Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
D.J. Humphries and Marcus Maye were the only two former Gators to appear on Pro Football Focus’ top-101 list after the 2020-21 season ended.
Pro Football Focus has released the PFF 101, its rankings of the 101 best players in football over the course of the 2020 season. Two former Gators, New York Jets safety Marcus Maye and Arizona Cardinals offensive tackle D.J. Humphries, cracked the list for the first time in their professional careers.
Here is a look at where they landed on the list.
NEXT: MARCUS MAYE, NEW YORK JETS
Some fans want Kliff Kingsbury fired. Humphries says fans not for them are against them.
With the Arizona Cardinals faltering to finish the season in 2020, going from 5-2 to 8-8, there has been a certain group of fans getting more vocal on social media. They believe that head coach Kliff Kingsbury should be fired after just two years.
Starting left tackle D.J. Humphries, of the team’s captains, doesn’t really have a lot to say to them.
“I have no reaction to those fans,” Humphries told reporters on Monday after the season ended for the team.
It was basically a “no comment” reaction. He did further elaborate, eagerly throwing the support of his 6-foot-5, 307-pound frame in favor of his head coach.
“We came light years from having the number one pick and having three wins to being 8-8,” he added. “That happened with Kliff as our head coach. Those fans that have those opinions, I don’t want to get enamored with talking to those guys at all because if you’re not with us, you’re against us.”
He recognizes that the team didn’t finish where it could have or arguably should have, especially going from 5-2 and looking like one of the best teams in the NFC to scoring 19 combined points in the final two games against backup quarterbacks playing for division rivals. They sputtered down the stretch.
That said, progress was made in the big picture. “I think we made a lot of strides from last year to this year, and I think it’s something to build off of for next year,” Humphries said.
He believes in Kingsbury. He likes playing for him. It is premature to pull the plug on this team’s leadership.
While there are questions moving forward, it is clear that Kingsbury has the support of his player leaders, which is a good sign for the team as it enters a critical offseason.
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He is honored for his professional and insightful work with reporters this season.
Arizona Cardinals left tackle D.J. Humphries has been honored by the local chapter of the Pro Football Writers of America. The team announced Wednesday he received the Steve Schoenfeld Good Guy Award for his cooperation and insight in dealing with the media.
The local chapter of the PFWA honors two Cardinals players each year. One is the team MVP, which receiver DeAndre Hopkins received. The other is the good guy award.
Humphries has started every game this season at left tackle, anchoring the offensive line for the league’s No. 2 offense. He has helped the Cardinals rank third in the league in rushing (145.9 ypg) and be tied for second with 22 rushing touchdowns. Humphries was recognized for being available, insightful and professional while communicating with reporters via Zoom this season.
The good guy award is named after another former Arizona Republic writer. Schoenfeld covered the Cardinals and the NFL for the Republic from 1988 to 2000. A former national president of the PFWA, Schoenfeld was killed by hit-and-run driver in October of 2000.
Humphries has been great to speak to in virtual press conference all season. He is funny and insightful. It has been fun to see him progress as a player and leader in his six seasons with the team.
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Neither starting tackle allowed a single sack, hit or pressure against the Jets.
The Arizona Cardinals picked up their third win of the season on Sunday, defeating the New York Jets 30-10. We have already pointed out many of the studs from the game like Kyler Murray, DeAndre Hopkins and Dennis Gardeck.
However, two players who went a bit under the radar got recognized by Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar as some of the league’s secret superstars of Week 5.
Why did they garner this recognition?
The Cardinals’ passing game hasn’t always been as explosive as we might have expected in Kyler Murray’s second NFL season, but that changed in Arizona’s 30-10 Week 5 win over the Jets. In that game, Murray completed four of five passes of 20 or more air yards for 130 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions after completing just five of 15 such passes for 172 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions in the season’s first four weeks. One big reason for the change? Pass protection. In that Jets game, left tackle D.J. Humphries and right tackle Kelvin Beachum combined to allow no sacks, no quarterback hits, and no quarterback hurries in Arizona’s 43 pass-blocking reps. When Murray did succumb to pressure and miss deep shots, it was the result of an issue that crept up in his rookie season of 2019 — he has a tendency to bail from the pocket and make risky throws when it’s not necessary.
