His name was Anthony Vessa, and when Andrew "Dewey" Wingard was lined up against him in practice, there was dread.
"I'd be scared," the Cardinals safety said. "I'd be genuinely scared."
Wingard was only 9 or 10 at the time, just learning the sport of football, far from becoming the devil-may-care thumper he'd become. Vessa was his nightmare. "Every time he'd line up across from me, I'd crap my pants."
Then one day, Wingard's father gave Dewey the simple advice to relax. Be the hammer and not the nail. Don't slow down into contact. Wingard leaned into that advice at practice – he doesn't recall if it was against Vessa for sure, but he'd guess it was – and young Dewey had a revelation.
"That's really when it became how I played," he said.
And how Wingard plays is how he lives.
The free agent signed with the Cardinals in March looking to carve out a higher profile than what he was able to after seven years in Jacksonville, where he started just two seasons after coming into the league as an undrafted rookie. The Cardinals needed a replacement for Jalen Thompson, who spent that same seven-year span next to Pro Bowl safety Budda Baker before signing with the Cowboys as a free agent.
"I've always seen myself as a starter and a baller," Wingard said.
He opened his Cardinals' career with a splash, forcing a fumble and making an interception in the win over the Chargers despite shaking his head about the plays he didn't make.
"You want the right people first," coach Mike LaFleur said. "You can see their football character on their tape like whether they're made of the right stuff or they're not. … He's a stud of a human. He's always been a good football player. I think he and Budda back there — the communication is just flawless."
Wide receiver Michael Wilson hadn't talked to Wingard much at all into the offseason, but he remembers that after Baker broke the team down following the final OTA before Memorial Day, Wingard spoke about how the highest percentage of NFL players getting in offseason trouble came on that weekend. It got the attention, Wilson said, noting Wingard "has a certain charisma."
Then, during the Green Bay joint practice, "watching how he (expletive) ignited Tucker Kraft (with a hit), that sparked the whole team."
"From a physical presentation, he's not like Derwin James, physically imposing, but when you watch him play and how he goes about his business he just does his (expletive) the right way," Wilson added.
Wingard is going to hit hard. On the field, and off. He will be blunt in what he says – "We're going to be dead at the end of all this, so let's go" – and that noise LaFleur wants his team to rise above? Wingard would prefer to bathe in it.
"As far as everyone is concerned, we are this FCS, D2, NAIA team I guess," Wingard says with sarcasm. "I love the idea of all the guys around the league checking their ESPN app after their game and saying, 'Damn, Cardinals beat the Chargers.' I love that.
"There was a guy on ESPN giving his take and he said 'I see the Chargers scoring 40 on this team.' People love to watch NFL players on Sunday, wake up Monday and say, 'This guy sucks.' 'This guy is terrible.' I love to flip it around, 'Terrible take, you suck, he should be fired.' I love talking crap. The best part for me, all that talk, all of that, makes me who I am. It makes me better. That gets me further into my training, deeper into the process."
Anthony Vessa, look what you wrought.
"I just love a good psycho white guy," Wingard said. "You need one of those guys on your team.
"I think I can be that guy here for sure."
