Andrew "Dewey" Wingard was blunt, as he is known to be.
He and new teammate Trey McBride have a history, the safety notes. "Most of the bad blood is gone," Wingard deadpanned.
To this we need to go back to 2018, Wingard's senior season at Wyoming, when they played Colorado State and the Rams' freshman tight end McBride. Seems that during a play -- "when I was an absolute demon" Wingard notes as background -- Wingard finished a tackle and, as he tells it, was speared in the back by McBride while he was on the ground.
"So yeah, there was some bad blood there," Wingard said.
McBride was almost sheepish on the topic. "It was so long ago," he said. "I don't know about the spear in the back, it was playing through the whistle, whatever it is, me and him got a little tangled up. Yes, he's held a grudge for a while."
"Trey would tell you, 'He's their best player and I'm trying to get him out of there,'" Wingard said.
(For the record, Wyoming won the game, 34-21.)
McBride said he knew Wingard wasn't happy that day, and that the whole Wyoming fanbase was angry at McBride.
"But like I said it was such a long time ago," McBride said. "Then over the years, you see him, and you go back to, 'Man, I hope he forgot about it.' And he never did."
Last season, when the Jaguars visited the Cardinals, Wingard was chirping at McBride all game when he was mic'd up; Wingard's cutting-room floor comments were common knowledge in the video room when he showed up to Arizona.
Indeed, when Wingard signed as a free agent in March, the first teammate he saw was McBride.
"It was kind of like the 'Stepbrothers' moment, where it's like ....... 'OK, I'm over it," Wingard said.
"It was funny," McBride said. "We made eye contact and the first thing he said was, 'OK man, we can be friends now because we're teammates."
Now the two just complement the other. McBride noted "I just have a lot of respect for him." And Wingard has an All-Pro tight end against whom to battle daily, rather than just stew about a guy who left a mark eight years ago.
"Trey is a stud, absolute stud," Wingard said. "I'm thankful to line up against him each day."
