Arizona After tearing his ACL in Week 17 of the 2023 season, former Arizona Cardinals offensive tackle D.J. Humphries hasn’t played for the team or football in general for about a year.

Soon after the injury, he was cut by the Cardinals in the offseason, saving them millions of dollars and allowing him to become a free agent while he recovered.

In the present, Humphries is currently with the Kansas City Chiefs and seems to fit in well with their puzzle in what is expected to be another strong postseason run.

In a recent interview with reporters in Kansas City, Humphries shared his thoughts about leaving Arizona:

According to Chiefs on SI, Humphries admitted, “To be honest, when I was first let go, I told my kids.”

“I informed my children that Dad was about to lose his job. I will no longer play for the Cardinals. I wanted to sort of warn them before they went to school and their buddies told them, but I wasn’t even sure how to explain it. My son didn’t even understand the importance of football and other such things, but he goes to school and learns about them, you know? I wanted to warn him about it.

“Dash, my son, didn’t care that I was being released and didn’t bat an eyelash right away. In order for you to play alongside Patrick Mahomes and perhaps win a Super Bowl, I really want you to move to Kansas City. “Yeah, son, thank you!” I said. What was happening didn’t matter to him. He had an instinctive thought, “You ought to visit the Chiefs.”

Humphries and the Cardinals don’t seem to have any animosity after his release.

“Man, it’s been interesting,” declared Humphries. As you say, going through such experiences teaches you something about yourself. Having to go through those things and hearing comments like, “Man, you had such a great career,” made me realize that I was already a tough guy. “What a run!” I found those writings to be somewhat difficult. People are just assuming it’s over because I’m hurt, and I thought, “Damn.” That was most likely the most difficult aspect.

He will now have the chance to disprove those skeptics.

The Vikings are eager to excite supporters at U.S. Bank Stadium during the month of December, beginning with the Cardinals.

In the NFL, playing at home isn’t as advantageous as it once was. Relying on home-field advantage is more difficult today that many clubs play in climate-controlled stadiums with artificial turf and the league has so many talented passers and kickers.

Still, it’s a difficult task to visit the Minnesota Vikings. The speedy, erratic defense and the loud crowd clamor beneath the translucent roof at U.S. Bank Stadium put a lot of pressure on opponents.

The Vikings will play their first of three straight home games against the Arizona Cardinals next. The Vikings (9-2) want to lead the NFC North and secure a postseason berth.

Safety Josh Metellus stated, “Any opportunity you have to play in a dynamic and electrifying atmosphere that works to our advantage will be beneficial, particularly in December.” “That energy and crowd noise can kind of throw people off when teams are trying their hardest to play great football.”

With a.525 winning percentage in 2024, home teams are winning slightly more than half of their games. Since the AFL-NFL merger, this is among the lowest rankings for home teams. The Vikings have had a difficult home record in recent years; last season, they finished with a 2–6 record, which was their fourth-worst home record ever.

But this season has been exciting at U.S. Bank Stadium, with the defense boosting the atmosphere. Coach Jonathan Gannon of Arizona, who served as the Vikings’ assistant coach in the stadium’s early years, has direct knowledge with the challenging environment.

“There won’t be any Cardinals fans, and they’ll be packed out,” Gannon stated. “It’s a challenging place to play.”

This season, the Vikings have a 3-1 home record. They will play Chicago on December 16 and Atlanta on December 8. They will play Green Bay at home on December 29 following a game in Seattle on December 22. The team’s final game of the season will be against division-leading Detroit, and they will spend the majority of the holiday season at home.

Coach Kevin O’Connell emphasized his desire for the team to keep striving for growth and progress throughout the remainder of the season. He expressed excitement about playing again in front of fans at U.S. Bank Stadium, confident that the atmosphere would be fantastic and stressing the importance of giving supporters something to cheer for.

The Cardinals (6-5), who are 2-3 in road games this season, recently faced a challenging 16-6 loss to Seattle in another tough away environment. They currently share the NFC West lead with the Seahawks.

“One cannot become two, and two cannot become three. “The guys understand that we need to get back on the horse and keep going,” Kyler Murray said. “We’ve recovered well, and this weekend we have another chance to go out there and repeat that performance.”