Running backs Beanie Wells and LaRod Stephens-Howling (background) arrive at training camp Tuesday in Flagstaff.
FLAGSTAFF – The Cardinals reported to training camp at Northern Arizona University Tuesday relatively healthy, and the two players placed on the physically-unable-to-perform list shouldn't be there for an extended period.
Running back Beanie Wells (knee) and tight end Jeff King (quadriceps) are both on the active PUP list after not passing the team physical, keeping them off the practice field until the designation is lifted. But coach Ken Whisenhunt said it was expected with both players.
"It doesn't mean they won't be practicing (Wednesday), or that they won't be practicing in a couple of days," Whisenhunt said. "It's a way to assess where they are physically, and then we'll get them out there."
Whisenhunt noted that the team has to choose whether to take them off the PUP by the time the Cards trim the roster to 53 players, "but that won't be the case with either of these guys."
Wells, who did not speak to the media, "looks good" in his rehab and has made "a lot of progress," Whisenhunt said. Whisenhunt insisted he was not disappointed in Wells' status.
"We were going to be conservative in our approach with him anyway," Whisenhunt said.
ARRIVING AT CAMP
The Cardinals filtered into NAU's campus while rain came down on and off, with temperatures about 40 degrees cooler than down in the Valley. The Cards will spend the majority of the next month in Flagstaff.
"The thing that trips me out all the time, driving up here, you leave an oven and then you start seeing a little more green, then mountains, it's like you got dropped off at a theme park like Disneyland with a desert theme to the mountain theme," linebackers Clark Haggans said.
Quarterback Kevin Kolb, who will spend his time battling John Skelton for the starting quarterback job while in Flagstaff, said the key to training camp is to be focused on each day.
"It's a long ride from here, so you have to buckle up," Kolb said. "That's what everyone's mentality is. First you have to compete against teammates to win your job, but the biggest thing is not looking at the end prize, not getting caught up with how long it is."
HAGGANS "SPEECHLESS"
Haggans had to serve nine days in a Pennsylvania jail – seven of the days were work release – this offseason after a DUI arrest in Arizona in 2011.
"It leaves you speechless," Haggans said. "It's far from Disneyland. I'll say that."
Haggans said he didn't know if there still might be NFL punishment for the transgression.
"I just take it a day at a time. We'll see," Haggans said. "My agent is on top of all of that and I'm trying to stay informed. Take it in stride."
