It’s been quite a journey for Christian Kirk since the Arizona Cardinals drafted him in the second-round last April. The former Saguaro High and Texas A&M star made an immediate impact on the field, while adjusting to life off it.
“The preparation week in and week out,” Kirk said to Sports360AZ.com’s Brad Cesmat during an in-studio sitdown last week. “Every single practice felt like a game to me. I was walking off the field exhausted but the more I started treating it like a game every time I stepped on the field…each week I was getting better and better and better.”
Kirk’s impressive rookie season was cut short after breaking his foot against the Packers in early December.
“When they told me my season was over,” he explained. “A lot of emotions because I never missed a game in my career. For the first couple weeks it was tough on me not being able to go out to practice and be with my teammates. I’m just looking at this as an opportunity to be a better me.”
In 12 games he tallied 43 receptions for 590 yards and three touchdowns. He also quickly earned the respect of his veteran teammates, including Larry Fitzgerald who he grew up following.
“There’s always little things he says,” Kirk said of Fitzgerald. “You have to pick up on all of it. It feels surreal. All the years looking up to him…I would have never thought in a million years I’d be in the same meeting room, be on the same field with him.”
Kirk is also excited about playing for new head coach Kliff Kingsbury who took over Steve Wilks earlier this month.
“I know that he’s such a creative mind,” he said. “In this league you can’t be succesful unless you have a solid running game. You have to be able to line up with two tight ends and run it between the tackles. I think you’re doing to see a lot of diversity and being able to put our skill players in the right position to make plays. I feel like this offense is going to be all about mismatches.”
