For the second consecutive season, Arizona Cardinals defensive line coach Derrick LeBlanc had to deal with losing two starters early in the season and patching things after that.
This year also included the loss of first-round pick Darius Robinson in late August and waiting for his return with six games remaining in the season.
On the final Friday of the regular season, LeBlanc met with the media and talked about the challenges he faced. Much of the conversation was about Robinson, who defensive lineman L.J. Collier claimed would have been Rookie Defensive Player of the Year had he been available all season.
Following is the discussion with LeBlanc presented in Q&A format.
Q: What have you seen from the progression of Darius Robinson from when he first started to where he is at now?
A: Getting better every week. He’s on what, Game 6 for him now going in? Missed a lot of football. So, I think every week he’s gotten better and better kind of like you would see a rookie at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately, his beginning of the year started a lot later, but getting a lot better playing the run. Getting in better shape. And, he’s going to develop into a pretty good pass rusher eventually, but unfortunately we only got one more game to see that, but he’s doing pretty good.
Q: How tough is that for him to jump in mid-season his rookie season?
A: For a D-lineman? Going against 320-pounders every day? That’s pretty tough. That’s pretty tough for a young inexperienced player to go against veteran O-linemen especially. I mean, this league, you know how it is. Every O-line’s good, so it’s a little tough for him, but he’s handled it well.
Q: Did he have to slow himself down after the first couple of games. Have you seen that?
A: Yeah, he was kind of like, I’d say exerting too much. But we had to number his reps and make sure … sometimes you have to protect the players from themselves. They’ll go 100 percent every down if you let them, which they should. But I think at first it kind of got exhausting for him a little bit at the beginning, but I think he’s in good shape now.
Q: Is he a little ahead in the run game compared to the pass rush?
A: I don’t think that’s the case. I think he’s gotten better at both. Our style of defense, you got to be able to be a physical guy to play the run obviously and then you know we brought him in as an interior pass rusher. So the pressure you put on a rookie … He’s a first-round pick. Hey, what’s he gonna do? And then he kind of misses some of the season and then when you put him in there, everybody expects him to be an All-Pro guy in Game 1. And that’s not always the case for those guys on the line of scrimmage. It’s a little different world.
Q: Is the transition from college to pro easier against the run or against the pass?
A: Man, I don’t know if I want to answer that. I think they’re both difficult, but I would think I would guess the pass rush because all D-linemen want to rush the passer, right? So I would think pass rush may be a little bit easier. I think there’s a lot more detail into stopping the run. Combo blocks, traps, pulls, all that stuff. Pass rush, just get up the field and go for most of those guys, but probably a lot easier to rush the passer I would think.
Q: What are some of things he’s shown against the run now that maybe weren’t a part of his game six weeks ago?
A: I think he’s a lot more physical. He’s got a feel for the speed of the game. He handles double teams a lot better. He’s not the biggest guy yet. He’s tall but he doesn’t have the sort of strength that it takes to control the line of scrimmage at this level. I think it takes a while for these young guys, but he’s done a great job every week getting better at that.
Q: What does L.J. Collier bring to your room?
A: Oh man. Entertainment for one (laughter). But on the football field, he brings somewhat of a veteran presence. He’s got some experience. He also has, coming from another team, he brings some perspective to the young guys on, ‘Hey, it’s not as good as it is here or in other places.’ So, it’s just his experience alone, his maturity and obviously he’s gotten better. If we had him two years (with the injury he had in 2023), how much better would he have been this year? He’s gotten better all year. He’s playing well now and just his leadership and his personality has been a pleasure to have.
Q: He’s getting playing time consistently for the first time in his career. What does it feel like to see him take advantage of that opportunity.
A: It’s good to see. We talk about it all the time. When he first got here, he talked about his experience in Seattle and I kind of put it back on him like you’re responsible for your outcome. We can point fingers and do whatever. But we’re responsible for how we treat what happens to us in our life, right? So I think he’s done a good job of that and he’s taking the responsibility that we’ve given him and man he’s gotten better every week. He’s batting balls down. He’s getting to the quarterback. He’s got much better against the run. So I just can’t wait to see what he does in the future.
Q: Darius definitely wanted to make an immediate impact, but how do you keep his confidence up especially heading into the offseason?
A: Were you at his first press conference? The guy doesn’t flinch. Like, I mean it’s nothing that I’ve done. I mean the kid’s amazing. He’s focused. He’s locked in, he’s got great support. The players have gotten around him and he’s just done an amazing job on his own. I can’t take any credit for that. He’s done a great job on his own and preparing. And I think just his personality alone, his attitude. He’s developed just where we want him to be for what’s going on with the season. He’s had a lot going on this year.
