Cardinals DC Nick Rallis talked about LBs Zaven Collins, Mack Wilson, Akeem Davis-Gaither.
It’s fair to say that Arizona Cardinals linebacker Zaven Collins has had a unique baptism in the NFL.
Selected with the 16th pick in the first round of the 2021 draft, Collins began his career on the inside and started six games during his rookie season while playing 220 defensive snaps.
However, the following season, he was an every-down player, starting all 17 games and playing 1,024 snaps (98 percent). The production was also there with 100 tackles (63 solo) and 11 for loss.
When Jonathan Gannon took over as head coach and Nick Rallis as defensive coordinator in 2023, there was a discussion about what the best fit was for Collins. They decided to move him to the edge.
That resulted in 637 snaps (58 percent) and 602 (55 percent) the last two seasons. Collins had 3.5 sacks in 2023 and a team-leading 5.0 last season.
He remains a versatile piece in the defense, depending on the packages utilized, and Rallis believes there can be more upside as a pass rusher even with the addition of Josh Sweat and re-signing of Baron Browning.
“I’ve seen his pass-rush definitely improve,” Rallis said this week. “And part of it for him is just where he puts his attention in his pass rush. So it really just starts with the brain for him and then once he figures, OK, this is what I need to do and this is how I need to react if I get this.
“You see a fast, big, violent dude. So still things to improve on, but I definitely see that jump. He’s getting comfortable in that position, and so things just happen faster once you start to have that comfort.”
The Cardinals are also hoping to see production from rookie third-round pick Jordan Burch, who has off-the-chart size on the edge at 6-foot-4, 280.
Noting Burch’s measureables, Rallis said, “Unbelievable, isn’t it? He is extremely athletic and I like the way that he’s playing right now. He uses his size and plays violent. Just think about the (Denver) practice and even in that last game against the Broncos, he does some really good things in terms of just power on the edge, whether that’s in the run game or the pass rush.”
As for the inside players, Rallis was asked whether anything has been lost by moving Mack Wilson Sr. to middle linebacker. Wilson had 75 tackles last season (44 solo and four for loss), while recording 3.0 sacks and seven quarterback hits.
“I don’t I don’t know if we necessarily lose something because we still got that guy on the field making plays for us,” Rallis said. “As a defense as a whole, we have a lot of smart guys and a lot of versatile pieces that there’s still a lot of cool things, I’ll call it, that you can do schematically.”
When the Cardinals have two inside linebackers on the field, free agent addition Akeem Davis-Gaither is expected to be on the field with Wilson. In his career with the Bengals, he was primarily a special teams player, but did add some experience on defense last season with the Bengals because of injury.
Rallis said Davis-Gaither is “doing a good job” and added, “You can tell he’s extremely smart and that he’s a vet because it’s his first year in the defense, but it doesn’t feel like it. Picks it up right away, like right away. One install, got it, and really doesn’t make many mistakes.
“If he does, he corrects it right away. I’ve never seen him make the same mistake twice. So, you can tell he’s a pro and he’s a natural linebacker. He’s got feel to stack behind those (defensive) tackles and find the football.”
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