Five Questions With Revenge of the Birds: Budda Baker is a Tyrann Mathieu clone

The Chicago Bears travel to the desert on Saturday to face off with the Arizona Cardinals in what is Chicago's second preseason game, but the third for the Cardinals. They played in the pointless Hall Of Fame Game, losing to the Dallas Cowboys 20-18, then last week they beat the Oakland Raiders 20-10.

I spoke with Seth Cox, Editor in Chief of Revenge of the Birds, the SB Nation site that covers the Cardinals, and we swapped questions about the upcoming game. We usually do a Five Questions With, when we talk to the experts among the SB Nation network, but since this is the preseason we kept it to three.

Windy City Gridiron - There were a lot of Bears’ fans that were hoping the team would have drafted safety Budda Baker of Washington, but he went 36th overall to Arizona, so how much will we see of Baker on Saturday night?

Revenge of the Birds - Right now Baker is running with the second team defense but also seeing first team snaps as the first safety off the bench. The Cardinals use four or five safeties at a time on defense, especially with Tyrann Mathieu, and now a potential carbon-copy of Mathieu in Baker. You'll see Baker for most of the first and maybe all of the second quarter. He has been really good in the preseason, with his one issue being he’s really physical in coverage, which is a typical for University of Washington prospects.

WCG -Who are some players that will be battling it out, trying to impress for a move up the depth chart?

RotB - The Cardinals do not have too many starting spots up for grabs, but corners Tramon Williams and Brandon Williams can compete with Justin Bethel for the chance to move up. The wide receivers have been ravaged by injuries and ineffectiveness in training camp and the preseason, so Jaron Brown (not the better known John Brown) has been elevated to the second wide receiver spot. So, watch the wide receivers and see if anyone can make a move.

Finally, Richie Leone and Matt Wile are in a battle for the punter position. Both were bad in preseason game one. Both were good in preseason game two, the Bears game could be the turning point for one of them.

WCG - Who are some Cardinal names to know for the second half?

RotB - Scooby Wright has been getting a lot of first team reps, but the Arizona Cardinals have a ton of injuries at inside linebacker, including newly signed Josh Bynes. So Wright may be on the field in the second half.

Cap Capi (LB) has been graded by Pro Football Focus (for whatever stock you put into that) as the best defender through the Arizona Cardinals first two preseason games. From there, it will be Elijhaa Penny at running back and... Blaine Gabbert playing the entire second half in what is his extended audition for the Arizona Cardinals roster spot in 2018 (yes I am talking about next year) and if he could possibly be the quarterback of the future.

Chris Hubert and Krishawn Hogan are trying to force their way on the roster at wide receiver or at least a practice squad spot.

Good luck Bears!

Thanks for dropping the AZ knowledge on us! Hopefully both teams can get though unscathed.