Q: What have you seen from Dante Stills in these two full seasons now and then how much more of an improvement can you see going forward?
A: I think he can only get better. I mean for where we got him in the draft (sixth round). For how many snaps he had last year as a rookie and coming in and becoming a starter this year? I mean the guy’s probably the most experienced guy in the room and he’s only been here two years. So, I like what he’s doing. He’s gonna get even better. He’s getting so much better now. He’s going to get stronger and I think Year 3 will be a whole lot better year for him.
Q: Talk about the tough transition from college to the NFL. With Darius being a first-round guy playing those different spots and having to master those different spots along the line. Does that make it any tougher at all?
A: Absolutely. We have a bunch of different packages and he’s part of those packages and he’s gotta mentally prepare himself for those things and then physically execute it on the field and that’s a tough task for a guy who’s coming out of college. I’m not saying … college got a few calls too; they do some good stuff at Mizzou. But when you have to learn a whole new system as a rookie and then you take some time off, he’s done a good job of mentally learning the defense and really preparing week to week, every week that he was off the field. So, when he got to his first game, mentally he was prepared. It was the physical part that he had to catch up with just the physical nature of getting hit on and moving around and the sense of urgency. But man, the guy’s … I mean he’s top-notch man.
Q: Where does he need to develop as a pass rusher over the offseason?
A: Shoot; everything. I think I mean six games in is not a lot of experience. I mean, you can practice all you want, but it’s the game reps that make you better. So I think in every aspect. His speed, his power, learning how to rush well-coached offensive linemen in the NFL. The mental piece of it is what he’s got to learn. The physical part he’s got.
Q: You mentioned at the point he was pretty solid mentally. How much of a jump is it though when you get into the game and you have to be able to not think and know as soon as what that call is, know exactly what you have to do.
A: I swear the first game he was in, it looked like he forgot everything, like, it’s just everything, right? It’s communication. It’s hearing Kyzir (White). It’s getting the call in. It’s substitution. It’s hearing the O-line make their checks. It’s all this stuff and the ball’s snapped and ‘Oh crap, what do I do next?’ So I think that was kind of his experience the first game. But after that, I think he settled pretty good. I think he kind of got it all out and “Coach, I’m ready to go now” and from there he’s only gotten better man. So I think that first one was probably the worst one for him.
Q: Is that pretty consistent though for all guys in terms of feeling really comfortable.
A: Sure. I think it’s any guy. If it’s a four-year vet who doesn’t get many reps in the preseason, and he’s gotta play his first game. It’s like, “Whoa, what happened?” So you take two weeks away from football and you come back, it’s a difficult sport. It’s a very difficult sport.
Q: This season, losing Justin Jones and Bilal Nichols early who were the starters. What sort of challenge was that?
A: It wasn’t a challenge; it was like déjà vu. It happened to us last year (with Collier and Carlos Watkins), right? So, I don’t think it was much of a challenge. The the good part about this year was we had a lot of guys return that knew our defense. Roy (Lopez) was back. We had Dante Stills. Ben Stille. You can’t forget about him who we brought back. We brought Naquan (Jones) back, so there’s like just putting the band back together. And quite honestly the guys got better every week in there and they’re playing pretty good. So fortunately for us, we had a nucleus of guys that were returners and that was probably the best part of having those guys back is that they just kind of fell in line and they knew the defense.
Q: But it has to be undeniable that when you lose good players, it’s tough to overcome.
A: Oh, absolutely, it’s tough to overcome, but those guys stepped up and they’ve done a hell of a job, I think. Can’t wait to get the other two guys back as soon as we can, but like they say, “Next guy up.” That’s the unfortunate part of the business, right? Miss those guys. Saw JJ earlier working out a little bit. But we’ll get those guys back and have a good offseason and get ready to win some football games.
Q: What did you see from a guy like Roy Lopez and where do you think his game is headed?
A: I think it’s only heading up. He’s still getting better. To come from Houston where you’re running a totally different type of defense to come in here and adapt to playing the nose spot where there’s no love there. Like just a lot of double teams and combos. I hope we can keep Roy here forever. But again, another personality guy. He’s from here. We talk about; he’s the only guy in the room that’s like living his best life, right? He goes home to family. They’re all around, he’s got support and I think his play is gonna get better and better every year.
Q: Has he had you over for a family function?
A: Not yet, not yet. I’m busy, man. Trying to win some football games. No, I heard a lot about his fam and I get to talk to his dad every game before the game. The Lopez family is awesome. So hopefully, I get a chance to hang out with them.
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