LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz. — New Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Marquise Brown was put on the active/non-football injury list Tuesday with a hamstring issue.
The Cardinals announced the move about 90 minutes after coach Kliff Kingsbury said “everyone showed up” and “everybody passed” the conditioning test earlier Tuesday. Arizona reports for its first practice Wednesday.
During his opening news conference of training camp, Kingsbury said he expects Brown to be a “really big part” of the Cardinals’ offense after liking what he saw out of him during offseason practices.
“I would say his comfort level is farther ahead than he would be having played at OU in a similar type system,” Kingsbury said. “I would say verbiage wise, formationally, things like that, but he has tremendous speed. We feel like the comfort level he has with Kyler [Murray], he throws with him all the time, is a great kind of bonus to that icing on the cake.”
Also Tuesday, Kingsbury said he’s not surprised that Murray’s contract includes an independent study addendum that requires him to study game material for four hours per week “because my man’s got a quarter-billion dollars. You can only be upset for so long.”
Kingsbury said he “didn’t get in on” the negotiations for Murray’s extension, adding his role was “prayer and pleading to both parties.” Kingsbury said he never felt like Murray wasn’t watching enough film, saying the quarterback has “gotten dramatically better each and every year.” That, Kingsbury said, is how he judges Murray.
Kingsbury also said he doesn’t track how much film players watch, opting rather to trust them to do the work on their own.
“I think if you’re just watching to watch it just to log minutes and hours on your iPad then it’s not doing you any good,” Kingsbury said. “We have some real pros that have an approach and whether it’s as long as another guy timewise doesn’t matter to me at all.
“You do what you need to do get ready and it’s a results-oriented business and they know at the end of the day that’s what we’re all judged by.”
Tight end Zach Ertz defended his quarterback, saying Murray knows the playbook better than anyone else and helped him through any issues he had picking up the offense last season.
Safety Budda Baker said he knows Murray works hard but also pointed out that every player is different, even when it comes to how they watch and study film. He said some guys watch film on their own iPads, at home or in various rooms around the facility.