Arizona Cardinals’ Rodney Hudson on Near Retirement: ‘That’s Behind Me Now’
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Cardinals center Rodney Hudson spent the offseason with his growing family and recovering from a season in which he spent time on injured reserve (ribs) and the COVID-19 list.
His wife had their second child, and the 33-year-old considered how much time he spends away from family once training camp and the season kicks into gear.
Hudson missed mandatory minicamp this summer while mulling retirement after 11 NFL seasons but ultimately decided to return to Arizona.
“I think in this sport, we all say, ‘Family comes before football,’ but that’s somewhat untrue,” Hudson said. “I know in my world, you go to work all day, 10 hours, you get home, your kids go to sleep in two hours. I just went home, spent some time with my family, tried to heal up, recover and go from there.”
Head coach Kliff Kingsbury said he took a deep breath when he saw his starting center report to camp this week.
Hudson was a critical addition for the Cardinals last season when it came to pointing out defensive looks, protecting quarterback Kyler Murray and locker-room leadership.
He was voted also a team captain.
The offense looked different when he was healthy versus when he was sidelined, and the Cardinals went 9-3 in his starts.
“We had group prayers at the office for him,” Kingsbury said. “We just saw the production that we had when he was healthy last year and how we were rolling offensively and how he was just able to calm the entire unit.”
Hudson enjoyed the amount of time he got to spend at home with his family, but he said he got his body to a place where he felt ready for another season. He does not know if 2022 will be it for his career, stating he’ll worry about next offseason when the time comes.
His contract runs through the 2023 campaign.
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Kingsbury said the communication with Hudson throughout the process remained strong, while the center spoke frequently to teammates like guard Justin Pugh.
Hudson said the decision was his alone to return, although he spoke about it with his wife a lot.
“When you start the season, you’re all in and that’s it,” Hudson said. “My family understands that. So when the season’s over, just take some time, get back to normalcy, spend some time with the family and then come back ready to go.”
Kingsbury said the team was concerned because Hudson was taking a look at retirement, but understood what the lineman was working through.
The head coach said the Cardinals knew Hudson was 50/50 on what to do during minicamp and did not want to force his hand.
Photo: Alex Weiner, Sports Illustrated
That was a strange comment, though, as Kingsbury called his minicamp absence “unexcused” at the time. Hudson refrained from revealing whether he was fined or not and said they’ve moved past it.
His teammates, certainly, appreciate his decision to return.
“I’m just ecstatic that Rodney came back,” running back James Conner said. “We’re all mission-driven and that’s why Rodney came back. He felt capable. We gotta great team. He’s the man in the middle.”
Hudson was back on the practice field Friday after taking a veteran’s day off Thursday.
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