Max Melton has been a Cardinal since late April, but he walked into State Farm Stadium for the first time on Wednesday.
Arriving in the big leagues comes with big-time players, larger playbooks, and a huge stadium, the latter of which the second-rounder learned quickly.
"I walked into the stadium, and I was like, 'Yo, this jawn is hard,'" Melton said. "With the elevated field, they roll the grass in, you can open up the top. It just looks beautiful."
The Cardinals' opening training camp practice on Wednesday didn't have any fans in attendance, but fans can watch practice tomorrow. Pads are still a few days away, a necessary reality of the slow ramp-up in today's NFL.
Jonathan Gannon orchestrates his practices according to a low, medium, or high schedule. Low days feature minimal contact and appear to be more centered around the fundamentals. High days consist of high tempo and resemble more game-like situations. Medium is a hybrid.
Wednesday was listed as a low day, but the excitement of football returning, plus a passionate speech from safety Budda Baker on Tuesday, provided a spark on the first day of work.
"I think we went hard today, and today was Day One," running back James Conner said. "I was looking forward the whole offseason just to get back and get to camp and be around all of the guys and take it day by day and get better. It was a good first day."
Spacing out the intensity of the days is intentional. If each day was a high intensity practice, there would be burnout ahead of a grueling season. Conner, the leader Gannon has proclaimed as "the blueprint," said he's "easily adaptable" when it comes to the schedule.
"I'm the type of guy that, you tell me what needs to be done, I'll try to get it done," Conner said. "Where do I got to be at? What time? How are we going to do it? What's the speed and tempo? I'm all for it."
In Gannon's second year at the helm, the players entered camp with an idea of how to maximize their opportunities. There have been some tweaks made by the coaching staff since this time last year, Gannon said, with a lot of work put in behind the scenes from the top down.
Sean Murphy-Bunting, a presumed starter and the lone veteran in the cornerback room, is entering his sixth season in the league. Having slowly been introduced to how Gannon operates, the way practices are coordinated has been a pleasant difference.
"It's structured in a way where we're trying to protect the players and make sure that everybody's healthy going into the season," Murphy-Bunting said. "It's been good for my body and good for my mental. I think that's going to help our team be in the best position that we can be."
Fortunately for the Cardinals, every player was practicing on Wednesday, including offensive lineman Jon Gaines II. The interior lineman has been rehabbing from a knee injury in the 2023 preseason finale. Gannon said that Gaines will be a limited participant early on in camp.
Whether it's Conner's eighth training camp, Murphy-Bunting's sixth, or Melton's first practice in his first training camp, the desire to see growth is underway.
"I'm already making less mistakes than I made in OTAs and just getting better with the guys," Melton said. "It was a low day, but you could feel it in the air, like it's go time now."
