Arizona Cardinals open busy week with veteran mincamp in days before NFL Draft

The week of the NFL Draft is a busy one across the league as teams, including the Arizona Cardinals, make final preparations and weigh any late trade offers. That's certainly the case for the Cardinals, who hold the No. 3 overall pick on Thursday and could keep it or trade it for even more draft picks as part of a rebuild of the roster.

And on top of all that, a series of practices for veterans are scheduled for Tuesday through Thursday at team headquarters in Tempe. Those three days will lead right into the draft, and give head coach Jonathan Gannon and the many new assistant coaches the opportunity to see a large group of players doing football work together on the practice fields as the offseason shifts into a preparation for next season gear.

The voluntary minicamp starts Tuesday morning, and it wouldn't be surprising if both wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and safety Budda Baker are not present, as both could be traded soon. The Cardinals have signed 13 free agents from other teams, re-signed some of their own free agents to new contracts and have lost players to other teams in free agency, so the roster will have a much different look in 2023.

April team camps are nothing out of the ordinary in the NFL, but it's worth nothing how close the Cardinals' minicamp is to Draft Weekend.

More: Arizona Cardinals could target OL in draft, but not tight ends

Gannon said the minicamp is important for the coaches, too, many of whom are new to Arizona as hired by Gannon. He also said his coaches got last weekend off, a weekend that saw Gannon and a few of his assistants attend the statue unveiling of quarterback Kyler Murray at the University of Oklahoma.

"We can get a lot done. We’re going to get a lot done. The coaching process starts for our guys from a standpoint of technique and schematics, how we do things on a daily basis on the grass and how we practice versus each other," Gannon said last Friday before he left for Oklahoma. "That’s a huge piece to be a good team, is knowing how to practice versus each other in a safe and effective way for our team to improve, but also stay healthy. I know our coaches, they’ve got the weekend off, but they are ready to go on Tuesday."

Gannon said the Cardinals players were to have physicals Monday.

"We’re going to have to adjust on the fly a little bit because everybody comes from different places and different teams. We’ve got a lot of new players now and players that have been here," Gannon said. "I think that the main thing is being clear with what we expect to get out of being on the grass, showing good and bad examples of that and work to keep having some good examples of it. Our players are excited. I know the coaches are excited."

After the draft Thursday through Saturday, the Cardinals will host a rookie minicamp next month, then voluntary organized team activities in May and June for veterans and rookies before a minicamp in mid-June.

More: Arizona Cardinals' position-by-position NFL draft series: QB/RB/WR

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Cardinals to hold veteran minicamp before 2023 NFL Draft