The Arizona Cardinals kicked off their second week of training camp on Monday with the pads finally coming on. The competition between players and position battles continue.
We have detailed a number of key position battles for the team.
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Aside from those battles, there are some individual players who have something to prove in camp this year.
One of them is third-year outside linebacker BJ Ojulari.
OLB BJ Ojulari has something to prove
Ojulari, a second-round pick in 2023, has not gotten any traction in his NFL career. Hampered by a knee injury in the offseason of his rookie season, he was brought along slowly and showed promise in the second half of the year.
Expected to become perhaps the team’s most productive pass rusher in 2024, he tore his ACL in the preseason.
Since then, they extended Zaven Collins, traded for and re-signed Baron Browning, signed Josh Sweat to a big free agent deal and drafted Jordan Burch.
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In essence, they made plans without him.
What is worse, he started training camp on PUP, so despite having had surgery nearly a year ago, he is not cleared to play.
Is he going to go the way of Cam Thomas and Myjai Sanders, one-time promising pass rushers who fizzle out or get traded?
He certainly could be used, but if there is any hope that he can be what most of us thought he could a year ago, he has to prove himself once he is cleared to practice.
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This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: Once-promising OLB BJ Ojulari has something to prove in camp this year