TEMPE, AZ (AZFamily) — Arizona Cardinals linebacker Zaven Collins is entering his sixth NFL season, all with the Cardinals, after the team selected him in the first round of the 2021 draft.
Collins finished college and earned a degree in exercise science last season. Collins said he is living proof that a small-town kid can accomplish big things.
Sixth season, same team
Collins has played under three different coaching staffs during his career. Asked if it feels like year six in the NFL, Collins said, “For sure. Like, it goes by fast. You know, the body and everything feels good, but it goes by fast.”
“So, thinking about, you know, it’s really like when watching film, like I’ve seen this play before, and it’s like, oh, that was like three, four years ago,” Collins said. “Like, oh man, that’s crazy to think about.”
Recovery routine
Collins has played 84 games in his career. He explained how he has maintained that longevity.
“You know, mostly like massages, relaxing, getting enough sleep, enough hydration, stuff like that. And then eating right. Those are, you know, basically the easy basics that you can do,” Collins said.
“I’ll go in when like all the red flags are going up on my body and, you know, I call it like the dashboard of a car,” Collins said. “All the lights are going off. That’s when I usually go in.”
Collins said he does not get deep tissue massages. “No, I’m not. I can’t do that either,” Collins said. “I’ll be like, squirming around. It’s terrible.”
Draft day memory
Collins was asked about video from the 2021 NFL draft showing him falling over after his name was called. “It was crazy,” Collins said. “I was just very blessed to come from a small town and just go to college. You know, I was very fortunate that my mom didn’t have to pay for my college or I didn’t have to pay for college. We were very happy then.”
“And I think it was just all that kind of summed up in one moment of, you know, the days of going from when you’re 17 years old and you’re in a college football program working and going and going and going all day long from class,” Collins said.
Growing up in a small town
Collins grew up in Hominy, Oklahoma, a town he said has a population of about 3,400, including a prison located in the town.
Collins said that as a kid, he moved constantly from one sport to another. “If you’re not in football, you’re in basketball,” Collins said. “If you’re not there, you’re in baseball or track. And then you have summer football and summer basketball.”
Collins said he was constantly with the same group of friends. “So you’re constantly with your best friends 24-7,” Collins said. “So you end up being like brothers because you’re constantly with them no matter what sport.”
Collins also described the visibility of living in a small town. “If you’re riding your bike somewhere, you’re not supposed to be in a small town, if you’re not supposed to cross the street, whatever it may be, you know, someone’s going to see you,” Collins said. “And they’re going to, you know, the parents are going to tell the other parents. So that was one of the things.”
Life outdoors
Collins said his rural Oklahoma upbringing shaped his love of the outdoors.
“Yeah, like I’m from the middle of nowhere. I spend a lot of time outdoors hunting, fishing, doing stuff like that,” he said.
He said Cardinals teammates keep asking for an invitation to join him hunting.
“I have not,” Collins said. “I need to do that. Guys are on me about taking them.”
Collins said he has used a bow and arrow and has experience with live capture.
“I’ve done all the way down to live capture,” Collins said. “So it’s like keeping them alive. It’s quite a trick, but it’s fun.”
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2026 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.