Arizona Cardinals left tackle D.J. Humphries has developed into one of the better left tackles in the NFL. He arguably should have been a Pro Bowler last season. He has been included in one list of the top tackles in the league and left off another.
He has come a long way since being a healthy scratch every game of his rookie season.
He feels his greatest gains over the years have been in one particular area — consistency.
“A lot when I was a younger guy, I would lock a guy up.,” he said on Siriusm XM NFL Radio recently. “I would go out and go against a guy, shut him down and the next week think I’m hot stuff, and I go out there and get two out of frame in the first half.”
He has learned in his career that “complacency kills.”
His focus is better now because he knows he can’t let up just because of past performances.
“I can’t take a week off just because I’m playing someone that’s not supposedly that guy, because he can become that guy off of you.”
He believes that the key to succeeding in the NFC West in particular for a tackle is pass blocking.
“I think, in the NFC West, you better learn how to pass protect really quickly,” he said. “If it’s not a strong suit of yours, you better figure it out or you’re going to find yourself out of a job. because it will get really ugly, really quick.
“It was something I had to learn because I came into the league a smaller guy. Run blocking was easier for me because we were going against pass rushers. I thought I was going to be a pass-blocking guru because I was so athletic, but this is a different ballgame. I genuinely had to learn how to pass protect in the NFL.
“When your’e in the NFL and you’ve got to block three moves in seven seconds, that’s a different ballgame for you every snap.”
Humphries is the second of his new three-year contract. If he keeps up his play, he should be in play for another big payday to lock him up even longer than through 2022.
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