Looking to add depth to their wide receiver corps, the Arizona Cardinals drafted wide receiver Ryan Swope of Texas A&M with the second of their sixth round picks (174th overall) in this year’s NFL Draft. The 6-foot, 205-pound Swope has sure hands he has also had concussion issues in college.

That is a definite concern. Some experts had Swope rated as a third round talent but his concussion issues caused the rookie to slip significantly in the draft.

Training camp is just over a week away now. Let’s take a look at his strengths and weaknesses via nfl.com:

Strengths Possesses a somewhat compact build from his running back days, with good thickness in the upper and lower bodies which translates to functional strength on the field. Very reliable receiver, his hands are strong enough and he has the flexibility to grab low, wide, and high passes away from his frame. Foot quickness and strong route knowledge allow him to separate on outs, crosses, and jerk routes from the slot. Slows down in passing windows and finds room in zones to maximize his quarterback?s ability to find him. Often used on quick screens to take advantage of his ability to regularly sidestep would-be tacklers. Thrives on a broken play, separating vertically from trailing defensive backs. Gives excellent effort blocking downfield and near the line in the run game, using his strength and agility to mirror and sustain, showing aggressiveness when riding defenders well out of the play.

Weaknesses Does not play at his timed speed in terms of consistently running away from defensive backs. Doesn’t have the elite athleticism on the field to elude NFL-caliber defenders in space, and his strength is not enough to run through pro linebackers and defensive backs in the second level.

NFL Comparison Jordan Shipley, Jacksonville Jaguars

Bottom Line After becoming a favorite target of Ryan Tannehill’s at A&M due to his ability to take advantage of broken plays, Swope continued his trend as one of the Aggies’ top receiving options in 2012. The former running back put up great numbers at the combine, including a 4.34 40-yard dash, but he does not consistently play at that speed. In fact, Swope’s quick footwork when breaking off routes is his best asset.

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The Arizona Cardinals have enjoyed some very successful OTAs and minicamps recently.

That’s the good news. The bad news, to some degree anyway, is that head coach Bruce Arians would like to see his Red Birds contingent get into better shape, be better conditioned.

“We’re not in the best shape,” Arians told yahoosports.com. “We’ve got to get in better condition to play as fast as we want to play, especially offensively. Other than that, I’ve been extremely pleased. I like where our football team is right now.”

The Cardinals won’t all officially reconvene until training camp but many players will get together on their own before then. New Arizona signal-caller Carson Palmer will spend time with wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, for example, at his camp in Minnesota.

Their hard work will not end just because minicamps have concluded.

“I’m not going to get away from anything,” Palmer said. “I won’t be taking any time off, and I don’t think guys will be, or should be, taking time off. That first game isn’t that far away.”

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As we go from Year One of the Andrew Luck Experience in Indy to Year Two, the club is changing offensive coordinators, which has proven to be a detriment to other young passers around the league. As it relates to Luck and the Colts, however, things should be copacetic: the new OC is Pep Hamilton, who was Luck’s OC his final season at Stanford. And apparently, one thing we should see in 2013 is an extension of the vertical passing attack. Which players will be the biggest beneficiaries of this alteration?

According to what Dan Pompei of National Football Post has learned, we can expect to see former Raiders first-round pick Darrius Heyward-Bey heavily involved in this area: “The Colts believe they have the resources to be one of the better teams in the league at stretching the field. Part of their enthusiasm has to do with the acquisition of Darrius Heyward-Bey. Indy coaches see him as a potentially explosive playmaker who can get behind coverage. The Colts will be trying to get Heyward-Bey more opportunities than he ever had in Oakland. And they also want to use second year tight end Coby Fleener more as a vertical threat down the seam. With his speed and size, Fleener should be able to take advantage of man to man matchups as well as zone coverages.”

That all sounds great, but the reality of DHB’s career has not come close to matching expectations thus far.

From the early portion of this offseason, we’d been hearing that the St. Louis Rams were confident in Brian Quick making a big step in his second NFL season — his presence was part of the reason why the team didn’t fret too much about losing both Danny Amendola and Brandon Gibson to free agency. However, the spring practice sessions didn’t necessarily support that rhetoric.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Rams featured Chris Givens and Austin Pettis as their two outside WRs with the first-team offense through the OTAs and minicamp, with rookie Tavon Austin in the slot. This seems like a red flag regarding Quick, though the coaches are attempting to push the narrative that it’s more a result of Pettis playing well than Quick taking a step back.

“Quick’s doing a lot better,” OC Brian Schottenheimer claimed. “He’s stepped up this year. He’s just much more comfortable.”

Training camp and the preseason contests will give us a better idea of whether that’s true.

Quarterbacks out of USC haven’t exactly lit the NFL on fire. There have been gaudy stats and playoff wins when you look at the quartet of Arizona Cardinals signal caller Carson Palmer, Matt Cassel, Mark Sanchez and Matt Leinart. Statistically Palmer is the best of the bunch and from a wins and losses standpoint the nod goes to Sanchez. But neither will have a bust in Canton.

The latest USC quarterback coming into the NFL is Philadelphia Eagles fourth round draft pick Matt Barkley. Barkley was projected to go in the late first or early second round of the NFL Draft. For reasons beyond my knowledge Barkley slipped all the way to the fourth round. Barkley is ready to prove that him slipping that far was a mistake. Palmer says the Eagles got a steal.



“I know Matt can play. I’ve had the opportunity to work out with him over the last couple of years. And I’ve obviously had a chance to watch him play,” Palmer told NFL Network’s Andrew Siciliano in an interview that will appear Tuesday on “NFL Total Access.”


“For him to go in the fourth round is an absolute steal. I think the bigger question is how he fits into that system, and only time will tell that. But whether the guy can play or not, he can absolutely play, and I know he’s excited to prove a lot of people wrong.”

I know he didn’t live up to all the hype he had coming into his senior season, but only time will reveal if Barkley can excel at the NFL level or just another overhyped USC product.

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