When Arizona Cardinals right guard Will Hernandez suffered a serious knee injury in Week 5 last season, it was a huge jolt to the offensive line. Trystan Colon started the next seven games before giving way to rookie third-round pick Isaiah Adams for the final five.

Colon became an unrestricted free agent in March and there appeared to be no interest in bringing him back. He signed last week with the Browns.

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Hernandez, also a free agent, remains unsigned, so it’s not out of the question he could be brought back at some point when healthy. Still, the Cardinals did not address the position in a significant way in the last four months, signing free agent Royce Newman to a one-year minimum-salary contract and selecting Hayden Conner in the sixth round of the draft.

While Jon Gaines II, a fourth-round pick in 2023 could also be in the mix, for now, Adams has been working with the first unit.

Center Hjalte Froholdt revealed that Wednesday when he was asked about the offensive line developing continuity.

He said, “When I’m playing with (left guard) Evan (Brown) and Isaiah right now, or if someone else comes in there, it’s like we need to have consistency in how we’re playing together and our communication, just like (quarterback) Kyler (Murray) needs to have the connection with receivers. So I think it feels good right now. I’m really happy where we’re at.”

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As for how Adams has grown since last season, Froholdt said, “I think Zay has done a tremendous job. He got thrown a little bit into the fire last year and what better way than just to get tossed in there. Make some mistakes and learn from it. So having those opportunities last year has made him such a better player this year. You see those reps live full speed with consequences, so all of a sudden you learn a lot more than in a non-consequential play in practice.

“‘Oh, I gave up a sack,’ but if you give up a sack in a game, it’s ‘I don’t want to get Kyler hurt.’ There’s a lot more at stake. And those are the reps you learn from because you really need to push through this or need to look for this because there’s dire consequences. He’s come out with confidence. He’s a big strong dude. It’s nice being in there with him. He plays long, he’s smart, he’s good to communicate. He understands it. So it’s been really good to see what Isaiah has been doing so far.”

Offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, as all coaches do, stressed the importance of the jump from Year 1 to Year 2.

He said, “The big thing we talked about is when you’re no longer a rookie, the expectations aren’t like, ‘Hey, it’s Year 2 we can take’ … no like you’re expected to come in here and go compete at all times and I think you got to stop thinking, ‘Hey, Year 1 I did some things, I’m good. I’m gonna kind of coast in that and I played.’ No, that’s not the goal. The goal is to be better than you were last year. That’s always got to be his mindset.

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“Certainly what we preached to him going into the offseason is gonna be continuing here the next couple months. But he’s been awesome; he’s been great.”

Head coach Jonathan Gannon said Thursday on the final day of minicamp, “He worked on his technique, worked on his physical bucket. He’s made a big jump. He’s had a really good spring, but he knows like all the linemen know, like everybody knows, you got to put on pads to see where you’re really at, but he’s doing a good job.”

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This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: Does Isaiah Adams have inside track to starting RG job for Cardinals?