Kyler Murray referred to Kelvin Beachum as "grandpa" the other day, and if it left the veteran tackle feeling some kind of way, there wasn't much he could do.
"I guess you can consider it as a badge of honor but when (Jonathan Gannon) says it in a team meeting, it carries some weight," Beachum said with a smile on Thursday.
Sure, Beachum was born in the 1980s -- he is 35 -- but he is far from a grandpa. That's Beachum's father, Beachum said, given the small children the Cardinal has at home. "If you look at my haircut on Saturdays you won't see any grey hairs."
But the good-natured barbs are just another way the locker room finds to push Beachum, just like such moments are there to push other players, he said. And now, Beachum needs the push as he moves back into the starting lineup with right tackle Jonah Williams heading to IR.
Beachum was the team's starting right tackle from 2020-2022, but moved to the backup swing tackle role last year when Paris Johnson Jr. was drafted and D.J. Humphries was still on the left side.
Even without regular snaps, coach Jonathan Gannon counted him as crucial in the locker room and on the roster.
"Obviously he wants to play, but he understands his role on the team and he helps me a lot," Gannon said in training camp. "He's one of the sounding boards for me, an older vet who has been through a lot of different ways to do things. Typically if I change something and I think it's for the betterment of the players, I'll ask him and kind of have him co-sign off. Sometimes he'll bring up a point of view I didn't think about and we'll do something a little bit differently. I value his experience and his opinion."
Beachum remains matter-of-fact about his job. He doesn't feel old. He has no desire to retire anytime soon -- "This is just another piece of the book being written about my career" -- and isn't shy about making his own barbs, like noting that locker neighbor and right guard Will Hernandez doesn't even know his name.
He also likes the idea of staying on the right side for now, after spending so much time working as both right and left tackle.
"I'm excited to let the body be at home for a couple of weeks," he said.
The Cardinals need him to play as young as he feels.
