Tag: Eno Benjamin

LOOK: Cardinals draft picks all officially sign contracts

All six signed on the dotted line and had photos taken of the event.

The Arizona Cardinals and their entire 2019 draft class agreed to terms on four-year rookie contracts earlier in the week. On Saturday, their deals were made official when they went down to team headquarters in Tempe and signed the contracts.

The team released photos of each player signing their deal.

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The only contract specifics we know are about their two top picks, linebacker Isaiah Simmons and tackle Josh Jones.

Simmons’ deal is for more than $20.6 million over the four years and has a fifth-year team option. He received nearly $12.6 million in a signing bonus.

Jones’ deal is worth more than $4.8 million over the four seasons and he receives a signing bonus of nearly $1.08 million.

The other players the Cardinals drafted were defensive linemen Leki Fotu and Rashard Lawrence, both drafted in the fourth round, linebacker Evan Weaver, their sixth-round pick, and running back Eno Benjamin, selected in the seventh round.

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Cardinals agree to terms with all 6 draft picks

All the draft picks are now under contract, as rookies had to report to training camp Tuesday.

The Arizona Cardinals have taken care of the contracts of all six of their 2020 draft picks. Rookies were scheduled to report to training camp Tuesday and on Wednesday the team announced all six draft pick have agreed to terms on four-year contracts.

First-round pick Isaiah Simmons’ deal as well as third-round pick Josh Jones’ were both reported on Tuesday with the financials.

Their 2020 draft class was as follows:

Round 1: LB Isaiah Simmons, Clemson

Round 3: OT Josh Jones, Houston

Round 4: DL Leki Fotu, Utah

Round 4: DL Rashard Lawrence, LSU

Round 6: LB Evan Weaver, California

Round 7: RB Eno Benjamin, Arizona State

This is the latest the Cardinals have gotten their draft picks in many years but things were complicated this offseason with facilities being closed to players because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Implications for the salary cap are not yet known exactly for the contracts other than Simmons’ and Jones’.

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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. 269

Ep. 268

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Ep. 267

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WATCH: Kenyan Drake’s debut with Cardinals resurfaces

Kenyan Drake had a dominate debut with the Arizona Cardinals after they sent a Day 3 pick to the Miami Dolphins in exchange.

Kenyan Drake was traded to the Arizona Cardinals from the Miami Dolphins in the middle of last season in exchange for a Day 3 pick, and it’s a trade that continues to pay off for Arizona.

Even from the debut with his new team, Drake immediately showed that he was well worth the asset Cardinals general manager Steve Keim had parted with, and recently, a fantasy football expert with FF Astronauts reposted a Drake’s highlights from that game.

As the fantasy expert points out in the tweet, it was a quick turnaround for Drake after being traded. And he would also be going against one of the league’s best defenses in the San Francisco 49ers, who would eventually come just short of winning a Super Bowl in February.

The result? Drake rumbled for 110 yards on 15 carries (7.3 yards per attempt) with a touchdown on the ground. The 6-foot-1, 211-pounder also added 52 yards and four receptions.

It was instantly one of the best performances of Drake’s career, and it proved that he was capable of handling the lead back duties in Arizona. In fact, head coach Kliff Kingsbury and company were so confident in Drake that they traded star running back David Johnson to the Texans in the offense.

In eight games with the team to finish 2019, Drake rushed for 643 yards and eight touchdowns on top of 171 yards receiving. Of those rushing yards, 363 of them came over the course of the last three games.

Yes, valued backup running back Chase Edmonds is still on the roster, and former Arizona State standout runner Eno Benjamin was drafted in the sixth round of the 2020 NFL Draft, but Drake is still expected to be a vital part of the offense this upcoming season.

Stay tuned for more updates on Kenyan Drake and other former Alabama stars in the NFL from Roll Tide Wire, part of the USA TODAY Sports College Wire sites!

