Tag: mike gandy

69 days till the Cardinals’ season opener against the Bills

No one on the roster now wears No. 69. The last impactful one was tackle Mike Gandy in 2007-2009.

We begin a new week in the NFL offseason on a Monday before the 4th of July, and we are one day closer to the start of the season.

The Arizona Cardinals will take on the Buffalo Bills on the road at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York on September 8, which is in 69 days.

No one on the roster for the Cardinals currently wears No. 69. It takes a special character to wear No. 69 because of the obvious innuendo. That said, it has been a while since anyone of real impact wore it.

No one wore it last season. In 2016, guard Evan Mathis wore it and should have been impactful, but he got hurt after four games and landed on injured reserve, ending his career.

You have to go back to 2007-2009 when Mike Gandy was the Cardinals’ starting left tackle and they won the division twice and made it to the Super Bowl.

It was Gandy’s final stop of his eight-year career. He played in and started 44 games at left tackle in those three seasons.

We will be back tomorrow for more counting down.

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NFL Combine: Kmet Well Aware of Hometown Bears Need at Tight End

As the Chicago Bears enter 2020 the need at the position is as obvious as it gets and the Notre Dame product is well-aware of his hometown team’s hole at the position.

The Chicago Bears have a good amount of needs headed into the 2020 NFL Draft with tight end being a massive one.  In the offense they’re trying to run, modeled off of that from Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs, the importance of a tight end can’t be understated.

However, the Bears have struck out on the position in recent years paying a boatload of money to former Philadelphia Eagle Trey Burton and spending a second round pick on Adam Shaheen who has done practically nothing in three seasons.  As they enter 2020 the need at the position is as obvious as it gets and the Notre Dame product is well-aware of his hometown team’s hole at the position.

“I’ve definitely looked at it” is what Kmet said Tuesday at the combine when asked about the Bears issues at the position.

“Obviously it would be a great opportunity to play in Chicago and the hometown and all of that. That would be a lot of fun” Kmet added.

Notre Dame used to be a hot-bed for talent for the Chicago Bears as 22 different former Fighting Irish players have been drafted by the Bears over the years.

Dave Duerson, Jim Flanigan, Mike Gandy and some guy named Johnny Lujack immediately come to mind.

When asked his favorite NFL team growing up, Kmet let his fondness for the orange and blue in Chicago be known:

“The Bears. The hometown.”

Kmet helped guide St. Viator High School in Chicago suburb Arlington Heights, Illinois to a state championship in baseball his senior year.  Tom Thayer and Chris Zorich are a couple of the Chicago locals to go on to Notre Dame before ending up with the Bears, a list Kmet could potentially join.

Personally I’d hope for Kmet to be a Bear, been a while since a Notre Dame player was brought in and expected to be a difference-maker on my favorite NFL team.  I’m guessing Kmet would be happier to sneak into the back end of the first round (Bears first pick is 43rd overall) and find a more consistently good franchise and bigger paycheck that comes along with it.