That’s an issue that needs to be cleaned up, but if you want to know why the deep ball has returned to the Valley of the Sun, look no further than Arizona’s tackle duo.
So in all Murray’s dropbacks, no pressure game from off the edge. That would explain the uptick in production in the passing game.
General manager Steve Keim called out his highest-paid players last week on the radio. Humphries is one of those guys and had been some of the problem.
The Cardinals rarely get praised for their offensive line play. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury has said the lack of a preseason has affected the rhythm of the offense. Now that the first month of the season is done, hopefully the play of both Humphries and Beachum in Week 5 is the beginning of a stretch of top play.
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Entering his prime after his first healthy full season and second year in the same offense, he could take the next step from being capable to great.
It took a few years, but the Arizona Cardinals are pleased to have left tackle D.J. Humphries under contract for three more seasons. A first-round pick in 2015, he played a full 16-game season for the first time last year and came into his own.
He will point out that he only allowed two sacks all season and was the anchor of a line that had a top-five rushing offense.
However, despite is play in 2019 and his new contract, he unsurprisingly is not found on Mark Schofield’s list of the top tackles in the NFL for Touchdown Wire.
As of right now, he is an average to slightly above average tackle but is entering his prime. His health has robbed him of time but he has the mentality and the desire to be great. With another healthy season and a second year in the same offensive system, we could see Humphries take the next step from capable left tackle to very good left tackle.
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Ep. 267
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Murray’s dog’s name is Swoosh.
While on a video call with media members this week, Arizona Cardinals left tackle D.J. Humphries said quarterback Kyler Murray named his dog after him. “He really cares about me,” he said.
This apparently was not the truth.
Murray met with the media Wednesday in a video conference and cleared it up.
“No, no, no, no,” Murray said while laughing. “My dog’s name is Swoosh.”
Murray explained that Humphries definitely tried to get the dog named after him.
“He definitely gave me some recommendations, but I didn’t take those at all,” he said. “I don’t know why he came on here and told you all I was naming my dog after him.”
So it appears that Hump Jr., Lil D.J. and Senfo (short for 74, his jersey number) were just things Humphries wanted Murray to use.
Murray might care a lot about Humphries, but not that much.
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Ep. 268
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Ep. 267
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Cardinals left tackle D.J. Humphries talks about the productive social conversations he has had with his teammates.
Ever since the protests began about the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis while in police custody, there has been a shift in society about issues of race and justice. Many are having hard and meaningful conversations about race and racial perspectives.
This is happening between NFL players on different teams and it is the case with the Arizona Cardinals.
Cardinals left tackle D.J. Humphries said the conversations with his teammates about these tough topics have been productive.
He believes the world actually needs to be more like a group of offensive linemen on a team.
“It’s very interesting,” he said in a video conference with the media on Monday. “The O-line room is so mixed with cultures and I feel like if the world was like the O-line room, the world, it would be so much kumbaya, it would be a lot chunkier.”
He explained how the conversations have been meaningful. He, a Black man and Justin Pugh, who is white, discussed the differences in experiences with the police.
Humphries said the talks have been “breaking down those barriers” for him and his teammates. And he admits they are conversations he wouldn’t likely have elsewhere.
“I wouldn’t have ever known this because I wouldn’t ever have been comfortable to have those conversations,” he said.
Humphries’ offensive line teammates are both black and white. He has played with islanders and more.
“It’s been fun,” said. “We depend on each other and are used to rubbing shoulders with a mix of cultures.”
Humphries’ analogy is accurate. If all in society could depend on each other and be used to working together with other cultures and backgrounds, maybe there wouldn’t be as many problems.
