The Facts: Injuries, inconsistency at quarterback and the player lockout contributed to the team's problems at the position. That's why Heap views this off-season as "huge for me," he said. "Coming into a new offense, new terminology, last year was an adjustment: shoveling it down all at once, trying to get everything into your head, all in a matter of days.

Diehards Line:He went on to explain: "Having time to get into it, digest it now, it's going to be huge for a lot of us who weren't here until the beginning of last year. ..." A year ago, the Cardinals invested considerable resources in upgrading the tight-end position. They drafted Rob Housler in the third round, hoping he would provide speed. They signed Jeff King in free agency, and added Heap in the summer after he was released by the Ravens. But as a receiving threat, the position didn't produce as expected.