Justin Frye knows his audience.

The Cardinals offensive line coach understands the expectations on rookie guard Chase Bisontis, given his 34th overall-in-the-draft status, and the uncertainty at right guard, where Isaiah Adams is the incumbent but was in and out of the lineup last season. Frye, a sports broadcasting major at Indiana, also knows how to explain Bisontis’ learning curve when speaking to a room full of media members.

“Like, I’m gonna write this great story,” Frye said. “I’ve got great details. I got all this. If you don’t hook them in the front end, then it’s all (expletive) anyway. It’s the same for alignment … like, ‘Oh, I’m going to block the guy.’ Well, that’s great. How do you hook him in to know that I’m going to block the guy? You know, what’s the the bite to keep him in? Well, is it a four-down front, a three-down front? Those are things to process so that he can write that story.”

Adams, who remains with the first unit (and will eventually have to get some serious off-field issues sorted out), impressed the Cardinals once he returned to the starting lineup last season. Adams had begun the year as starter, and was benched for a time. Frye wants to see Adams continue that upward trend, and make it less about flashing once in a while.

Frye also noted that defensive linemen Walter Nolen III and veteran L.J. Collier are great evaluators when Adams and Bisontis have to deal with them in practice.

“We’re getting some really good looks on the inside, and so you won the rep,” Frye said. “Why did you win the rep? You lost the rep. Why did you lose the
rep? It seldom, ‘Why you just just got your butt kicked?’ It’s, ‘I gave it to him.’ Why did you give it to him? Because you’re thinking something else. Maybe the technique was sloppy.

“(Isaiah) is self-diagnosing that a little better right now, It’s less a flash and more starting to be the main way around, which is good.”

Yes, Bisontis will eventually get into the lineup if all goes right. Frye loves that a player like Adams sees a draft pick like Bisontis and both must up their game to be in the lineup. And as Mike LaFleur has said often, a rookie will be ready when he is ready. Frye is taking that approach, because force feeding the rookie helps no one, and besides, he loves the competition.

“Chase is not Isaac (Seumalo), Chase is not Hjalte (Froholdt),” Frye said. “Doesn’t mean he’s not as talented as those inside guys, right? But he’s not those
guys right now. So how fast you’re being?

“That’s version F. How do we get from A to B to C to E to climb to that? It’s still not even August yet, right? Every day is critical. You can’t let one get away, but you can’t try to cram 10 pounds of (expletive) into a five-pound bag.”