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Rookie RB Eno Benjamin a quick learner in Cardinals offense

Kenyan Drake says Benjamin is a quick learner and has in-depth responses to the coaches’ questions.

This year’s rookie class has challenges that almost no other rookie class has had to deal with. They have not been able to practice yet this offseason because of the restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury believes expectations will probably have to be tempered for first-year players, especially early in the season.

That said, the Cardinals drafted intelligent players and one is their final draft pick, running back Eno Benjamin, whom they selected in the seventh round out of Arizona State.

He earned a reputation of being very knowledgable of his team’s offense, even sitting in on meetings with the offensive line to understand their assignments as we as his own.

From what teammate Kenyan Drake, the team’s lead back, has seen from Benjamin in virtual meetings, things are going well.

“I feel like he definitely is a quick learner,” Drake said in a video conference with reporters. “All the questions Coach asks him in the meeting room he is real in-depth and he takes pride in the details of what the play may ask. I’m definitely interested to see how he can build up the mental with the physical once we get on the field and run around a little bit more.”

Benjamin is expected to have a limited role on offense, much like Chase Edmonds did as a rookie. But if he continues to be impressive in the mental part of the game, he will endear himself to the coaches and he will carve out a role for himself as the season and his career progress.

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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. 267

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Ep. 266

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Rookie-year expectations for the Cardinals’ 6 draft picks

Only Isaiah Simmons will be expected to be an impact player overall as a rookie.

Now that the Arizona Cardinals have their draft picks and now it is time to look forward to what they can do in the season, we should have reasonable expectations for each player.

What are reasonable expectations from theses players in their rookie season?

LB Isaiah Simmons

Simmons has the biggest expectations of any of the Cardinals’ draft pick, and he should, as he was the eighth overall pick in the draft.

Simmons should be an impact player in defense. He probably will not start in base defensive packages but should play a number of roles and will have the opportunity to do a lot of things. He should be a sub-package player coming in to cover tight ends and running backs and rush the passer.

He should play a lot and make a lot of plays.

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The college accomplishments of the Cardinals’ draft picks

The six players had pretty good college resumes. The Cardinals drafted two conference defensive players of the year and six captains.

Over the last week, we have covered in detail the Arizona Cardinals’ six draft picks, who they are20nd what they say. Let’s look back at the things they accomplished while they were in college and see what honors and awards they earned.

LB Isaiah Simmons

Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
  • He was the 2019 Butkus Award winner for the nation’s top linebacker.
  • He was a unanimous First-Team All-American.
  • He was the ACC Defensive Player of the Year.
  • He was named to the All-ACC first team.
  • He was a team captain in 2019.

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Eno Benjamin set to follow Chase Edmonds’ early NFL career path

He expects to have the same role that Edmonds had in his first and part of his second year in the NFL.

The Arizona Cardinals drafted running back Eno Benjamin believing he will be the third running back they need for their offensive rotation behind Kenyan Drake and Chase Edmonds.

As he looks ahead to his rookie season, he has Edmonds’ career path to watch to know his own career might go to start off.

“I think I will be used as the type of guy that Chase was used the previous years, just kind of as a rotational guy — just a guy who is going to be called and gets whatever that needs to be done, done,” he said in a video conference with reporters on Wednesday. “That’s as far as I know about that. I’m just going in head down to earn my right to be able to get on that field.”

He, like Edmonds, was a workhorse back in college selected on Day 3 of the draft. Edmonds won over the coaching staff as a rookie and then moved his way up the depth chart in Year 2, winning over the current coaching staff.

Edmonds played a lot on special teams, worked hard in practice and earned the respect of his teammates. When given the opportunity to start, he rushed for 126 yards and three touchdowns in one game when David Johnson was injured and Drake was not yet on the team.

It will be a change going from the No. 1 option on offense like he was with the Sun Devils to being the third-string running back, but it is something he is ready to face and it is something he is used to doing.

“It’s just doing whatever it takes to win and to succeed,” he said. “When I was in high school, I was never the first guy. I had to work my way up. When I got to college, I was not the first guy. I had to work my way up.

