The next time the Arizona Cardinals take the practice field, it will be late July, inside the air conditioning of State Farm Stadium, as training camp gets underway. That’s when the pads will go on and when the arrival of a new season will feel tangible, even as it comes with muted expectations.

But over the past two months, head coach Mike LaFleur and the Cardinals began laying the groundwork for what their 2026 season will look like in 11 spring practice sessions — nine as part of voluntary OTAs, two in mandatory minicamp. Here are the key lessons that we learned during those practices.

Cardinals are healthier than expected

The Cardinals began their spring slate full of question marks surrounding the health of important starters. They ended with almost none.

Defensive tackle Walter Nolen is expected to be ready for the start of training camp, where he’ll aim to build off a promising but injury-riddled rookie season that ended with a torn meniscus. The same goes for tight end Tip Reiman, a key weapon in the run game who suffered a season-ending foot injury last year.

Cornerbacks Sean Murphy-Bunting and Starling Thomas V are already back in practice after missing all of last year with torn ACLs. And the most surprising news centered on nickel Garrett Williams, who has a good chance to be ready for Week 1 despite tearing his Achilles in December.

Really, the only negative on the injury front came with fourth-round rookie defensive tackle Kaleb Proctor, who suffered a torn meniscus during OTAs and could miss the entire season. That’s a big blow, given Proctor’s pass-rushing upside and the Cardinals’ lack of depth at the position, but it shouldn’t overshadow the good news elsewhere.

Rookies are being introduced gradually

In nearly every offensive position group at OTAs and minicamp, there was a trend: highly drafted rookies working behind unheralded veterans.

At running back, Jeremiyah Love worked behind Tyler Allgeier during drills. On the offensive line, Chase Bisontis worked with the backups, while Isaiah Adams operated as the starting right guard. And at quarterback, Kedon Slovis took reps ahead of Carson Beck, who would have been working as the fourth quarterback on the depth chart if not for Jacoby Brissett’s holdout.

It’s early, of course, and the order of practice reps in May and June is not always an accurate predictor of the hierarchy come Week 1. But it was evident throughout camp that LaFleur wants to bring his rookies along gradually — for now.

“I’ve always said, the rookie will be ready when the rookie’s ready,” LaFleur said. “With that being said, this league doesn’t wait around. So there’s a level of urgency that everyone’s gotta have.”

It will be worth watching how quickly that group is able to rise up the depth chart during training camp.

LaFleur’s offense will look new to Cardinals fans

Under former offensive coordinator Drew Petzing, the Cardinals offense was often stagnant. They had the league’s fourth-lowest motion rate and preferred to beat defenses with power, relying on heavy personnel groupings. At its best, it was a bruising, punishing style of offense. At its worst, it was staid and predictable.

Under LaFleur, the overarching offensive philosophy could look quite different. As players were asked to describe his offense over the course of the past month, one clear trend emerged.

“It’s a lot of eye candy, a lot of motions,” linebacker Mack Wilson Sr. said.

“Just the different things that we do with motions and shifts,” wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. said.

“They do a lot, moving around,” safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson said.

In other words: Expect the Cardinals offense to use motion early and often. That’s no surprise, given that LaFleur’s Rams ranked fourth in usage of pre-snap motion last season, but it will be new in Arizona.

Cody Simon takes lead at linebacker

When the Cardinals signed veteran linebacker Jack Gibbens to a two-year, $7.5 million deal this spring, it seemed as if he could step into a starting role alongside Wilson. But in spring ball, it was second-year linebacker Cody Simon who appeared to have the inside track to that job.

Simon, a 2025 fourth-round pick, stepped in for the injured Wilson last November and struggled at times, taking too long to react to plays in the middle of the field. But by the end of the season, he had gained an increased level of familiarity in coordinator Nick Rallis’ defense — something LaFleur took notice of when studying the Cardinals’ 2025 tape.

“There’s tangible evidence of him, within a game, correcting himself,” LaFleur said. “… And seeing the improvement from one play to maybe 10 plays later. And it’s like, ‘Ooh, he got it right there.’

“He understood that he could have been a little bit better and you saw that. … He gets football.”

Secondary filled with competition for starting spots

At the end of spring camp, the Cardinals’ depth chart has uncertainty at all three positions in the secondary.

With Jalen Thompson gone, Taylor-Demerson appeared to have the inside track to a starting job alongside Budda Baker at safety. Instead, Taylor-Demerson and free agent signing Andrew Wingard have been rotating atop the depth chart, with that competition seemingly set to extend into the summer.