A continuing look at the Arizona Cardinals roster as training camp is underway
The Arizona Cardinals are now almost a week into training camp with the first preseason game just a little over a week away. This is a continuing look at the current roster player by player.
In this profile we look at guard Mike Iupati. He is entering his seventh-season out of Idaho.
2015: Iupati’s first season in the desert for the most part was a success. He started out in camp a little slowly and dealt with an injury.
Iupati helped the Cardinals rush for 1,917 yards in 2015, an average of 119.8 yards-per-game. That was eighth-best in the NFL last season.
Iupati had one scare last season in the Sunday Night Football game at the Seattle Seahawks in November. He had to be taken away by ambulance. Everyone feared the worst.
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What the Cardinals got though was the best news they could have hoped for. There was no major damage done and in fact Iupati was already back in the team locker room by the time the game was over. He ended up back at practice later that week.
2016: Iupati once again will be asked to step it up. There are no doubts that he will. He will have the opportunity to block once again for the three-headed running back monster that is David Johnson, Chris Johnson, and Andre Ellington. Don’t be shocked if the Cardinals make it over the 2,000-yard hump in 2016.
The question with Iupati will once again by pass blocking. He was decent at times and struggled at times last season. However all of that was a known about him when he was with the San Francisco 49ers. You have to take the good with the not-so-good. Even then it isn’t that horrible. The Cardinals have definitely had worse in the pass-blocking department.