“It’s just that same mentality. You start off at the bottom and you work your way to the top and it’s a cycle that never ends. You have to keep working.”

He already has a relationship with Edmonds. They worked out together in Benjamin’s predraft process.

It will be exciting to see him cut his NFL teeth on special teams and potentially getting a few snaps here and there on offense once the season arrives.

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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. 266

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Ep.265

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The biggest and best steals of the 2020 NFL draft class

Every draft class has a group of unheralded and underdrafted players who become NFL stars. Here’s this year’s group of sleeper candidates.

Player value is in the eye of the beholder, and certainly in the eyes of the team decision-makers selecting a draft prospect. When the Seahawks took Richard Sherman in the fifth round of the 2011 draft, Sherman was a lightly-regarded cornerback and ex-receiver with embryonic coverage skills, but he was also a perfect fit for Pete Carroll’s single-high coverage schemes, which require his cornerbacks to be aggressive off the line of scrimmage and to cover at a lockdown rate down the boundary. Because he was in the right place, Sherman was able to become the pre-eminent cover cornerback of his era.

The Bengals stole Georgia defensive tackle Geno Atkins in the fourth round of the 2010 draft because Atkins was allegedly undersized. But that organization understood that Atkins’ height (6-foot-1) also amounted to leverage, and Atkins used his leverage, not to mention his play speed and hand technique, to make eight Pro Bowls and amass 75.5 sacks, 171 quarterback hits, and 100 tackles for loss.

So, when it comes to deciding right off the bat who’s a draft steal, opportunity takes a part. Scheme fit and coaching are important. And talent will out in the right place. With all that in mind, here are the draft picks in 2020 we think have the best opportunities to outpace where they were actually selected.

Zack Moss | Eno Benjamin | Antonio Gibson | Denzel Mims | Laviska Shenault Jr. | Josh Jones | A.J. Epenesa | Zack Baun | Marlon Davidson | Amik Robertson | Jaylon Johnson | Trevon Diggs | Antoine Winfield Jr. | Ashtyn Davis

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What to like and what not to like about each of the Cardinals’ draft picks

There is good to each pick. There are questions, too.

The Arizona Cardinals came away with six players in the NFL draft over the weekend. They have largely been praised for the players they selected.

However, one can criticize all the decisions they made in the draft.

Let’s go over what there is to like and what there is not to like about each pick.

Isaiah Simmons

Clemson Charlotte Football

What to like about the pick

Simmons was obviously one of the draft’s most talented and dynamic players. His combination of leadership, production, size, length, speed and explosiveness is rare. His ability to cover at his size could be a game-changer for the Cardinals defense, giving them the ability to cover up flaws and weaknesses of other players. He can rush off the edge, cover in space, blitz, tackle and basically everything.

What not to like about the pick

There isn’t so much concern with the player. However, the Cardinals did draft a player who doesn’t have a place to start right now. It will be up to Vance Joseph to utilize him in a way that allows him to show off his versatility.

Also, the Cardinals potentially miss out on a top tackle prospect. There also might have been the opportunity to trade down, select receiver CeeDee Lamb and pick up a second-round pick. Would the combination of someone like Lamb and someone in the second round have a bigger impact than Simmons alone? That is the question that needs to be answered.

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Cardinals announced jersey numbers for draft picks

Isaiah Simmons will wear No. 48.

The Arizona Cardinals wasted no time after the NFL draft to assign uniforms to their six draft picks. Saturday night, they tweeted out the number each will wear on their backs, at least initially.

  • LB Isaiah Simmons will wear No. 48.
  • OT Josh Jones will wear No. 79.
  • DL Leki Fotu will wear No. 95.
  • DL Rashard Lawrence will wear No. 92.
  • LB Evan Weaver will wear No. 50.
  • RB Eno Benjamin will wear No. 26.

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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.265

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Ep. 264

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