We are yet a day closer to the start of the 2024 NFL regular season and the Arizona Cardinals have concluded their offseason program. Today, Thursday, it is 87 days away from their season opener when they take the field in Week 1 ay Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park to face the Buffalo Bills.
No. 87 belongs to a rookie. After veteran tight end Geoff Swaim wore it last season, third-round pick Tip Reiman now has it.
Many are excited about Reiman because he enters the league with the expectation that he can be a solid blocker from the very start.
Ideally, he will be an impact player.
Who was the last reasonably impactful player to wear No. 87?
That might be Swaim, but he played less than a full season, although his influence on Trey McBride in his breakout season can’t be overlooked.
But we will say it was the player to wear it before Swaim — tight end Maxx Williams.
Williams was signed by the Cardinals in 2019 and played through 2022.
He was adored by head coach Kliff Kingsbury because he was able to do everything as a tight end, whether it was blocking or catching the ball. He never had more than 16 catches in a season for the Cardinals but he was a very important part of the offense, especially in the run game, making things easier for both Kenyan Drake and James Conner.
In 2021, he was off to a career-best start, catching 16 passes in five games (his career-high was 32) but he tore his ACL and missed the rest of the season. He came back to play 11 games in 2022 but battled through the year because the knee injury affected his day-to-day life as well.
Maxx Williams was awesome.
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