BY HOWARD BALZER

Advice to Cardinals: Don't Sleep on John Wolford
The Arizona Cardinals must win Sunday to be in the playoffs and they are facing John Wolford, a quarterback making his first NFL start.
HOWARD BALZER3 HOURS AGO
It was the middle of January, 2019, and The Alliance of American Football was holding training camp for all eight of its teams in San Antonio, Tex.

At the time, I was doing contract work for the AAF website, and one of the first visits I made was to an Arizona Hotshots practice where Trevor Knight was believed to be the favorite to be the team’s starting quarterback.

I learned differently during a conversation with Hotshots general manager Phil Savage, a longtime NFL personnel executive who had been the executive director of the Senior Bowl for six years before leaving for the AAF. He is currently a senior football advisor for the New York Jets.

It didn’t take long for Savage to tell me privately, even though it was early in camp, that the team’s likely starter would end up being John Wolford.

“There’s just something about him that’s special,” Savage said. In the league’s quarterbacks draft the previous fall, Knight was selected seventh overall and Wolford 11th, mainly because Savage and head coach Rick Neuheisel believed Wolford would be available in the second round.

My attention for the rest of practice that day and in the one preseason game each team played was on Wolford. What Savage said was easily noticeable.

Wolford won the job and when the league suspended operations on April 2, he signed with the Los Angeles Rams nine days later.

Rams head coach Sean McVay recalled the decision to add Wolford to the roster.

McVay said Wednesday, “We had brought him in with a couple other guys that had NFL experience, or guys that were high priority college free agents. You could just see the way the ball jumps out of his hand. Just the upper and lower half movement. He's a twitchy athlete.

"I thought he did a really nice job in his workout and you're out there and you're thinking, ‘Man, I don't care what the size (6-foot-1) says, this looks like it's supposed to in terms of the base, the balance, the body position and being able to speed it up at the top.’ I was at that workout and he definitely earned his spot based on how he performed.”

Wolford spent the 2019 season on the practice squad and this year earned a spot on the 53-man roster as the backup to Jared Goff. Now, in Week 17, with Goff out because of a broken thumb, Wolford will try and lead to the Rams to a playoff spot, one they would achieve with a win or a Chicago Bears loss to the Green Bay Packers. A loss to the Cardinals coupled with a Bears win would end the Rams’ season.

When McVay was asked earlier this week about the decision to eschew a veteran backup quarterback and ride with Wolford, he said simply it was “the confidence in John. What he had shown with the opportunities – whether it be preseason, competitive reps in practice, all the stuff that you're just evaluating every single thing that he does. We felt good about that. So, really it was a reflection of the confidence in John. Looking forward to the opportunity that he'll have this weekend.”

The reality is that Wolford has a chorus of supporters wherever he’s played. When it was noted to McVay that former coaches have described Wolford as “uncanny,” McVay said he has seen that.

“He loves it,” McVay said. “I mean, he eats it up. He does a great job. He's got a great feel. I think uncanny is a good way to describe it, in terms of just being able to recognize things, understand, based on only being able to play with 11 (players on defense), if these guys are there, then what's the potential of a certain blitz coming from this side and what are the tools that you can activate to get it picked up? Or what are the ways that you can do different things that make people pay?

"So, I think he's got great wide-field vision. I think he's got a great feel for the game and all those things that his coaches have said, we definitely feel that here as well."

Neuheisel is a one-man admiration society.

© Tom Tingle/The Republic
© Tom Tingle/The Republic

“I just have immense confidence in John Wolford,” Neuheisel told Arizona Sports 98.7 FM. “The guy is a diligent learner, he is very perceptive as to what's going on within a defense. I guarantee you, he's partially an assistant coach right now for Jared Goff in his role as the backup for the Rams, and now that he's getting to play, I just know the stage won't be too big for him. He rose to the occasion more often than not in my time with him with the Hotshots. I think the world of him and I think he's very capable.”

