TEMPE, Ariz. – What do you get when a Harvard graduate and someone with a master’s degree in accounting are responsible for filing weekly scouting reports?
A word competition.
Cardinals rookie offensive linemen Cole Toner and Givens Price have been battling each week for who can come up with the most complex -- yet not obnoxious -- word to include in their reports. Toner won this week with “ebullient.”
In past weeks, Toner has used quintessential and surfeit -- “only a two-syllable word, but it’s a word people don’t know necessarily,” Toner said -- while Price has won with puissant. As in, Atlanta Falcons outside linebacker Vic Beasley had a puissant speed-to-power. That was how Price said he used the word, which means powerful, according to Merriam-Webster.
“You want it to be a word that’s not obnoxious,” Price said, “but at the same time, people don’t really know what it means.”
The competition inadvertently started in Week 6, when Toner and Price were preparing reports on the New York Jets defensive ends and defensive tackles. Toner properly used the word “whomever” and his teammates noticed. They gave him a hard time about his grammar skills -- what else would they expect from a Harvard grad? After the meeting, assistant offensive line coach Larry Zierlein challenged Price, who received a master’s in accounting from the University of Nebraska, to top Toner.
And it was on, in a way that could only make Noah Webster jealous.
“We have fun with it,” Toner said. “It’s pretty funny. It’s all in jest.”
Their fellow offensive line compatriots have gotten caught up in the game, too. When Toner and Price hand out their scouting reports each week, the guys try to find the word.
“It’s pretty awesome,” offensive lineman Earl Watford said. “I think it’s funny. I think it’s great. You just look and just laugh. It’s cool. I think that’s a fun contest between two smart guys. I like it.”
Watford said he’s known maybe three or four of the words.
“They come up with some definite SAT, ACT words,” Watford said. “Words I wouldn’t use on a daily basis, but you know it’s a word.”
Toner and Price can make a case as the two smartest players on the Cardinals, and their vocabulary is a reflection.
Toner, who graduated with a government degree, said he picked up his extensive vocabulary from his father, Dave, a retired high school athletic director in Indianapolis, and through the thesaurus function on Microsoft Word.
“Right click ... synonyms ... you learn a lot from that,” Toner said with a smile.
Price developed his deep vocabulary in grad school. He received a master’s in accounting in his fifth, redshirt year after graduating from Nebraska. While he tries his hand in the NFL, KPMG is holding a job for him. When his playing days are over, he’ll start a career as a tax accountant with the goal of eventually getting into tax law.
“I just tried to enhance my vocabulary, not using too many basic words but also not extending sentences with just wasted words,” he said.
Starting with the third game of the preseason, Toner and Price were instructed by offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin to put together scouting reports, one on defensive ends and one on defensive tackles.
Their fellow offensive linemen have raved about how detailed and in-depth they are -- especially Price’s.
“They might see something we don’t pick up on or haven’t seen yet,” Watford said. “So, we can go out to practice and ask to get that look or that certain move or something like that. It helps. It definitely helps.
“It’s just like an extra set of eyes.”
