Cards' offseason conditioning program begins

Cardinals strength and conditioning coach John Lott was pleased at the turnout during the first week of sessions and the team's veterans were thankful for a couple extra weeks off.

--About 60 players attended the first week of strength and conditioning sessions under coach John Lott. Coaches were pleased with the turnout.

"It was good to get back, good to see the guys," said tight end Jeff King.

Most veterans such as King loved the fact that the sessions started later than usual, as mandated by the CBA.

"I think it's a great thing, under one condition: that you worked while you were away," he said. "Guys that don't work for three months, it's going to hurt those guys. It might hurt a younger guy, a first-year guy, but if you're five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10 and up, you got a routine you usually do. I think it's awesome."

--Kevin Kolb missed the final three games of the 2011 season with a concussion. He returned home to Texas after the season and said it took more than three additional weeks to feel symptom free.

"When I first went home, it was pretty severe and it kind of worried me, because I figured once I got away from the game it would clear up pretty fast," Kolb said. "But it didn't. And I stay in contact with our guys (the medical staff) here and then within three or four days after that three-week period, it was fine."

--Last fall, it seemed a long shot that left tackle Levi Brown would re-sign with the Cardinals. But his played improved over the second half of the season. The Cardinals saw him as the best option in free agency and wanted him to stay. Brown wasn't anxious to leave, even though he's taken severe criticism.

"Look, criticism is going to happen," he said. "If they pay you a lot of money and they don't feel like you're playing to that level of money, somebody's going to say something bad about you."