The Arizona Cardinals opened Phase 3 of the offseason program with the first of 10 days of voluntary OTAs (organized team activities).
Two players were notably absent — safety Budda Baker and receiver DeAndre Hopkins.
This is the voluntary part of the offseason, so there is no reason to be worried.
Head coach Jonathan Gannon isn’t.
“I think Budda will show up when he wants to show up,” he said after Monday’s practice. “He’s been awesome. He has been wearing us out a little bit with tape and different things like that. But he’s working. He’ll get himself ready to play.”
He also isn’t concerned about Hopkins.
“I’m not worried about Hop,” he said. “He’s played a long time, he’s extremely intelligent and I think he’ll fit right in when he decides to come. But again it’s voluntary. It’s his decision and we are behind it.”
However, the reasons why they are gone is reason to be concerned.
Baker is unhappy because he wants a contract extension. He also requested a trade.
Hopkins seems to want to be traded and the team tried to before the draft, but the Cardinals couldn’t get their asking price.
What really matters is whether they report for mandatory minicamp June 13-15. That is still a couple of weeks away.
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