed monster back there in the running back room with Trey Benson, James Connor, Michael Carter, and obviously the offensive line is going to shape up. What we've seen from Kyler Murray is that he doesn't need to make every play, but he also has all the weapons around him in order to have a successful offense.

Here's what Peeds I want to say on how different OTAs were this year having healthy Kyler Murray.

You've done it once, so you feel a little bit more prepared. You learn from a couple of the mistakes maybe you made or didn't make the first time around, and just tried to iron some of those things out. And then certainly having Kyler out their help, so you're using real reps rather than hey, what are you thinking about this? Have you seen that on tape? What do you feel?

You know?

I think that certainly helps when it's not those conversations, it's what did you see? How did that feel? Did you like that route? Did you like that combination? Are you seeing it the way we want to? Where do we need to change things? Are you happy with where the system's at? Because it's it's a collective effort, and certainly those communication those reps are important.

Reps are important having Kyler Murray back out there, not just for himself, but how that will trickle down and with the rest of the offense and the chemistry that's being built, which will in turn allow Petsing to create the identity he wants for this offense. Here's what he had to say about what changes he expects to see in the identity in twenty twenty four.

I don't see it changing drastically. We need to be tough, physical, smart, explosive. Those are probably words that you're going to hear me say over and over and over again. If we're going to be good, we need to create big plays. The mindset always one more point. Whatever that looks like. It can be a ton of points, it can be few points. It has to be more than they scored. I say that almost to a point of being like lame about it, but it's true. It is what it is. Like, that's the game, Like, we have to score more than them. That's all we're trying to do. That's all we're ever going to try to do. And to do that typically it's protect football, create explosive plays, and execute situation football.

When I first heard Petsin say it's not going to change drastically. My ears kind of perked up of well, you've got all these new players and in all these new weapons and a healthy quarterback, And then I thought about it. I was like, wait, that's probably what you want to hear, is that your coordinator was installing an offense that he wants long term year one. He's just going to have more options and be a little more creative with that in year two. And we saw good things in the identity last year of being able to successfully run the ball and getting a glimpse of the passing. And now I don't think it's going to be about changing the identity zac. I think it's just going to be expanding upon that with the pieces that have either stayed on this team and really grown this offseason or the new new additions.

Look towards the.

Latter half of the season, that second half, especially when Kyler came back, the offense was working. There were top five rushing offense for a reason in the NFL, and then you start to see glimpses of what he could be like when Kyler Murray does have the weapons in his repertoire at his disposal. That's where the offense isn't going to change drastically because now it's just a matter of connecting more with the wide receivers. There were plays we talk a lot throughout the season about the one instance where Kyler wasn't on the same page with Trey McBride in that game against Atlanta because he wanted him to stop on his route. Hit right there, and then Kyler Tray kept running Kyler and Stead through the interception. The same thing with Michael Wilson. The chemistry between those guys, the plays were there, there was just a little there's something off. That's what you have this time during the offseason to work on those kinks, get those out of the way so that when you do hit the field against Buffalo Week one, you have everything right there ready to go. The chemistry is there, The play calling we know is there already because and the identity, it's proven that it works.

Look, I think this is the kind of offense that they want to run. They want to run the ball, but you know, maybe an unintended or maybe an intended last season consequence of that is is also helping out their defense. Because the Colonel's defense was hurting last year and and hurting it from the standpoint is just depth, especially up front, and they didn't have the they didn't have the bodies, they didn't have the guys, and so they needed some protection. They needed the offense to chew up clock, limit possessions for the opponent and and score some points. And you know, if that's kind of the identity moving into this season, that's fine too. I think the defense is going to be better. Okay, obviously, I think the offense is going to be better. They've they've added some pieces, they've added some players, and so if that continues to be the mentality of let's run, let's ball control, let's limit possessions for our opponents, and oh, by the way, our defense has got more depth now and we got some stars and key positions now, and our defense is going to be better. You know, that sounds like a recipe for some successful football teams. You think about the Philadelphia Eagles, you think about the Baltimore Ravens, that's kind of their model, that's kind of what they like to do. San Francisco forty nine ers as well. So you know, I think it's an identity that that has some lengths and can work.

