Tag: Rodney Hudson

Rodney Hudson, James Conner inactive for Cardinals vs. Seahawks

Check out which Cardinals players will not dress for their game against the Seahawks.

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The Arizona Cardinals will be without their starting center for the second week in a row. Rodney Hudson, questionable to play in Week 6 with a knee injury that also kept him out of last week’s game, is among the Cardinals’ inactive players. The hope is that he will be good to go Thursday night when they host the New Orleans Saints.

Other than Hudson, the inactive list has no surprises.

Cardinals Week 6 inactive list

  • K Matt Prater
  • QB Trace McSorley
  • C Rodney Hudson
  • CB Trayvon Mullen
  • RB James Conner
  • RB Darrel Williams
  • OL Lecitus Smith

Mullen, Conner and Williams were all ruled out with injuries. With no Conner or Williams, Eno Benjamin will get the start and rookie Keaontay Ingram is active for the first time in his career and will play.

Veteran running back Corey Clement was signed to the practice squad earlier in the week and elevated to the active roster Saturday. He will also play, although we will see if he does more than special teams.

McSorley is inactive for the first time this season with the return of Colt McCoy from injured reserve.

Sean Harlow will start at center for the Cardinals.

Cornerback Byron Murphy, listed on the final injury report as questionable with a groin injury, is active and will play.

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Cardinals’ Rodney Hudson unlikely to play vs. Eagles

The Cardinals’ starting center is dealing with a knee injury and did not practice all week.

The Arizona Cardinals will likely be without their starting center, Rodney Hudson, when they take on the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday afternoon at State Farm Stadium. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury told reporters after practice Friday that he doubted Hudson would be able to play.

Hudson is listed on the injury report with a knee injury and did not practice Wednesday or Thursday. In Friday, media members in attendance saw he did not participate in the open part of practice.

His final game status will be known when the final injury report comes out Friday afternoon.

That means Sean Harlow will get the start at center.

This will give the Cardinals an added challenge. The Eagles have two huge, strong and athletic defensive tackles — veteran Fletcher Cox and rookie Jordan Davis.

Harlow will need to be at his best to slow them down.

Starting left guard Justin Pugh has missed practice time and backup guard Max Garcia as well, so the Cardinals will enter the game this weekend with a banged-up interior offensive line.

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Cardinals announced 8 team captains for 2022 season

The Cardinals have eight captains for this season. Six have been captains before, while James Conner and Jalen Thompson are new additions.

The Arizona Cardinals voted on and announced their team captains for the 2022 season. They will have eight players with the ‘C’ on their jersey this season.

They had nine team captains last season, eight in 2020 and five in 2019, the first season with Kliff Kingsbury as head coach.

This season, it breaks down as four offensive captains and four defensive captains, although one is sort of defense/special teams.

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Rodney Hudson’s time off in offseason spent with family

Cardinals center Rodney Hudson spoke to reporters for the first time since he decided to return and play in 2022.

The Arizona Cardinals are glad to have center Rodney Hudson back. He took the entire offseason to decide whether or not he was coming back for another season. But it doesn’t sound like he really thought too much about retirement, even though the thought did come up.

Hudson addressed the media for the first time since his return to the team on Friday and told how he spent the offseason. “I spent time with my family, tried to heal up, recover and go from there,” he said.

Thoughts of retirement did come up, although he said he “didn’t have a meter” to gauge how seriously he thought about it.

“Just like any other player or any other job, as you get older in your profession, it’s a thought,” he said. “You spend a lot of time away from your family and your loved ones. Those things, at my age, you at least start to think about them.”

He didn’t know if there “was an exact moment” when he decided he wanted to play another season.

“I took the offseason off, spent a lot of time with my family, enjoyed that part of it, worked on my body, tried to get my body to a place where I feel good about it and came to a decision,” he said.

His wife had a baby so now he has two children at home, which he said was different. He would not comment as to whether or not he was fined for his unexcused absence from mandatory minicamp in June.

Based on what he said throughout his comments, it seems like retirement wasn’t necessarily a serious thought. He just wanted more time in the offseason with his family and perhaps just didn’t feel ready to leave them even for minicamp.

Between that and getting his body to a place that was good enough for football, he probably planned on returning but just wanted to delay the part of the football grind until it was necessary to do in training camp.

But he is back and the team is thrilled. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury is glad to have him. Running back James Conner said he gave Hudson a big hug and thanked him for returning.

A healthy Hudson will make a big difference as the Cardinals try to build on their 11-win season from a season ago.

Will 2022 be Hudson’s last season? He has no idea.

“I can’t even take my mind to next offseason.”

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Cardinals center Rodney Hudson returning in 2022, will report to training camp

The three-time Pro Bowler, after missing all the offseason program, has informed the team he will report for training camp next week.

There was plenty of uncertainity this offseason about the status of center Rodney Hudson. That uncertainty has changed into good news.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Hudson has informed the team he will return to the team to play the 2022 season and will report to training camp next week on Tuesday, when veterans are to report for camp.

Hudson did not report for any offseason activities. He was not in the building for voluntary OTAs and also was absent from mandatory minicamp. His absence from minicamp was unexcused, according to Kliff Kingsbury.

The 33-year-old three-time Pro Bowl was rumored to be considering retirement or simply not wanting to play for the Cardinals for a second year. However, all is well now.

He returns to anchor the starting center position, solidifying the offensive line.

The Cardinals acquired Hudson last year for a third-round draft pick and then gave him a three-year. $30 million extension. He is due to make $10.85 million in salary this coming season, $5 million of which is fully guaranteed.

