Arizona Cardinals TE Trey McBride sheds ‘happy tears' talking to the media Friday

USA Today

05-04-2025

Arizona Cardinals TE Trey McBride sheds 'happy tears' talking to the media Friday You have to like McBride's reaction to his new contract extension.
We'll know the true structure of Trey McBride's contract in due time and the actual average dollars per year, but the reality is it's a boatload of money for the Arizona Cardinals tight end who was selected in the second round of the 2022 draft.
There were raised eyebrows when McBride was picked even though the critics should have realized it made sense.
Zach Ertz had been acquired in a trade during the 2021 season, but the reality was Ertz would turn 32 during the 2022 season. He ended up suffering a torn ACL 16 days after his birthday that season, but still remained the starter at the beginning of the 2023 season even though it seemed clear he was a different player.
McBride just kept working and when Ertz injured his quad and was placed on injured reserve Oct. 26, he finally got his chance. He hasn't looked back, which led to some emotional moments when he talked to the media Friday and recalled offensive coordinator Drew Petzing telling him he probably wouldn't play much early that season. Who knows how long it would have taken had Ertz not been injured again.
McBride admitted 'It was hard, I sat down with Drew when I first got here and he told me very straight up, 'Man, you're a great player. You can do everything we want, but you might not play as much as we want you to early on.' He was really straightforward with me and I took it hard, man.
'But to push through that to break the barrier and get to reap the rewards is very special. Just put my head down and grinded and to be here with JG, Monti (Ossenfort), those guys, there's no one better. It's very, very special.'
Fighting back from 'happy tears for sure,' he said, 'I kept my head down and I kept grinding. I kept working hard, and I knew my opportunity was going to come, and when it came, I knew I had to seize it. And I feel like that's exactly what I did, and I just put the work in every day. I put the work in overtime, and to finally reap the rewards is exciting.
"It's just crazy overwhelming."
He never was concerned about the deal getting done; it was just a matter of when. For it to happen 19 days before the offseason program begins was icing on the cake.
Said McBride, 'I knew Monti wanted me here. I knew I wanted to be here. I knew we were going to get something done. I didn't know when it was going to get done, but just to get it done before OTAs, before training camp, so I can just kind of focus on football and have that sigh of relief that weight off my shoulders. I'm glad it got done when it got done and just eager, excited, all the emotions.
Reflecting on being from a small town in Colorado, Fort Morgan, McBride said, "To go play Division 1 college football is a huge deal, so to be the highest-paid tight end from Fort Morgan, I mean, gosh, it's just the biggest honor. I mean, it's so cool. It's very special, man. If you would've told me I would've been the highest paid, I would've never believed you."
He also knows there's a lot to still accomplish as a player and as a team and the hard work will continue.
"I had no pressure when I was on a rookie deal, and I don't expect any pressure now," he said when asked about living up to the contract. "I'm just going to continue to do what I've done, continue to put the work in, and everything really does take care of it. So, if you just do the right thing, you work hard and everything will take care of itself.
"I think there's still a lot out there. There's still more in the tank. I'm young, I still feel like I'm scratching the surface of what I can do."
Noting that quarterback Kyler Murray was one of the first to reach out after news of the deal spread Thursday, McBride said they talked about "how excited we are to play with each other for a few more years. To grow, to win, to do all the things that we want to do together."
He stressed that what's important to him goes beyond numbers, whether it be statistics or money.
McBride concluded, "This isn't why you play. You play to win, and that's the next thing for me. I want to win. We are on the warpath to win.
'Everything is trending in the right direction."
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