Cardinals' Culture Only Improving

The Arizona Cardinals - under year two of Jonathan Gannon - are seeing their culture improve.

Arizona Cardinals safety Jalen Thompson (34) goes on-on-one with safety Budda Baker (3) during organized team activities in Tempe on May 20, 2024. / Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY

ARIZONA -- Last year, Arizona Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon - still in his first season at the helm - said it best: Great teams police themselves.

The coaches lay the foundation, and the locker room takes over from there.

From habits to accountability and everything between, a great culture will ensure a healthy ecosystem of checks and balances from the players on the field - not the guys with headsets.

Culture has been a buzz word since the Cardinals smashed the rebuild button and Gannon's crew arrived. Arizona changed nearly everything they did, from practice times to even not allowing snacking during meetings.

The Cardinals didn't finish 2023 with a glamorous record. Four wins will get you nowhere fast in the NFL, which is often referenced as short for "not for long" if you don't do your job.

Yet for majority of people who watched Arizona scratch and claw their way to the end, there was a sense of belief that maybe, just maybe, something was brewing in the desert.

As we march deeper into the second year under Gannon's guidance, Arizona's locker room is patrolling themselves - starting with voluntary offseason team activities.

The NFL deems them voluntary. The Cardinals don't view them as voluntary.

“Did you say voluntarily mandatory? The way I see it, that word doesn’t exist to me. If there’s an opportunity to work - we want to work," said offensive lineman Will Hernandez.

"Especially when we got a new guy (Jonah Williams) on the right side. I want to be spending as much time and get as many reps possible with him. I definitely see it as a necessity.”

Center Hjalte Froholdt said if star players are showing up - everybody else follows suit.

"All the vets are here that don’t necessarily have to be here. We got Budda (Baker) in here working. We got James Conner in here working. We got Kyler (Murray) in here working like all the guys in here. If they’re in here, I need to be in here," Froholdt told reporters.

"And I don’t feel like I’m here because I’m forced to. So I’m excited to be here and this is an awesome time of year. I’m pretty stoked right now.”

The bricks of the foundation are still being laid, but slowly and surely, the Cardinals appear to be moving in the right direction of the team they want to become - on and off the field.