You make a good point. Petsing mentioned more than once in his press conference recently with the media about just having one more point than the opponent. And that might sound silly or simple, but it really does come down to that. When you hear your quarterback talking about how he feels locked in for year two of this offense, locked in with his knee, and that he feels like he's found a good routine to where he's not doing the full rehab, but he he's added a few things into his routine to make sure he feels good and healthy. That just sounds like a recipe for success to me.

Yeah, oh absolutely, And you know they're just going to build on it again. They've added pieces that Manti ausin Ford is building this roster in the in the mold of of what they want, of what JG wants and continuing to add pieces and and you look, we haven't really talked about it, but a big shift was moving Paris Johnson, who played every snap offensively last year, from right tackle, moving him over to the left tackle. A lot of guys wouldn't like that, but you know that, Danny, you hit on it earlier. This is a ego list team. This is this is a selfless team, and these guys He's like, yeah, I'll move over there, no problem, you know. And it allows Jonah Williams to slide in there at right tackle. And now all of a sudden, you got a pretty good offensive line for Kyler. We can do some things. Now, we can do some ball fakes and do some seven step drops with some play acts and downfield and Martin Harrison Junior I like that. I like that offense. Give it to me.

I think that also how the offensive line has grown, not only on the field, but off the field, just a connection with one another. We've been able to hear from all the different guys. It would not be a surprise to see another one thousand yard rushing season and in a thousand yard pass casher, because it's all possible in this offense.

Especially you've got Trey McBride, who broke the single season record for most receptions by a tight end and Cardinals history with eighty one.

Yeah, and Norly playing basically half a season.

Yeah, he was playing behind Zach Ertz for the first half of the season and still getting acclimated with Kyler Murray because he had you know mcgride had limited reps the year prior as a rookie. We're going to talk more in depth about Trey McBride coming up. Make sure you check out the Emmy Award winning Cardinals flight plan on the Cardinals official YouTube page YouTube dot com Forward slash Azy Cardinals Cardinals flight plan Stick and Pick takes you inside the draft room and provides an all access look at the selections of first rounders Marvin Harrison Junior and Darius Robinson. That's Cardinal's flight plan Stick and Pick on the Cardinals official YouTube page. Stay with us more Red Seat report right after this.

Trey McBride has been one of the best receiving tight ends in football.

Tray McBride gross.

Long grasshopper near sight. It is underground co minutes caught at the ten yard line by mccride. First Cardinal tight end in thirty four years with a one hundred yard receiving game.

Oh my goodness, Trade mcfride, have a day, babyge.

Mccride fighting for the first down at the two. He's still pushing the pile and he pushes.

It into the end zone.

But the touchdown Trey McBride all muscle Fuyers laugh in the end zone, it is caught by McBride and it's a touchdown.

Big turn play by Trey McBride.

That was an elite catch. That was spectacular. What a beautiful grab by mccride. A nice catch by Trey McBride.

McBride with that catch sets the Cardinals single season record for most receptions by a tight end. His second NFL season has been phenomenal and it continued.

Trey McBride trending upwards, no question about it, coming off a season where he played an all seventeen games twelve starts, became just the second Cardinals tight end to have multiple one hundred yard receiving games in a season. Excited to see what he can do this year with a healthy Kyler Murray for an entire season. Welcome back into the Cardinals Red Sea Report with Rob Frederickson and Zach Gershman. I'm Danny Sirek. Really is incredible to see the growth from McBride last year when he wasn't even a starter for the entire year and his rookie season Rob his reps were limited. It was just the depth chart and adjusting and maybe what the coaching staff was asking of him, the confidence and himself an understanding. The offense was very noticeable the second half of last year.

Can I just say for Cardinal Nation how excited and exciting it is. You know, the two Achilles heels that the Cardinals have always had was covering the tight ends on defense and having a tight end on offense. And now look Trey McBride. You know just what he was able to do last year and effectively half a season eighty one receptions and multiple games over one hundred yards. Amazing. I love everything about him. I love his compete level, his route running, he catches the ball with his hands away from his body, and his yards after catch. He is elite. And I don't think it's hyperbole to say that Trey McBride is. I put him in a top five tight end category, and there's some good tight ends in this league, but he is right up there when you look around this league and talk about tight ends, and I don't I don't see that diminishing at all. Especially with Marvin Harrison Junior coming in. There'll be some more attention given to him that should really afford Trey McBride to do his work.