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The NFL’s top 12 centers

Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield continues our position lists with the NFL’s 12 best centers.

It starts with the snap.

In both my writing and my coaching, I try and impress upon those around me just how odd you have to be to play the quarterback position. You need to be a little…different. Convinced in your belief that you and you alone can be the only player tasked with making a decision with the football on a given play.

And yet, that is not exactly the truth.

After all, it starts with the snap.

Centers in the NFL today have a lot on their plate. They are tasked with helping to set protections and blocking schemes up front. They are tasked sometimes with identifying blitzes and making sure the offensive line is all on the same page. Then they have to make sure the quarterback gets the ball cleanly — otherwise people like me are going to point fingers when the ball hits the turf — all while the Aaron Donalds of the world are trying to drive them backwards.

It is not easy.

Here are the best centers in the game heading into the 2022 NFL season, along with the rest of our positional lists, leading up to the top 101 players in the NFL today.

The NFL’s top 13 safeties

The NFL’s top 12 slot defenders

The NFL’s top 12 outside cornerbacks

The NFL’s top 11 linebackers

The NFL’s top 11 edge defenders

The NFL’s top 12 interior defensive linemen

LOOK: The NFL’s top centers in 2022, per Touchdown Wire

The Chargers’ Corey Linsley heads this list and the Cardinals’ Rodney Hudson makes it.

Every offensive line needs a quality center to anchor it. His job is the most mentally demanding on the line and he touches the ball every play, getting the ball to the quarterback.

The Arizona Cardinals have a very good center in Rodney Hudson, although his status with the team is uncertain because he did not report for any offseason work.

He is one of the best centers in the league.

Who are the best at the position? Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield gives us the top 12 in the NFL. Check them out below and read his full post for complete analysis and breakdown.

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Rodney Hudson makes Touchdown Wire’s list of top centers

Hudson ranks No. 6 in the NFL at his position.

The Arizona Cardinals don’t know what is going go happen with center Rodney Hudson, whom they acquired via trade last offseason. He did not report to any part of their offseason program and it is unknown whether he will continue playing.

If he doesn’t return to the team, the Cardinals will be missing of the league’s best at his position.

In Mark Schofield’s rankings of the top centers in the NFL for Touchdown Wire, Hudson comes in at No. 6.

For the past few seasons, Rodney Hudson has been considered among the game’s best players at his position. After four years in Kansas City with the Chiefs, Hudson solidified his status as an elite center with an incredible run of play during his six seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders.

He was traded to the Arizona Cardinals last off-season in a somewhat surprising move, and his first year in the NFC saw perhaps a bit of an adjustment to the new offense. While still an extremely solid player, Hudson was not quite as effective as he was in season’s past, particularly in the run game.

But his pass-blocking game remained on point. Take this snap against the Los Angeles Rams, where he barely gives up an inch up front:

Or here against the Dallas Cowboys, where he helps punish the looper on a twist game up front:

Between the adjustment to a new offense and the injuries that landed him on injured reserve for a few weeks, 2021 had some ups and downs for Hudson. But perhaps year two in the desert sees him back atop this list in 2022.

Hudson was praised consistently last season for his impact on the offensive line and quarterback Kyler Murray.

The hope is that he returns to anchor the offensive line again in 2022. HIs loss would be significant.

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Cardinals omit Rodney Hudson from O-line image

His absence in the offseason and the image suggest maybe things have not been resolved yet.

Here at Cards Wire, we are counting down to the start of the Arizona Cardinals’ regular season. So are the Cardinals on social media.

In their recent tweet noting that there are 60 days until the Cardinals’ season opener, it included images of the projected starting offensive line — at least, four of the five projected starters. It did not including center Rodney Hudson.

The image includes tackles D.J. Humphries and Kelvin Beachum and guards Will Hernandez and Justin Pugh, but it does not have Hudson, which raises questions.

Hudson’s status with the team is uncertain. He did not report for any offseason work, voluntary or mandatory,  and his absence from minicamp was unexcused. Head coach Kliff Kingsbury said last month that they were “working through some things” with Hudson.

It appears things have not been worked through for his return.

Training camp begins in less than two weeks and it appears their starting center might not play, whether he decides to retire or requests a trade.

Will he report to camp or will the Cardinals have to find a new starting center?

We will find out in not too long.

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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 Spotify.

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The NFL’s top 12 centers

Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield continues our position lists with the best centers in the NFL today.

It starts with the snap.

In both my writing and my coaching, I try and impress upon those around me just how odd you have to be to play the quarterback position. You need to be a little…different. Convinced in your belief that you and you alone can be the only player tasked with making a decision with the football on a given play.

And yet, that is not exactly the truth.

After all, it starts with the snap.

Centers in the NFL today have a lot on their plate. They are tasked with helping to set protections and blocking schemes up front. They are tasked sometimes with identifying blitzes and making sure the offensive line is all on the same page. Then they have to make sure the quarterback gets the ball cleanly — otherwise people like me are going to point fingers when the ball hits the turf — all while the Aaron Donalds of the world are trying to drive them backwards.

It is not easy.

Here are the best centers in the game heading into the 2022 NFL season, along with the rest of our positional lists, leading up to the top 101 players in the NFL today.

The NFL’s top 13 safeties

The NFL’s top 12 slot defenders

The NFL’s top 12 outside cornerbacks

The NFL’s top 11 linebackers

The NFL’s top 11 edge defenders

The NFL’s top 12 interior defensive linemen