Linebacker Jordan Hicks is with the Cardinals at training camp, but he’d prefer to be elsewhere.
Hicks was given permission to seek a trade after the Cardinals drafted Zaven Collins in the first round earlier this year. They plan to start Collins next to 2020 first-rounder Isaiah Simmons, which left no room in the first team for Hicks and led him to ask for that trade.
Hicks said on Saturday that he respects that the Cardinals were up front with their plans and their willingness to honor his trade request, but that “there’s a part that just wishes you had had an opportunity to compete.”
“I think at this point, I think I’ve proven that I’m a starter in this league by the resume that I have, by the past two years of being here and showing my leadership, showing my play on the field,” Hicks said, via Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com. “And, so, whether it’s here, whether it’s somewhere else, if given the opportunity to compete, I think I can have a starting job.”
Hicks said he feels he has knowledge about the defense to share and is “going to help whoever needs help” as the Cardinals continue a camp that he’d prefer to be watching from a distance.