Yeah, when Trey McBride had the game against the Baltimore Ravens where he was just I believe he finished with ninety five total yards in that game, and he had one play where he dropped the ball in the end zone and he was frustrated, and when we spoke to him after in the locker room, that place still haunted him. You want a guy like that that remembers the little stuff because they it pushes them to be better. Going back to the previous block, how we just talked about the miscommunication between him and Kyler and that game against Atlanta. That's something he was talking about just a few weeks ago when he sat here. We're a handful of months separated between Atlanta and you know, just sitting here during the offseason, so to see how it is motivating him to be better. He is no longer the guy that they see as tight end number two. He is tight end number one, and he is trying to vouch to become tight end number one across the entire league because he has the potential to do it. And it's crazy, it's only year number three.

McBride was doing that for part of last season. When Murray returned McBride for that final half of the season was leading all tight ends in almost every category that you could. So that's why this guy really is the limit for the two of them, and that's why it's been important that they work on this chemistry this offseason outside the facility and wide receiver Michael Wilson I had talked about it when he spoke with the media recently that he wanted to stay in Arizona this offseason to simply work out with Kyler because that chemistry and that connection was important. McBride is saying that it's been a week to week thing Kyler working out with his receivers outside the facility of this offseason and saying that Kyler's been a great leader. McBride also even saying that this is as close as the offense has felt since he's been here, that that means something. Here's here's a little bit more what McBride said on growing that chemistry with Murray, working.

Out with him, running routes with him on the weekends outside of this building. That's where that chemistry comes. He knows exactly what I'm going to do, how I run routes, you know, how I get open things like that, So that we can kind of be on the same page and he's not guessing what I'm doing or I'm not guessing what he's doing.

So the more.

Routes we run together, the more we continue to grow our relationship, the more we continue to do the things together, I think that will just become natural.

Not only McBride's talent, but what you were talking about. Rob is looking at these other weapons. They want to go out to Marvin Harrison Junior, they want to find Michael Wilson, maybe a Greg Dersch. You want to hand the ball off, James Connor, whatever you want to do. As long as you're moving the ball right, you're moving the chains, that's fine. I just I feel like when we were seeing defenses start to double team McBride, I don't know how you're going to afford defenders to double team McBride this year, which means there's a very good chance he's going to be open even more than he was last year.

Yeah, not anymore. I mean, you're not able to do that anymore. You're not able to double team Trey McBride because as a defensive coordinator, you don't really feel like the Cardinals wide receivers can hurt you. Well, that's not the case anymore. Marvin Harrison Junior, he will sting you, he will hurt you. Michael Wilson is getting better, he's growing, he's he's going to be a very successful wide receiver in this offense. And Deortsch we you know, we we say so much about him and just every opportunity that he gets, he he makes things happen. So the cupboards are full offensively in terms of the talent and in terms of the skilled positions, and so you know it's now I guess a good problem to have is is how do you spread the ball around? Who do you give the ball to? And that's you know, that's gonna be h you know, Kyler's problem like this.

That's why pets and joking we said, we need two footballs out there so that we have enough to just distribute throughout the field. But try locking up every single wide receiver and target. Let James Connor hurt you. That's the that's the benefit of this Arizona Cardinals offense. There's so much versatility and they could hurt you in so many different ways. The opposing defense now with Trey McBride, we even saw when he was double teams, he was still making action happen. And that's also what opened up the offense in general, because there was such a heavy focus on him and he was still able to contribute and put up career high numbers. It's going to be very exciting to see. And the one thing I love about Trey McBride, he does not shy away from contact. We've seen him hurtle over defenders, We've seen him push through defenders. Going back to that game against the Baltimore Ravens, it was a seventeen yard touchdown where he got stopped at the six, and every other alignement, every single player on that Cardinals offense pushed him into the end zone. Most other players they would have stopped.

