Tempe, Ariz. – One by one, the closed wing of the Cardinals of Arizona, Trey McBride, reviewed his goals for life in the 2024 season.
Be considered one of the best closed wings of the NFL? Check. Make your first Pro Bowl? Verify again.
A young McBride grew up in Colorado dreaming of these achievements. Now, after a prominent year that culminated with its first 1,000 -yard season, they have become their reality.
“It is obviously a great honor,” said McBride. “This is something you dream like a little child. Obviously, you want to reach professionals and then you want to be the best, and for me, this is just a step in that right direction. This is a great honor. For me.
McBride’s success resulted in 1,146 reception yards and two touchdowns in 111 trapped. The first season ended in the league among the wings closed in the objectives per route (30.0%), the participation in the objective of the team (29.6%) and received the first attempts (63); Second in reception yards (1,146), receptions (111), objectives (148) and yards of game reception (71.6); and third on routes (494) and yards after capture (513).
Everything McBride needed was an opportunity.
In 2023, McBride gave a preview of what would arrive in the last 10 games of the season when he counted 655 of his 825 reception yards. The closed wing Zach Ertz was placed in the injured reserve after week 7 and then resigned on November 30, allowing McBride to become the best team receiver. That was carried out this past season: the third of McBride in the NFL and the first as TE1.
McBride used a summer trip to the University of Ala closed in Nashville as the launch point of its breakup season. And although not catching a touchdown until week 17, he may have frustrated the 25 -year -old, he did not deter it.
“I just wanted an opportunity since I arrived here, I just needed one chance and finally I had that opportunity at the end of last year, and I only try to concentrate on what I can control,” McBride said. “I never try to do too much out of my comfort zone or anything like that. I just try to play football, try to be the best soccer player I can be, and that is exactly what I have done.”
Field Marshal Kyler Murray believes that McBride can be even better than him.
“Which is … he is saying a lot because it’s a beast. It’s a beast,” Murray said. “He has long done some nuances that nobody really, you must be in the room to really understand what is happening. But, no, man, I will say it every time. I think it is the best in the league and he will only continue improving as we improve together. “
The consistency was McBride’s theme in 2024. One of McBride’s goals for 2025 is to play in each game. A game was lost this season after suffering a brain shock in week 3.
Two seasons ago, one of McBride’s approach areas was its depth of route, said coach Cerrada Ben Steele. When Steele walked through McBride in the stretching lines this season, he had the same message for him: “The greats appear every day.”
“It is a complete closed wing, which for me is what makes a closed wing,” said Steele. “They are not just slow receptors. If you do not block, you are just a slow receiver. Then, he runs on the face of the people and blocks people at the point of attack and most of the boys who are voted with the Pro Bowl They don’t do that.
“They are slow receptors in my opinion, and that is my personal opinion.”
Steele said McBride’s blockade improved this season, but McBride thought there is still room for growth.
“I feel that it will never be where I want it to be, but obviously I have taken some steps in the pass game,” McBride said.
That was obvious when he broke his own team record of 81 receptions for a closed wing last year with 30 more this year.
McBride’s ability to block it has made it “invaluable,” said Steele. And he has also done Steele’s work harder. Fight to find the time for McBride to be a break during the games because it can be in the field for all types of play.
Everything helped McBride becoming the first closed wing of the cardinals in making a Pro Bowl from the member of the Jackie Smith Hall in 1970, who, Steele said, is a “tribute to his work.”
“He simply does his business and works day by day,” Gannon said. “Love the [meetings] And the weight room and practice, and loves to play, man. He loves football.
“So, if you love football and have a growth mentality and you are constantly trying to improve, you usually hit the roof. And I think it can still go a little higher, but it has done a very good job, a premier player for us” .