One more argument for saying goodbye to Robert Nkemdiche

Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche won’t be coming off the PUP list anytime soon

Here we thought Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche was just a problem for former Cardinals coaches Bruce Arians and Steve Wilks.  Turns out he’s not making Kliff Kingsbury very happy either.

We shouldn’t be shocked by this.  After all, he was arrested last month by Scottsdale police for driving on a suspended license.  That was off the field.

On the field, he’s a mess as ever.  Last week he went on the PUP list, coming off an ACL injury that ended his 2018 season.  He actually looked like he was starting to turn a corner performance-wise.

However based on what Kingsbury said about Nkemdiche on Friday, it is clear he will not be ready to participate in team activities on the field anytime soon.  Kingsbury said that Nkemdiche is currently “out of shape”.  He used these exact words, didn’t beat around the bush.

Kingsbury said that once his injury heals, then they’ll decide how to handle him from that point.  It may not reach that point with the Cardinals.  Nkemdiche apparently decided it was too much trouble to rehab properly, keep himself in shape.

So, since Nkemdiche is now in Kingsbury’s doghouse as well and combine that with his off field issues, how can anyone in the organization still have any patience with him?  It would not be surprising to see the team part ways by the time camp ends.

It is difficult to do away with another first round pick, which likely has to be part of the reason he is still around.  On some level there still has to be hope he will turn it around both on and off the field.

Last month we talked about this after his arrest.  We thought that would be the last straw.  Now Kingsbury’s comments on Friday make it seem like we could be near the end of a very frustrating road for the team and fans.