McBride had four hundred and twenty yards after contact, number one on this team by a long shot. An underrated part of his game just how tough McBride is to tackle. When Drew Petsing was talking about tight end one, he was saying McBride's willing to do whatever is needed of him, pets and adding that this is a multifaceted offense when you're looking at what is required from the tight ends group, saying You're not just going to split out and catch the ball or just block, saying what, we put a lot on that position mentally and physically, and McBride has embraced that. Here's a little bit more on what betts and had to say on just what McBride is willing to do for this offense.

The tight end position in this offense is multifaceted. You're not going to just split out and catch the ball. You're not just going to sit in line and block. It's not going to be just the run game of the pass game, whatever it might be. We put a lot on that position, both mentally and physically, and I think he's done a really good job of embracing that and wanting to be really good at it. You know, certainly you see his skill set in the passing game. That's always what fantasy football owners love, that's what gets you Onny's Sports Center and those type of things. But I think at the end of the day, that position in this offense to be successful requires a lot more than that. And his willingness, without question, to do some of the dirty work that's not going to get noticed, that's not going to put him in the headlines, has been really impressive.

Here's Trey McBride on the importance of doing that dirty work to be a complete tight end.

Yeah.

I think that's very important. You know, the blocking aspect of the game is very important. That's what gets you open in the play action stuff, all the run action stuff. So to be able to block it really helps you get open more than you think so and it keeps you on the field for more plays all that stuff. So it's just it's very important and something that I embrace. To be a complete tight end in this league is very hard, but something I strive to do every day.

Rookie tight end Tip Briman has made it clear he wants to mall players. He wants to be a blocker. Zach Tray McBride is still going to block and be a complete tight end.

Oh yeah.

We've seen the twelve person out thirteen personnel how heavily the tight end position is utilized in this offense. That's why you use a third round selection to bring in a guy like Tip Ryman, because you know what he could bring to the table. That's also why you try converting and Elijah Higgins from a wide receiver to a tight end, because you're able to utilize his size to you know, he's got the pass catching ability, let's try to get him in the blocking game as well. Trey McBride continues to strive and strike and strive to be great. We've seen that now they practice. He was at the tight End University summit over there in Nashville. He's learning from some of the best and it really is just the beginning. Trade McBride's a veteran in that room, yes, but he's only in year number three. And that's why I think is the most important fact of all of this is that he still has so much room to grow. And while the sky is the limit for the offense entirely, you can only imagine what it could be for Trade McBride.

Yeah, Trade McBride, I don't know. I don't know what more we can say about him. Honestly, we talked about him. He's a potter, apparently right Tip Tip was a pottery But this is a callback to the last Red Sea report. We were asking what are you? What are you when you do pottery?

I found out you're watching a movie on the plane back from the Jersey shore out here, you're a potter.

Interesting, Well, the Cardinals had the fifth most snaps with multiple tight ends three hundred and forty two snaps last year May the fourth highest yards per game when they were in multiple tight end sets. So you know, we're going to see a lot of Trade McBride, a lot of Tip Rieman and the sneaky position battle on who that third tight end will be more Red Sea Report coming up, We're gonna go more into Rob's wheelhouse, looking into the defense, how they could be more complex and year two. Rob Frederickson, Zach Gershman, I'm Danny Surrex, stay with us here on the Cardinals Red Sea Report.

Being adaptable and more specifically, be adaptable to the players that you have right, being able to utilize our guys skill sets that puts them in the best position to win games. Ultimately, what do we have to do on a week to week basis to beat the opponent? And there's a whole other component. It's tar as far as serving the players right, and that's everybody in the organization doing what their job is in order to truly maximize a player's ability and potential.

Welcome back in the Cardinals. I'd see report alongside Rob Frederickson and Zach Gershman. I'm Danny Suracht. No secret Cardinals defense needed to improve this offseason bottom tier and a lot of the stats across the board, well they did that, talking about first rounder Darius Robinson and a lot of free agency moves, really looking at that defensive line, adding in linebacker Mac Wilson. Rob initial thoughts as you're going into training camp from what you've seen from the off season so far, OTA's in mini caamp on just how improved this defense not only is at the moment, but really how improved it can become regular season.

