Is D.J. Humphries Ready For the Arizona Cardinals?
The Arizona Cardinals are really going to have to protect quarterback Carson Palmer this year. If they do, they’ll be among the true contenders in the playoffs with a real shot at winning a Super Bowl. So in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft, they selected tackle D.J. Humphries out of Florida.
Humphries is a supremely talented tackle that I would dare to say is the most talented on the Cardinals offensive line. But of course, it takes a lot more than just talent to be a good in the NFL. Maturity and knowing what you’re doing are two of the main things you need to succeed in the NFL.
And according to ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss, the maturity department, is where Humphries is lacking. So Weinfuss, who’s covered Cardinals OTAs and minicamps said, “There was a lot to learn over the last month of the offseason practices. He’s clearly talented but he may be too young to understand what’s expected out of him in the NFL.”
So Weinfuss now believes Humphries is a major project with a ways to go to be a solid starter. Sometimes it takes rookies a good little while to adjust to the NFL and everything your job there entails. But head coach Bruce Arians, over the last two weeks, sees that Humphries is starting to figure it out.
He told ESPN.com, “He really had a good last week,” Arians said. “He settled odwn a little bit. He knows how serious this is.” Much of how fast of a track Humphries is on will be determined by his competition, Bobby Massie. Massie is reported to have went through similar growing pains as a rookie, which may be why Humphries was selected in the first round.
But all indications are that Massie has figured it out so even though he was a first-round pick Humphries won’t be given this job. And according to Weinfuss, it may take another wake-up call or two for him to figure out how to win it. I guess we’ll soon see if Humphries can put his talent together enough to make an immediate impact on the Cardinals.