PHOENIX — Cardinals camp is officially underway out at State Farm Stadium. First-year head coach Jonathan Gannon has been waiting for this moment for his entire life, but he’s calm about it.
"Standard operating procedure. Last night, I got fire in my gut when I was driving over here, stuck in traffic," he said. "It doesn't matter if I was a quality control, or a DB coach, or a coordinator, I always have fire in my gut."
Competition is the main mission of Gannon’s camp. He wants his players to thrive off that because there are a bunch of starting spots up for grabs. It will be a physical camp, but he has a no-fighting policy. For a team that finished with just three wins last season, this camp will also teach guys how to win again.
"We define expectations of what's winning behavior and what's not winning behavior and we operate under that set of standards," Gannon said. "And they know for us to be competitive and have a chance on Sundays you have to consistently display winning behavior."
Gannon said safety Budda Baker will be a 100% participant in practice. Baker told 12Sports back in May he would be at training camp with or without a new contract. Kyler Murray and tight end Zach Ertz will start the season on the Physically Unable to Perform list. Murray recently said his goal is to be ready for Week 1.
"He's doing good. You know, he's started on PUP, I like how he's progressing, I love the plan that we have moving forward," Gannon said. "He did an excellent job this summer."
"Yeah, [Ertz] has made good improvements, he's doing a good job, gotta good plan too," Gannon stated. "Normally you give a guy a plan, he gave us his plan."
Putting together a camp plan was a team effort. Input for his entire coaching staff, some of them are going through their first game and asking a bunch of questions.
"Yeah, I think they were a little nervous, some of those guys," Gannon said. "I said 'Calm down a little bit', you know, they were popping off questions in the staff meeting. Everyone that's here is fully capable to, within their role, to serve the player to the best of their ability."
Team owner Michael Bidwill addressed the team last night. Gannon said his message was awesome.
Bidwill telling players, “You were hand-picked. You have an opportunity, and not everyone gets to do what they want to do for a living, so maximize your opportunity.”
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