There weren’t many headlines when defensive lineman Roy Lopez was signed to the Arizona Cardinals practice squad last season on Sept. 23, one day before a Week 3 game against the Dallas Cowboys.
Well, maybe there were in Gilbert, Ariz., where he played at Mesquite High School or at Desert Ridge High in Mesa (also part of the Gilbert school district) where his father, Roy, is the head football coach.
Lopez had played two seasons for the Houston Texans after being a sixth-round pick in 2021 from the University of Arizona. However, a hamstring injury suffered in the team’s second preseason game resulted in him being waived/injured in the cutdown to 53 players Aug. 29. After reverting to injured reserve the next day, Lopez was waived with an injury settlement on Sept. 4.
Fast forward to nearly three weeks later when the Cardinals were searching for linemen after L.J. Collier and Carlos Watkins were lost for the season because of injuries suffered in the first and second games, respectively.
After the win over the Cowboys, Lopez was signed to the active roster and ended up playing in 14 games with five starts. He finished the season with 42 tackles (22 solo) with two for loss and while that was fourth among the team’s defensive linemen, the three ahead of him weren’t very far away: Dante Stills (47/18), Kevin Strong (46/25) and Jonathan Ledbetter (46/21).
To some, Lopez might have seemed an afterthought after the Cardinals added Justin Jones, Bilal Nichols and Khyiris Tonga in free agency and selected Darius Robinson in the first round of the draft, but Lopez simply went about his job in the offseason and is currently listed as the starting nose tackle on the preseason depth chart.
Talking to the media last week, defensive coordinator Nick Rallis uttered a “um, um” as soon as he realized a reporter was asking about Lopez. When the question was done, Rallis said, “I challenged Roy to become a leader on the defense and I think he’s doing a great job with that. He does a phenomenal job for us in the run game. You want to talk about anchoring a double team; he’s hard to move in there. And then when he gets his shot to get one-on-ones, he’ll get (someone) knocked back and he does a good job of pushing the pocket on pass downs. So really pleased with where he’s at.”
When asked what he wants to see in the pass rush from the interior line, Rallis said, “Push the pocket. Get that quarterback a little nervous about an offensive lineman in his lap and then they gotta be able to cover for the outside guys at times. Whether it’s three men rushing, four men rushing, five men rushing, whatever, we call it fast-break basketball.
“They gotta be aware of what’s going on whether they’re calling games, or games on the move. They gotta be able to push the pocket when they got two guys on ‘em. When there’s one guy on ‘em, they need to be able to win on an edge at times and affect the quarterback. They’re doing a good job with it.”
Against the Saints, Lopez was disruptive in only 16 snaps (23 percent) and was credited with three tackles (one solo).
Head coach Jonathan Gannon said Monday, “He knows his role and he executes his role and he’s a big-time part of when we play good defense, he’s right in the middle, so you need that guy to play well.”
Asked the biggest improvement Lopez has made, Gannon said, “Pass rush. He’s always been a really good run defender. He’s doing some good things in the pass game on mixed downs too where it’s harder because a lot of times they’re playing run-first, then transitioning to pass. In the run-game, too, there’s been some technique things he’s been really good at.”
That includes sometimes going a bit off-script as Gannon noted he and Rallis had discussed that morning.
Gannon said, “There’s some blocks that we teach things he might not do exactly how they’re taught, but there’s a reason why behind it. He can execute what he does to get the job done for the defense. I like where he’s at.
“If you had 90 Roys, you’d be good to go. We got a lot of good guys. But Roy, he keeps a good attitude, he’s always working on his game. He’s team-first. He’s willing to do whatever you tell him to do. He’s got a smile on his face. He’s a phenomenal human being and he enjoys coming to work and he gets better at his game. So, yeah, I’d love a bunch of Roys.”
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