Somers: Good news, center Rodney Hudson's return is hard to beat for the Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals opened training camp in 1996 with a new coach, Vince Tobin, a new offensive coordinator, Jim Fassel, and a new quarterback, Boomer Esiason. Wouldn’t fans find it interesting, an Arizona Republic reporter thought, to see a diagram of one of Fassel’s favorite plays?

Fassel, who became the Giants' head coach after that season, graciously complied. The play he drew included 11 “Os,” accounting for each offensive player. But somehow, one position was deleted during the diagram’s trip from Fassel’s hands and into print.

The Cardinals, according to the paper, were going to play without a center in 1996.

That anecdote came to mind this spring and summer when Cardinals center Rodney Hudson skipped all off-season workouts, including the mandatory minicamp in June. “We’re working through something with him,” coach Kliff Kingsbury said at the time.

Would the Cardinals play the 2022 season without a center? At least one who had any experience at the position?

Hudson alleviated that fear this week, telling the team he will return for a 12th NFL season. No move the Cardinals made this off-season is more important to their chances of making the playoffs for a second consecutive season and possibly winning a game once there.

There are two reasons for that. Hudson, 33, is still a very good player. And the Cardinals did nothing in the off-season to prepare for playing without him.

They didn’t draft a center and didn’t sign one in free agency. If Hudson had not returned, the Cardinals were considering shifting right guard Justin Pugh there, which isn’t an easy transition, as we saw last season when Sean Harlow and Max Garcia, both guards, tried to fill when Hudson missed games because of COVID-19 and rib and shoulder injuries.

Shotgun snaps to Kyler Murray were often errant. More blocks were missed. And Hudson’s ability to read defenses and adjust blocking schemes couldn't be replaced.

Pro Football Focus graded Hudson as the 31st best center in the NFL a year ago, but the Cardinals likely would dispute the accuracy of such a low score. And grades by those outside the organization don’t account for everything, like what happened at the 10:45 mark in the third quarter of the season opener in Nashville a year ago.

The Titans had just scored to narrow the Cardinals’ lead to 11. The Cardinals needed to respond and faced third-and-three from the Tennessee 26.  As the Titans' defense lined up, Hudson somehow identified that an all-out blitz was coming, meaning one-on-one pass coverage. He alerted Murray, who changed the play and completed a 26-yard touchdown pass to Christian Kirk.

Hudson “makes a ton of difference,” Murray said at the time.

That’s why the Cardinals, and their fans, were so concerned when Hudson stayed away this off-season while “working through something” with the team. Or maybe with himself. It’s not clear which.

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Hudson doesn’t say much to reporters. Because of COVID protocols, Hudson and other players were able to have minimal contact with media last year, and a number of them minimized it.

Hudson hasn’t commented about his absence this spring and summer, and his agent, Joe Panos, declined to comment Wednesday. Chances are, Hudson won't say much when he shows up for the start of training camp next week.

There has been speculation that Hudson might be unhappy with his contract. But that seems doubtful, given the Cardinals signed him to a three-year deal shortly after trading for him in March of 2021. Hudson’s $10 million yearly average compensation is seventh among centers, according to overthecap.com, and he’s due to make $10.85 million in salary this year.

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It’s more likely that Hudson contemplated retirement. He’s had a long career that’s taken him from Kansas City to Oakland and now to Arizona. The rib and shoulder injuries suffered a year ago looked painful.

There’s substantial money left to earn on this contract, but then Hudson has made more than $70 million in his career. He placed himself in the enviable position of being able to dictate his future, and perhaps he spent the past few months deciding if he wanted football to continue to be part of it.

His return is a huge boost for the Cardinals, who otherwise were going to be scrambling to fill a void. Because contrary to what a newspaper graphic suggested long ago, a quarterback can’t snap the ball to himself.

Reach Kent Somers at Kent.Somers@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @kentsomers. 

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Rodney Hudson's return fills a hole at the center of Cardinals offense