The Arizona Cardinals will enter training camp on July 22 in good shape after wrapping up their final day of minicamp in preparation for the NFL Hall of Fame game against the Carolina Panthers in Canton, Ohio Aug. 6, with Coach Mike LaFleur giving them a clean bill of health.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that we got out 100% clean yesterday was (our) first and foremost priority,\u201d said LaFleur, who canceled the final day of camp on Wednesday before addressing local media. \u201cI absolutely hate this practice \u2026 you know it’s the end of camp.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite that sad coaching reality, LaFleur expressed excitement about playing in the NFL Hall of Fame Game and how it affects the season calendar for his team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re going to be able to put our pads on, and some teams are just going to be reported,\u201d he said. \u201cThat’s going to be awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
A week after the Cardinals open the preseason in Canton, they travel to Las Vegas and face the Raiders. They will then host the Cowboys before concluding their preseason against Mike’s older brother, Matt LaFleur, who is the coach of the Green Bay Packers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a rookie head coach, Mike LaFleur is excited for the additional opportunity, though LaFleur and his staff have enough NFL experience to feel well prepared for the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve been in this long enough to know how to operate, but it is a new staff, and that’s what the preseason is for, so they get one extra crack at it,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Throughout LaFleur’s short time with the team, he said he has already learned a lot about the unit as a whole.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think they’re a mature team,\u201d he said. \u201cI think they’ve put in a lot of work. I think there’s been a good foundation set.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite continued uncertainty regarding the quarterback position in the wake of Kyler Murray\u2019s departure, LaFleur said he is more focused on the team as a whole.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNot really concerned about QB1 right now,\u201d he said. \u201cConcerned about these guys all reporting on July 22 (for the first day of training camp).\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Cardinals drafted University of Miami QB Carson Beck in the third round (No. 65) of the 2026 NFL Draft. They also have veterans Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew on the depth chart so competition is on the field every day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it’s been ramped up,\u201d LaFleur said. \u201cI mean, every single day’s updated, whether it’s OTA. The intensity should not change from OTAs to training camp.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even so, LaFleur was adamant that final evaluations are still in the future.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNaturally and physically, the intensity picks up because they have pads on,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can actually play football, but (it\u2019s) too early.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cardinals announced some positive injury news for fourth-year cornerback Garrett Williams, who suffered an Achilles tear that ended his 2025 season. LaFluer said the rehab window has shrunk.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like an October-November thing, and now we are talking about getting him in training camp,\u201d the Cardinals coach said.<\/p>\n
LaFleur came over from Arizona\u2019s NFC West Division rival, the Los Angeles Rams, who were coming off an NFC Championship Game appearance while he was the offensive coordinator under Sean McVay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last season, the Cardinals were tied for the worst record in the league, but LaFleur said the gap isn’t as big as it seems. It can be closed by focusing on the details.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou got to play the right way,\u201d he said. \u201cYou got to play good football. You got to play tough. You got to show up and find a way within the three and a half hours.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He also emphasized a good mentality when stepping onto the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI do believe (it\u2019s) just like in any other sport, when you’re confident and you take the field confident,\u201d he said. \u201cI don’t know if they didn’t last year, but I do believe this team is going to work and believe.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Arizona Cardinals will enter training camp on July 22 in good shape after wrapping up their final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":924676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2078],"tags":[375,390,2604,1327,260,7,19801,26287,6,19671],"class_list":["post-924675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arizona-cardinals","tag-arizona","tag-arizona-cardinals","tag-arizonacardinals","tag-cardinals","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-football","tag-football-season","tag-mike-lafleur","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-hall-of-fame"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116786964933420618","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=924675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/924676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}