As for Wolford’s mental approach, Neuheisel said, “He's the kind of guy that comes up to you and says, ‘OK, coach, here's what they're doing. Here's what we should do. Here, we can just tweak this.’ Whether it was a blocking scheme that he saw in run game, whether it was a corner's eyes that he thought were jumping on something that he noticed when he passed up on one choice to move to another. And he could come over and say, ‘Hey, we need to double-move this.’

“And I can't tell you how often he was right. I mean, the guy just sees the game in slow motion. And because of it, while he doesn't look anywhere NFL-ish in physical stature, his arm strength and his accuracy coupled with his mental acuity for the game makes him very dangerous. And I think that underestimating him would be a very big mistake.”

To a man, the Rams appear to have confidence in Wolford. Said McVay, “Anybody that's been around John; he's got a nice way about him, he's got a great charisma, a great presence, he's a fiery personality, but I think the way that he goes about his business week-in and week-out, day-in and day-out has earned the respect of his teammates.

"He's done a great job giving great looks for our defense all year. Then when he's had his opportunities to run our offense, I think he's done a really nice job. A lot of those things kind of have been behind the scenes just based on the COVID restrictions and without the preseason. I think all those things have led to why he is revered by his teammates without a doubt."

Defensive coordinator Brandon Staley has noticed.

“I think that it's very difficult in the NFL to earn respect of your teammates when you have never gone in a game,” Staley said. “But John Wolford has the full respect of our entire team – coaches, and players because of how he performs on the practice field, in the meetings, in the weight room. I think that that's a rare thing when you can have full respect of your teammates without actually having performed in an NFL game. I think that should tell you about his character and about what he's capable of. I think we're all excited for him and his opportunity this weekend.”

Anything specific? Said Staley, “I think the way he goes out on the field. I think our guys enjoy watching him. I think in the pro game, you'd be surprised. There's so many good guys out there at one time, it's hard to stand out, but I think that John, when he gets on the field, he's a guy that people enjoy watching because I think he's a competitor. I think you can tell real competitors when they take the field with how they play, how they perform. He's got a spirit about how he plays, and he's got a play-style that I think stands out.

“I think that he's also a professional. He may be a young player, but he doesn't conduct himself like one. He conducts himself like someone that's been doing this a very long time. Someone that expects to be successful and that has been successful, you know? I think that you can't minimize what he's accomplished as a player before coming to the NFL and how he accomplished it. I think that those are all good things for him.”

For Wolford, he understands the many challenges he will face, but knows “the most important thing is you can't make the critical errors. I have got to put us in a position to win. We have a good defense and we can rely on them in some aspect. Then I start getting heated up, we can start moving the ball and score some points to win the game. So, every single play is a challenge in the NFL and it's about making the right decision and giving us the best chance to win.”

The Cardinals surely realize that thanks to some of the critical mistakes they have made has put them in the position they’re in, approaching a truly must-win game against a team without its starting quarterback, one of its best receivers and a compromised running back situation.

That could be an asset for Wolford with players he’s practiced with like rookie wide receiver Van Jefferson and undrafted rookie running back Xavier Jones.

But Wolford doesn’t appear to be sweating things while knowing this is the biggest game he’s played.

© Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
© Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

He said, “Your first NFL start; it's something you kind of dreamed about your entire life. So, it would be fair to say that, but I'm not going to get too caught up in the moment. I'm not going to be on social media. I'm not going to read all the headlines, whatever it may be. I'm just going to go about doing my job. If I put my head down and work to the best of my ability, at the end of the day whatever happens, I'll be able to sleep at night. I'm just looking forward to the opportunity and have a calm, level-headed mindset going into the game.”

Speaking of sleep, he even had some advice for the media after being asked if he’s been able to get any sleep this week.

“I feel good. I've been sleeping fine,” he said. “The first night I found out, I slept a little bit less than normal, but I think sleep is super important. I read a book called “Why We Sleep” (by Matthew Walker). You guys should read it if you haven't read it and if you're not avid sleepers. So, I'm always trying to get my sleep.”

Along those lines, the Cardinals are advised not to sleep on John Wolford. If they do, they’ll have plenty of time to rest starting Monday.

BY HOWARD BALZER
[www.si.com]