As if the competition for roster spots wasn’t already tight enough for the Cardinals’ collection of wide receivers, imagine some of their reactions to reports that the team was recently on the verge of signing veteran free agent Michael Crabtree.

“What I tell the guys is, ‘Hey, that’s just the NFL. That’s part of it. Don’t get distracted,’ ” wide receivers coach David Raih explained. “The NFL is crazy. What I say is it’s more like pro wrestling than IBM because anybody could walk in here. I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if T.O. (Terrell Owens) showed up for a tryout.

“I mean, that’s the league. It’s that competitive.”

Owens is 45, hasn’t played an NFL game in nine seasons and was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame just a year ago, so Cardinals’ fans shouldn’t expect to get their popcorn ready for a comeback. It will be very interesting, though, as to how many receivers and which ones end up breaking camp with the Cardinals.

Last year, only five wideouts opened the season on the active 53-man roster. First-year coach Kliff Kingsbury has said at least six will make it and he’s hopeful of even keeping as many as seven around. Ask Raih and Jerry Sullivan, the longtime receivers’ coach who is working with the team this year on a part-time basis, and you’ll get yet a different number.

“We’re hoping for seven or eight of ’em,” Raih said with a laugh, adding, “Hey, you shoot for the stars, right?”

Other than Larry Fitzgerald, who is entering his 16th NFL season, there isn’t very much experience among the Cardinals’ 11 other receivers. Fitzgerald has appeared in 234 career games. The player with the next-highest number of appearances is fourth-year pro Pharoh Cooper, who has played in a grand total of 33.

Mostly, rookie quarterback Kyler Murray is going to have to rely on a bunch of other young players as potential pass-catching targets if he’s going to thrive in Arizona’s spread-out, up-tempo, no-huddle offense. But which ones are going to survive until the final 53-man unit is set?

“That’s what we’re trying to figure out,” Kingsbury said. “Special teams is obviously going to play a huge role in those last two to three spots. But it’s who steps up, who continues to progress and do things the way it’s being coached. There were some bright spots from that group obviously Thursday (against the Chargers) and hopefully that continues.”

Though players such as Trent Sherfield, Damiere Byrd and Cooper all had their moments during Arizona’s 17-13 preseason victory, they and others such as Chad Williams, undrafted rookies A.J. Richardson and Isaac Zico, and even fifth-year pro Kevin White, who presently is nursing a hamstring injury, aren’t assured of anything.

The top five candidates continue to be Fitzgerald, second-year man Christian Kirk and rookie draft picks Andy Isabella, Hakeem Butler and KeeSean Johnson, the latter of whom has become one of the biggest stars of training camp. Though Johnson was a sixth-round pick out of Fresno State, the Cardinals had him rated as the second-best pure route-runner in the entire draft.

“What’s so important is he changes direction without changing speed,” Raih said. “Do you see him run through the ball? His feet are on the ground and he sucks it in with his hands. It’s very natural. … I worked him out, one-on-one before the combine, and it was the longest workout I had and it was hands down one of the best.

“When I was coming back from Fresno, I knew in the back of my mind that this is a special guy that nobody knows about. One draft day, everybody was on board and we all liked him so we were thrilled to get him.”

Everything about the Cardinals’ receiving group, of course, starts with Fitzgerald, who ranks second all-time in NFL career receiving yards and is just 23 catches away from being second all-time in career receptions. Fitzgerald sets the tone every day, Raih said, and the rest of the receivers “fall in line.” That’s why Raih huddled with Fitzgerald right from the start upon joining the coaching staff this year.

He wanted to know the full history about the receivers’ room and get Fitzgerald’s take and advice on everything and anything. Days later, Raih walked away fully impressed and thoroughly clued in, saying Fitzgerald told him, “Coach, it’s going to be your room. This is a hard-working group of guys and they are going to want to learn and they’re going to work hard.”

One thing they’ve all subscribed to is the meticulous attention Raih and Sullivan put into footwork drills and footwork technique. Sullivan, who has 45 years’ worth of coaching experience, is one of the master innovators on the art of detailed footwork. Having him around to coach it, Raih said, is like having a retired Bill Walsh in the back of the room to help teach the late coach’s version of the famed West Coast Offense.

“The thing with this room is there’s a ton of competition so we all want to learn the right techniques,” Cooper said. “Everybody wants to get better. We don’t care who gets to shine. We’re all just trying to take steps forward.

“We’ve got a little chart in our room that’s like, ‘Keep ascending. Keep getting better.’ It’s like an arrow that keeps pointing up. That’s our main focus. Just a little reminder every day, looking at that arrow as I way to say, ‘Don’t stay the same. Keep growing. Keep learning. Keep getting better.’ ”

The better they get, the tougher it will be for General Manager Steve Keim, Kingsbury and his staff to settle on the final group before the Cardinals’ Sept. 8 regular-season opener against Detroit.

“Oh, definitely,” Raih said. It’s going to be very hard. The whole thing will shake itself out, but we still have three preseason games left and we’re continuously reinforcing these men to stay within your craft and not get distracted by who’s where. Just keep working your craft and your technique and it’s going to work out for you because at the end of the day, even if somebody doesn’t make this team, our goal is to train them all to play in this league and we really mean that.”

Have an opinion on the Arizona Cardinals? Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic.com and follow him on Twitter @azbobbymac. Listen to him live every Tuesday afternoon at 1:30 on Fox Sports 910-AM on The Freaks with Kenny and Crash and every Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 on AM 1060/SB Nation Radio on Calling All Sports with Roc and Manuch.

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