Cardinals TE Trey McBride More Confident Than Ever

The Arizona Cardinals' top weapon moving into 2024 is excited to get to work.

Jan 7, 2024; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride (85) looks on prior to / Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

ARIZONA -- Typically players will begin a press conference without an opening statement, but Arizona Cardinals TE Trey McBride was so amped to be back on the team's first day of voluntary workouts that he decided to greet reporters before fielding questions.

"So excited to see you guys - excited to be back. Excited to be in the building again with all the guys, it's been a blast. Man, I'm excited to get back to it," he said.

Can you tell McBride loves football?

McBride's entering his third season as a tight end in the desert, though 2024 will be the first he's a full-time starter. His rookie season saw little playing time behind Zach Ertz while last year featured a breakout season, instilling so much confidence that Arizona felt comfortable letting Ertz walk towards the later part of the season.

2024 will also mark the first time McBride is on everybody's radar in terms of game-planning. No more surprises or bursting on the scene for the Colorado State product - everybody in the National Football League knows he can play, including himself.

"I definitely feel confident, I know exactly what I'm capable of doing. I know that I can be a great player in this league. And this is the first time I've came into a room and kind of had that respect that I can play. It just makes me want to work harder really, it brings fuel to me," said McBride.

"It's something that I really love to do, and I'm super excited for, but I do feel confident. I feel like I know exactly what I'm capable of doing. Now it's just fine tuning and making sure that the other guys in the room can do the exact same."

The connection between McBride and quarterback Kyler Murray blossomed tremendously over the late stages of 2023.

Now, with a full offseason together, the sky's the limit for the QB-TE duo.

"A lot of this game is chemistry. [If] you and the quarterback get on the same page, everything else will kind of shake itself out. But I'm super excited. There was a few missed opportunities - the Falcons game sticks out to me when he [Murray] wanted me to sit and I ran and the interception happened. It's things like that, that drive me nuts," McBride said.

"It's been a whole year - it's been six or eight months and it's still on my mind. So it's like, 'How can I fix that? How can we make that better to where Kyler is completing that pass to me instead of doing that'. So it's just things like that we're trying to get better at. The more I'm around Kyler, the more I spend more time with him, the better relationship we're gonna have. And I'm fired up for it."

McBride mentioned he watched his rookie year film and laughed at his youthful self "looking like a deer in headlights" while also highlighting his desire to become a better run-blocking tight end over the offseason.

McBride is many things. He's not the loudest voice in the room, nor will you not find him beating his chest and drawing attention to himself whenever cameras or microphones are near.

But he's emerging into a dangerous weapon for the Cardinals - and he knows it, too.