Some rookie head coaches might feel compelled to establish a rapport with their team before publicly calling out an incumbent for his apparent lack of fitness. The Arizona Cardinals' Kliff Kingsbury was apparently given no other option by defensive lineman Robert Nkemdiche, though, who showed up to his team's training camp on Thursday so “out of shape” that the first-year coach couldn't help but publicly acknowledge it.
When asked about the fourth-year pro's status, Kingsbury certainly didn't sugarcoat matters.
“Not in shape, I guess. That's kind of where we’ll leave it,” he said of Nkemdiche, per Bob McManaman of The Arizona Republic. “Hes on PUP and he's working through that. When he is cleared, we'll work with him.”
To be clear, Nkemdiche had already been placed on the physically unable to perform list before reporting to training camp out of shape. He tore his ACL in Week 14 of last season, always making it possible he might miss action leading up to 2019.
Nkemdiche's career has been beset by injury, inconsistency, and commitment issues since the Cardinals selected him with the No. 29 overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft.
A mega-recruit coming out of high school due to his exceedingly rare combination of size, speed, power, and all-around athleticism, he barely flashed those capabilities over his first two years in the league, playing in a combined 17 games and failing to record a sack. The 24-year-old began coming into his own last season, though, starting six games while notching four and-a-half sacks and seven tackles for loss before going down with injury.
Arizona declined the fifth-year option on Nkemdiche's contract, making him a free agent at the end of this season.
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