Arizona Cardinals: Less than a week till training camp

The Arizona Cardinals report to training camp in Glendale this Friday Jul 21st

The wait is almost over.  Today marks the last Arizona Cardinals-free Sunday until February, we hope.

The Cardinals report this Friday to training camp with first practice taking place at University of Phoenix Stadium this upcoming Saturday July 22nd from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Practice is open to the public.

The team will have less than two weeks to prepare for their first opponent.  They play the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday August 3rd in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game.  The game will be nationally televised on NBC.

For now though, the team will bring in its 90-players to begin working trying to find the best 53 players they can for the start of the regular season.  The Cardinals regular season kicks off at Detroit on Sunday September 10th.

There will be so many story lines as usual.  Given the Cardinals history and expectations for the 2017 season, amongst the top discussions will be health.

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The Cardinals are relatively healthy save for a few players.  Even coach Bruce Arians took care of his health in the offseason and is ready to go.  Deone Bucannon may not be ready for the season opener.  We also need to keep an eye Jaron Brown’s progress back from a torn ACL and John Brown’s progress from his Sickle Cell Trait.

Other questions will pop up quickly like can guys like quarterback Carson Palmer and receiver Larry Fitzgerald get back to what they were doing over the last two years, Palmer in 2015 and Fitz in 2016?  Fitz lead the NFL with 107 receptions in 2016.  Both put off retirement for at least one more year to make another Super Bowl run.

As usual there will be position battles.  We’ve documented the linebacker, offensive line, and receiver battles.  The backup quarterback battle will also be fun to watch.

The fact is bottom line, football is back this week.  I love the holidays, but this is truly the most wonderful time of the year.