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Bruce Arians is a good football coach, but he’s learning that he’s dealing with a number of players who are only practicing futbol.

The Cardinals coach was lamenting the state of modern line play Wednesday morning, when he turned to another sport for inspiration.

“Offensive linemen and defensive linemen can’t get better in shorts,” Arians said during the NFC coaches breakfast. “Those guys aren’t getting any better practicing soccer.”

Asked what could be done to change the trend, and his answer was clear.

“Change the rules,” he said, lamenting the fact that he only gets one practice per day in training camp, and there are limits on how much contact they can have the rest of the year.

Of course, those rules were implemented by collective bargaining, and coaches complaining about a lack of practice time isn’t new. But Arians said the way players are coming into the league now makes it harder to grade players coming into the draft.

They’re a good example, as the Cardinals used a first-round pick on tackle D.J. Humphries, and effectively red-shirted him. When he found out Humphries wasn’t ready to start, they parked him on the inactive list for all 16 games, in hopes of getting him ready for this season. With Bobby Massie leaving in free agency, they better hope he’s ready.

Arians said that skill position players such as backs and receivers, and cornerbacks and three-down linebackers are coming to the league better ready to make an immediate impact “because those positions, soccer practice helps.”

Again, it’s not a new phenomenon, but it underscores the frustrations pro coaches have, now that they have to spend more time coaching unfinished products, and have less time to do it.