ARIZONA — The Arizona Cardinals have just finished their first set of voluntary offseason team activities, and there’s plenty to talk about.

We posted our sights and sounds video already (which you can check out here), though that didn’t quite cover everything we saw in Tempe.

Five biggest takeaways from being at the team’s facility for offseason team activities:

1. Notable Absences

All of Jacoby Brissett, Josh Sweat, Baron Browning, L.J. Collier, and Trey Benson were not present for the voluntary portion of offseason team activities.

Brissett continues to hope for a new contract while Sweat apparently is a healthy absence according to Arizona Sports. Collier had a personal day while Browning’s absence is unknown.

Starling Thomas and James Conner were spotted working off to the side while Tip Reiman (more on him later) and Walter Nolen III were also spotted on the sidelines. Garrett Williams posted on social media him getting recovery work in, too.

Benson suffered a season-ending injury last season, so he could be rehabbing elsewhere. Players who do not show in Tempe won’t be fined, though anybody who misses mandatory minicamp (June 8-10) will.

2. Jeremiyah Love Returning Kicks?

One of the biggest storylines was the emergence of No. 3 overall pick Jeremiyah Love returning some kicks during the open portion of practice this week. Max Melton was also an interesting name back there as well.

This caused a firestorm of overreactions on Love and the Cardinals’ potential usage of him. Many saw this as Love having to work his way through special teams while others think this will add more unnecessary hits if he is indeed on return duties.

“You’re experimenting with everyone in terms of a lot of different spots,” Cardinals head coach Mike LaFleur told 98.7’s Burns and Gambo. “… Jeremiyah is a running back. We know that. But you never know.”

I wouldn’t read too much into this — at least right now. WR Devin Duvernay was signed this offseason as a primary return man.

3. Rookies Take (Expected) Back Seat

Neither Love or third-round rookie quarterback Carson Beck had dibs on the first taste of action with the starting unit while media were allowed to view practice.

That’s fine, and more importantly, very expected.

Even with Brissett out, it was the veteran Gardner Minshew repping with the first team offense. Tyler Allgeier was the main back for the Cardinals’ top offensive players.

Rookies, at this point in the offseason, are placed behind veterans purposefully. Even if this is the case in training camp, fans shouldn’t freak out if Allgeier is still over Love in the “pecking order” Arizona has.

This is simply the Cardinals working in their inexperienced players at a reasonable rate.

4. Sean Murphy-Bunting’s Position Change

Murphy-Bunting suffered a season-ending injury before even stepping into 2025 and was largely thought to be a cut candidate entering the offseason in a crowded cornerbacks room.

However, the Cardinals have apparently changed his position.

Murphy-Bunting, typically a boundary cornerback, was spotted working out with the safety group. Cornerback Will Johnson confirmed Murphy-Bunting was set to be a nickel corner, which serves Arizona as Williams is not expected to be ready for the start of the season due to injury.

When you’re trimming a roster down to 53, versatility matters.

5. Injury Updates

The Cardinals lost their top run-blocker in tight end Tip Reiman early last season with a right leg injury and is expected to be ready for training camp, according to LaFleur.

“Not going to dive too far into that, but [we] do expect him to be healthy, ready to roll when we get going in training camp. Another guy that I had a lot of respect for coming out of Illinois,” LaFleur told reporters.

“… Tip is all of the right stuff in terms of how he approaches it, and stuff like that. It’s unfortunate, obviously what happened a year ago, but [I believe he is a] big piece of where I think we can go.”

LaFleur was then asked about Benson, which drew a, “Kind of that same type of thing,” response from the Cardinals coach.

The Cardinals again will hit the practice field on May 21 where voluntary OTA’s continue.

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PHOENIX (AP) — An autopsy report released Monday confirmed that the death of a Haitian man after spending months at an Arizona immigration detention facility was related to his dental problems, as a family member had contended.

But the report also said 56-year-old Emmanuel Damas, whose brother previously said had died from an untreated tooth infection, declined recommendations at dental appointments to have his problematic teeth removed.

The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded Damas died from complications of a chest infection with abscesses in his neck and throat area. The cause of death also referred to his severe dental problems.

Damas, who died after being detained at the Central Arizona Florence Correctional Center in Florence, Arizona, is one of at least 51 detainees who have died in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since President Donald Trump’s second term began in January 2025.

Like his death, medical examiners have ruled the majority of the others to be from natural causes. Experts have said that many of them are from conditions that are preventable with timely and effective medical care.

His death is the only one in which dental problems have been listed as a cause or contributing factor in three dozen deaths where that information has been released by medical examiners and coroners.

Damas’ autopsy report said he was put on a waiting list after it was recommended during an October dental exam that he get a particular tooth extracted. When his chance to get it removed came three months later, the report said he declined, saying it didn’t hurt anymore.

At a subsequent appointment in mid-February, Damas declined another recommendation to have teeth removed. Days later, when Damas complained of a sore throat and abdominal pain, staff at the detention facility asked that he go to the medical unit, but he refused, according to the autopsy report.

He was transported to a hospital on Feb. 19 for respiratory failure and later sent to other hospitals for a higher level of care. He died on March 2 at a hospital in Scottsdale.

In a statement, Raymond Audain, a lawyer representing Damas’ family, said Damas died because of the failures of ICE and the private corrections company that runs the Florence facility to provide him with basic medical care.

The family also had a private pathologist conduct an autopsy on Damas, though Audain declined a request from The Associated Press for that report.

The county’s autopsy “confirms what Mr. Damas’s family has determined through its own investigation: that Mr. Damas died of sepsis as a result of a descending infection from his head and neck that started with him experiencing tooth pain. Mr. Damas begged prison staff for medical care on numerous occasions including the night before he was hospitalized, but he was ignored,” Audain wrote.

In a statement, CoreCivic, which operates the facility in Florence, said it takes the deaths of detainees at its facilities seriously.

“While we’re unable to share specific information about a detainee’s medical care due to federal privacy laws, we are committed to providing safe, humane and respectful care for everyone entrusted to us,” CoreCivic said. “We take seriously our obligation to adhere to all applicable federal detention standards and will continue to ensure that all detainees receive appropriate and timely medical attention

The AP left a message with ICE seeking comment on the autopsy report.

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Associated Press writer Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa, contributed to this report.