Once training camp starts, the wisest of NFL players will tell you their bodies won’t feel or operate at 100 percent until sometime well after the season.
But the eight-day respite that Cardinals coach Bruce Arians gave his players during the team’s off week was a blessing all the same. Eight days without practicing, the players said, absolutely did their bodies good.
“It helps a lot, man. We needed it,” linebacker Kevin Minter said Tuesday when the Cardinals returned to work. “For the most part, we’ve been nicked-up at really every position this year. It’s the NFL and stuff like that happens, but last year we were lucky enough not to have this many injuries, which is why I feel like why we pushed so far last year like we did.