Arizona Cardinals speedster Owen Pappoe has impressed coaches in preseason

Owen Pappoe, a fifth-round draft pick out of Auburn, is the NFL's fastest inside linebacker, according to one very popular video game franchise.

He's also an Arizona Cardinals rookie trying to make an impression in the preseason. That part seems to be going well, and the speed certainly helps.

Pappoe has the highest speed rating of any middle linebacker in EA Sports' "Madden NFL," a 93, and he hasn't played a down in a regular season game. He ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine prior to being drafted by the Cardinals.

"It's pretty cool to see that. You know, I've been playing Madden for a while," Pappoe said. He plays the game as himself and can't help but smile at the thought of it.

"I got my picture up there. It's a dream come true, man. But you know, I've already seen this before in dreams, but just seeing it happen in reality is amazing," Pappoe said.

Pappoe's speed comes in handy on special teams, and by now his teammates know how fast he is. Running downfield on a kickoff in practice one day, Pappoe zoomed past teammate JuJu Hughes. Pappoe said Hughes told him he didn't realize how fast he is.

Of course, speed is only part of what Pappoe brings. He's shown himself to be a quick study, as the Cardinals' defensive coaching staff gave him the communications helmet (with a green dot) with which to relay signals when Pappoe was in last Friday's preseason game against the Denver Broncos on defense.

It's a critical assignment that isn't always easy for an experienced player, let alone a rookie.

"He can run. Owen's doing a great job. We gave him the green dot, too. I thought he did a phenomenal job with that. That's not easy for a rookie going in there and having to call the huddle," defensive coordinator Nick Rallis said. "Smooth running. He played fast, he was all over the field. I was pleased with his performance."

Pappoe was a two-time team captain at Auburn who was a starter all four years and had 256 career tackles.

"A lot of the stuff that we're doing in this defense I've done at Auburn before, so kind of a good bit of this defense is just kind of like transferring the language, you know, because it's crazy how many similarities it is from what I did last year," Pappoe said.

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Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon also has liked what he's seen from Pappoe, who had three tackles and played 28 defensive snaps and 15 on special teams last week. He's expected to play Saturday when the Cardinals host the Kansas City Chiefs in their second preseason game.

"He's violent, physical, violent. I'm looking forward to seeing him play this next couple of weeks," Gannon said.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How high one popular video game rates an Arizona Cardinals' rookie