Sure, we might be a heftier, chunkier people, but we would be happier, too. And we’d get to knock down our opponents.
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Ep. 268
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It will either be Hump Jr., Lil D.J. or Senfo (short for 74).
A quarterback’s left tackle is a very important person to his professional life. He protects the quarterback’s blind side if he is right-handed. It would appear that Arizona Cardinals left tackle D.J. Humphries has some level of importance personally to quarterback Kyler Murray.
Murray is naming his dog after his left tackle, Humphries found out recently.
“He really cares about me,” Humphries told reporters in a video conference Monday.
According to Humphries, the name hasn’t been set yet, but it will be one of three possibilities.
“He told me he was either going to choose between Hump Jr., Lil D.J. or Senfo,” he explained. “Senfo is a shortened, abbreviated way to say 74. That was my No.1 suggestion.”
Humphries, of course, wears No. 74 for the Cardinals.
This might be Murray’s dog, as Arizona Republic reporter Katherine Fitzgerald found on Murray’s Instagram story.
Breaking: DJ Humphries says Kyler Murray named his dog after him. This may be the dog: pic.twitter.com/DbiPT0xQkk
— katherine fitzgerald 🌵🗞 (@kfitz134) June 15, 2020
Humphries re-signed with the Cardinals in the offseason to a three-year deal. He will be the guy protecting Murray’s blind side for years to come.
It’s a good thing to see they have a good relationship.
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Ep. 268
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Ep. 267
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His 2021 money fully guarantees next month.
The Arizona Cardinals announced a three-year contract extension for left tackle D.J. Humphries earlier in the week and the details of the deal were reported on Thursday.
Initially, it looked like a fantastic deal for the Cardinals and a solid deal for Humphries.
It isn’t as team-friendly as initially believed, according to the Arizona Republic’s Kent Somers.
He only counts roughly $12.8 million against the salary cap in 2020 and, if he were to play poorly, they could cut him after only one season and only carry $1.6 million in dead money in 2021.
Initially, it was reported that his 2021 salary of $15.1 million was only guaranteed for injury and would fully guarantee in March of 2021.
Somers reports something different.
OK, big update on Humphries deal. Source says his second year salary of $15 mil becomes guaranteed this year, 3/21/20. So not a team friendly deal. Good deal for DJ.
— Kent Somers (@kentsomers) February 20, 2020
According to his source, the second year of Humphries’ deal becomes fully guaranteed next month. So, essentially, Humphries’ first two years are fully guaranteed.
This contract structure matches the one given to running back David Johnson. The first two years of the deal were basically locked in. And it makes sense, the same agents to put together Johnson’s deal also constructed Humphries’.
This isn’t to say the deal is bad for the Cardinals. It just means they are tied to Humphries for two years no matter what. In 2022, if things are not working out with him for whatever reason, they can unload him with only $800,000 in dead money against the cap.
It is good for Humphries. He gets two years of money guaranteed. He can potentially hit free agency again at age 29 and cash in once more.
The Cardinals take a lower cap hit than using one of the tags this offseason and aren’t committed to him for too long, should injuries become a problem again.
It is still a good deal. It just isn’t as good for the Cardinals as initially believed.
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Ep. 258
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Ep. 257
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His cap hit for the 2020 season will be up to $12.8 million. The Cardinals have about $40 million in cap space available now for 2020.
Earlier today, we found out the details of the base salary for Arizona Cardinals left tackle D.J. Humphries’ three-year contract extension. We have the rest of the information of his contract and his cap hit over the next three seasons.
According to Over the Cap, the contract is three years and worth up to $44.25 million.
He receives only a $2.4 million signing bonus, so his prorated cap hit is $800,000 each year.
Here is the year-by-year breakdown:
Before Humphries’ deal, the Cardinals had more than $53 million in salary cap for 2020. With Humphries’ contract on the books, the Cardinals now have about $40 million in cap space to use.
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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.
Ep. 258
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Ep. 257
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