Late-season success as rookie showed Cardinals TE Trey McBride he can make it in the NFL

After trading away their first-round draft pick a year ago for wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown, many Cardinals fans were skeptical about the team using its second-round selection on Colorado State tight end Trey McBride.

He was the highest-rated tight end in the draft, but the Cardinals had more pressing needs elsewhere, especially on defense. General Manager Steve Keim and coach Kliff Kingsbury each took turns getting grilled over the decision. The scrutiny didn’t escape McBride’s ears, either.

But now, following a difficult rookie season in which he barely saw any action with the offense during the first eight games, the two people most responsible for McBride being a member of the Cardinals are gone. Keim stepped down from his position and resigned to focus on his health and Kingsbury was fired, leaving McBride in a bit of an awkward spot.

“Yeah, you know I’ve gone through a coaching change before in college so it’s not anything that I’m not used to,” McBride told The Republic during a recent phone interview. “But at the same time, these were the guys who believed in me, these were the guys who felt comfortable and drafted me, so I give all my thanks and credit to those guys and I’m really sad that it didn’t work out here for them.

“I was playing really good toward the end of the year, so I’m eager to build off of that and to come back with a new head coach and continue building onto that.”

Arizona has a new GM in Monti Ossenfort but has yet to finalize its ongoing search for a new coach. Whoever it is, McBride just hopes he gets a chance to prove himself.

“Yeah, it’s a bummer,” he said of the departures of Keim and Kingsbury. “But at the same time, I think the new head coach when he comes to Arizona will be a huge asset to us and something I’m looking forward to. I feel like I’m a good enough football player that I can play for any of these guys.”

McBride was sad to see Kingsbury go.

“I loved having him as a coach,” he said. “He was unbelievable, and he taught me so much and really believed in me and gave me the opportunity to play. So, I’m very grateful and thankful for him. At the end of the day, it’s a bottom-line business and if you don’t win, that’s what’s going to happen. This year we didn’t win and that’s unfortunate.

“I would love to continue playing for him but like I said, it’s a bottom-line business and if you’re not going to win football games it’s hard to stay in this business.”

Although Kingsbury was a players’ coach who trusted his team and seldom lost his temper with any of them, he wasn’t shy about often trying to light a fire under McBride. He would bark at the rookie every time he ran a route too short in practice or failed to pick up a blitzing defender in pass protection.

“He was really hard on me and that’s something I really enjoyed about him because like you said, he is a players’ coach, he’s someone all the guys love and wanted to play for,” McBride said. “He was really hard on me. He pushed me to be the best player I can be … He believes in me and what I was doing. He really did push me to be a great player and I’m very grateful for that.”

Though he only had 39 receptions for 265 total yards and one touchdown, McBride earned more and more trust down the stretch. The Cardinals really didn’t have much of a choice, though, following a season-ending torn ACL suffered by No.1 tight end Zach Ertz and a hobbled No. 2 tight end Maxx Williams, who was never the same after returning from his own ACL injury.

With Ertz expected to still be rehabbing his knee and Williams, an impending unrestricted free agent unlikely to be brought back, McBride figures to enter offseason workouts as the Cardinals’ top tight end. Eventually, Ertz will return, as will quarterback Kyler Murray, who suffered a torn ACL as well during Arizona’s Week 16 loss to Tampa Bay.

“Yeah, obviously it will be different, but I feel like with my role, I can be a good player, I can be a good tight end for that team and I’m excited for the opportunity,” said McBride, speaking last week from Los Angeles where he was signing 15,000 rookie trading cards courtesy of Panini America. “I love playing with Zach. Zach’s a great player and someone who has been very successful in this league for a long time, so I love learning from him and watching in play and practice.

“When he comes back, I’m super excited to get on the field and play with him again because that’s always fun. I’m eager for (Murray) to get back and to be able to build that chemistry again with him, too. I’m just eager for him to get healthy and see what we can do next year.”

McBride had two special experiences this past season. One was returning to Colorado in Week 15 when the Cardinals played at the Broncos. It was a chance for McBride, born in nearby Greeley, to play in front of his family and friends — the people who have always supported him the most. He finished with four receptions for 55 yards and said of weekend overall, “It was something I’ll remember for a long time.”

Two weeks later in Atlanta, McBride had his breakout game with seven catches for 78 yards and his first and only touchdown of the season in a 20-19 loss. It was a game that reawakened his spirit and opened his eyes as to his potential in the NFL.

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“Yeah, I think just getting the opportunity to go catch balls, taking advantage of that opportunity,” he said. “Yeah, I know I’m capable of playing, I know what I’m capable of doing. It’s just having a coach and people that believe in me and give me the chance to go out there and make plays is really all I need. But yeah, that definitely did open some eyes for not only me, but it gave me some confidence to let myself know I can do this.”

McBride just wishes his first ever touchdown, which came on a 4-yard bootleg pass from David Blough, would have been a little less dramatic. He was wide open on the play but stated to stumble as soon as he caught the ball and wound up stretching his body out and diving into the end zone for the score.

“When I did fall, in my mind I was more embarrassed thinking it was still college and I thought I was going to be down as soon as I fell,” he explained. “But as I was sliding I realized we were in the NFL and I could keep sliding as long as I want as long as I didn’t get touched, so once I slid into that end zone and saw the ref put up his hand, it was very special.”

He forgot about securing the football as a keepsake, however.

“Funny story,” McBride said. “I actually spiked the ball because it was my first one and I got to the sideline and my teammates asked me, ‘Bro, what did you do with the ball? That was your first touchdown.’ I realized I messed that up and I should have kept that one, but luckily the equipment guys went sprinting after it after I spiked it, so they got it for me. But in the moment, not a lot was going through my head.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cardinals TE Trey McBride is fueled by late-season success