This is expected to be the final installment of stories involving the Arizona Cardinals captains for 2024 and the leadership styles that go with it.
The captains for 2024 were named this week and the reality is that the subject isn’t discussed much once the season begins.
When a team has success, leadership might be talked about. Not so much when the record plummets and wins become fleeting.
Safety Budda Baker is a captain for the fifth consecutive year and he said Thursday, “It’s very important. I don’t take that lightly. For me, I just try to continue to be the best player I can be. Explain those certain details that I understand that somebody else might not understand, so just giving them the knowledge to understand the game at a high level.
“I’ve been playing this game; this is Year 8. I feel like I have a good sense of football so just being able to help guys out and that factor is definitely special for me and for those guys that think of me that way is definitely special.”
The day before, quarterback Kyler Murray also said being voted a captain is “very important.” He added, “It means my peers trust me. It means I’m doing the right things on and off the field and that they can look to me. I’m a lead-by-example type of guy, but the older I’ve gotten, I’ve been able to be more vocal, but that’s huge. Like I said, the trust of my peers and my teammates is big.”
Baker was asked if one style is better than the other.
He said, “It all depends on who you are. I will say when I was younger, I wasn’t a big talker. I would just kinda lead by example. At the time my coaches and certain guys were just like, ‘Hey man, you should start talking’ and I always felt that nervousness of talking to the guys. I would kinda start shaking, get the sweats a little bit when I was younger because I just wanted to play football.
“But now growing up, just understanding that these guys are looking for someone at times to lead them and that’s what it’s all about just understanding that to have that poise and have that humility to just be that leader whichever it is. I think both are great to have. Both are great. To have one is great, to have the other is great as long as you’re doing your job at a high level. That’s all I care about.
As for the varying styles, head coach Jonathan Gannon said, “I think the main thing is to be genuine by who you are. Leadership comes in a lot of different ways. I think it’s to be authentic and genuine by what you feel in your heart and in your brain and in your gut, to do those things that come natural for you.
“Everybody’s different and we got a lot of different leadership styles in there, which is really cool to me. It’s fun to watch those guys be team-first guys and bring each other along.”
We do know that leadership can come from numerous places and players and coaches talked about that this week.
Perhaps the most passionate on that subject recently was right guard Will Hernandez, who was asked about tackle Kelvin Beachum, a guy who turned 35 in June, is in his 13th season and accepts his role as a backup being paid the veteran minimum salary of $1.21 million plus a max total of $340,000 in per-game active roster bonuses. He was the only offensive lineman to start all 17 games in 2022 and then started only two games last season after left tackle D.J. Humphries was injured.
Said Hernandez, “Beachum is like the glue that keeps all this team together. Experience like that; how many more guys can you actually name that have been playing for (that many) years? That comes with a lot of value. It’s a lot of indirect value though, because a lot of what he knows, he transfers to these guys, transfers to me as well. This is my seventh year and I feel like I’m learning so much every time I talk to him on and off the field. Football and non-football things too.”
He then emphasized by repeating, “So he’s like the glue that keeps all this thing together. He transfers his knowledge to all these guys and all these different positions because he’s seen it all and I think it’s a very, very valuable asset to this team.”
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