Kelvin Beachum has advice for Cardinals to finish strong

People tend to pay attention when the guy who’s talking is 6-foot-3 and more than 300 pounds with arms the size of a grown man’s leg.

“Listening is a skill,” Cardinals offensive lineman Kelvin Beachum said this week to an elementary school gymnasium full of kids at a holiday backpack drive.

It’s a good thing the 11-year veteran carries the same influence in the Arizona locker room.

The season is dragging to a close with the team facing a disappointing 4-8 record. To finish above .500, the Cardinals will need to win each of their remaining five games. To reach they playoffs, it will take those five wins, plus a calculus of losses from a cluster of other teams that’s so unlikely we might need the ghosts of Gene Roddenberry and Isaac Einstein to explain all the possibilities.

Maybe then it’s a good thing that Beachum has advice for kids and their parents who want to pursue a career in the NFL?

“Everybody can’t go pro in football, but everybody can go pro in STEAM: Science, technology, engineering, arts and math,” Beachum said. “If you understand those principles – science, math – you can be very successful in the global economy that’s continuing to thrive, right now. … Wealth is being created around technology and innovation.”

It would be easy for players to quit on the season, but don’t expect Beachum to be one of them. Teammates who model his example won’t give in, either.

“It’s a pride thing,” Beachum said. “You have an opportunity to go 1-0 this week. As bad as our record is right now, as hopeless as things look right now, there’s still a very, very small hope that we can make a way to get into the tournament at the end of the season.”

But it’s more than that. The Cardinals have to face the reality that there are things they can’t control, like whether other teams in the wild-card hunt win or lose; they must focus on things they can control, such as their own effort.

“We have an opportunity to still put our best foot forward,” he said, repeating a key message: “It’s all about pride at this point. I know people don’t like to hear this: But it’s more about the name on the back of your jersey, than the name on the front of your jersey, at this point. It’s about taking pride in what you do, taking pride in your detail and taking pride in your execution.”

But that can lead to selfish play, like guys trying to do too much and getting outside of the scheme. Beachum, the only starter left on the offensive line that has been left in shambles by injuries, has thoughts on that, too.  

“No,” he said. “You stay in the system, and you do everything that you’re supposed to do. You can’t go out and try to be somebody you’re not or do something you’re not (able or required to do.) Execute the play that’s called. Play it like you need to play it.”

He can even explain how.

“Play with high energy,” he said. “Play with high effort. … I don’t think it’s about doing something that’s extraordinary, just doing the ordinary very, very well.”

Beachum helped give out more than 500 backpacks and fancy headphone sets to the kids at Champion Schools-South Mountain in Phoenix. But more than that, he was creating a new generation of Cardinals fans.

In preparation for his visit, kids on the playground were wearing Larry Fitzgerald and Kyler Murray jerseys. There was a Cardinals hat on the receptionists’ desk. And there were loud shrieks when Beachum asked whether any of the youngsters were fans of the home team.

Now he and his teammates have to give them something to root for.

Their parents know all about the injuries and Kyler’s contract quibble and coaches getting fired and the HBO “Hark Knocks: In Season” cameras and Eno Benjamin’s release and the De’Andre Hopkins suspension and the pressure on general manager Steve Keim and coach Kliff Kingsbury.

It’s been a lot.  

“I’ve never been a part of a season like this,” Beacham acknowledged. “It’s been a roller-coaster, for sure, emotionally, mentally, physically. We’ve had a lot of guys in and out of the lineup. It’s been challenging in that regard. But, again, we still have a great opportunity to be successful when it matters most.”

The Cardinals have to put all that to the side as they get ready to go against one of Kingsbury’s earliest mentors, Patriots coach Bill Belichick.

If the Cardinals don’t straighten up and fly right, things could quickly go south.

But they’ll finish strong if they pay attention to the big fella.

Listening, after all, is a skill.