Yeah, well, you know, from a depth standpoint, they really improved, especially on that defensive line. You bring in Nichols, you bring in Jones, you draft Darius Robinson, So you know, I like where the defensive line is now versus where it was six eight months ago. So that there's a lot of optimism from that standpoint as far as this defense, and and you know, just their ability now to implement more things and to put in more of the playbook of where they want to be defensively, where Nick Rolsis wants this defense to be ultimately, because they weren't able to do that last year because it was a mass unit. Let's be honest, it was a carousel of players, healthy players coming in and injured guys going out, and it just they were never able to really get any continuity going there. Defensively. It was always just kind of, you know, hold in hope. Well, you know, you can't really build a defense around that. And so there's a lot of optimism I think right now in terms of where this defense will be just from the standpoint of they brought in some starters, good starters, and and they've drafted some guys to come in and be key contributors, and and just from an overall depth standpoint, this defense has greatly improved.

The way that I look at is there were so many pleasant surprises last year on the defense, especially with the guy like Dante Stills, more so from the rookies, you know Dante Stills, Starling Thomas, you know Key Trel Clark in the beginning half of the season, and then in the middle half he wasn't really seeing the field as much. Then towards Week sixteen, seventeen eighteen, he was back out there more kind of adopting his role in Nick Rolis even saying he has an assassin mindset, so he is going to continue to improve. But it was that mix and match because you were dealt with the injury bugs so often and so frequently throughout the year. You never really had a chance to build that identity on the defense, especially with you know, Buddha Baker sideline, he had his injury, Jalen Thompson was injured. Kayier White was that focal point on the defense. He was injured after the Houston game. You didn't have him for the rest of the season. So with the free agency additions, both on the defensive line, but also in the cornerback room, bringing in a guy like Sean Murphy, Bunting, drafting a Max mel and Elijah Jones, Jayden Davis, you have options out there that you didn't really have last year when you were just trying to mix and match and throw a roster to put out on the field.

I expect to see some changes to this defense complexity wise, especially after hearing outside linebackers, even Colin saying when he was talking with Dennis Gardeck, they were saying, oh, there's a lot of new stuff we got to learn. Here's Collins on the changes going into twenty twenty four's training camp.

Yeah, it was very i.

Would say very vanilla going into the training camp last year. So it's it's it's been nice and you get to open up to and see what works, what doesn't work, and it's like, hey, this is not really working, or you know, let's try this that or the other guys have good feedback on what they like and they can see and you get to try all these different things, and the coaches can tell what they like, so they know what to bring in when it's you know they're doing the test runs right now. Is when you get into training camp, it's not a complete test run.

You need to have more production from your pass rush than you had last year, which recorded just one sec in the final six games, and that was pushing justin fields in Chicago really out of bounds. I think that the depth that has been added, the strong depth, the veteran presence along that defensive line, rob is really going to have a trickle down effect that's going to allow a Collins, a guard deck, a bj Ojalari, maybe rookie Xavier Thomas if he's out there seeing the field, to really be more dynamic and more aggressive.

Yeah, you know the quickest way to change the fortune of a defense or to really improve defensively, in my opinion, is consistent outside past pressure, pass rush pressure. I think we're gonna get it from the inside, the defensive line of inside. But the question mark still remains in my mind for this defense is who's going to be the one or is it going to be a rotation of guys that really provide consistent pressure outside.

I'm excited to see Nick Rolis in the second year. He's only thirty. Most of the guys on this roster are his age, so to see him continue to evolve as a defensive coordinator, that's going to be something very exciting and very intriguing going into your number two days.

A lot of fun training camp, position battles on the defense inside. Cardinals fans, be sure to check out Easy Cardinals so you can get information on these open practices, including the red and white practice on Saturday, August third, all leading up to the preseason opener against the New Orleans Saints on Saturday August tenth. Thanks so much for tuning in to the Cardinals Red Sea Report for Rob Frederickson, Zach Gershman, I'm Danny Sirek. We'll catch you right here. Next time. On the Arizona Cardinals Radio.

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