Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride has issued an apology after his comments about the team's fanbase went viral during the offseason. McBride expressed regret for remarks made on the "Bussin' With The Boys" podcast in late June, where he suggested that many fans in Arizona are not originally from the state and remain loyal to their previous teams.
"Living in Arizona, no one's from Arizona. Everyone has kind of moved in from another state, so they're all fans of their own teams, so now you have the Arizona that sits there and there's no Arizona fans in Arizona," McBride had said on the podcast. He added, "So it's a tough deal. Hopefully, we start winning some games and we can bring some of those fans back."
With the Cardinals' training camp now underway, McBride acknowledged that his words may have been misconstrued or poorly expressed. "Yeah, I probably shouldn't have said that," McBride told reporters on Saturday, as reported by ESPN.
He continued, "It came out wrong, and obviously the fanbase is great. We have a tremendous fanbase. Arizona's been here, loyal fans to all the sports teams here, and we're very lucky to have a lot of these guys, and we're going to have a great season. We're going to win games and we're going to make sure those fans have something proud to cheer for. I love it here in Arizona, and I hope they love me too, but it's a special place. The fans are great, and I'm excited for this year to give them something to be proud of."
The Cardinals are preparing for what is anticipated to be a challenging 2026 season. The team faces uncertainty at the quarterback position with Jacoby Brissett and competes in the highly competitive NFC West division. This division includes the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, the Los Angeles Rams, who are considered Super Bowl favorites, and the San Francisco 49ers, a team with multiple recent NFC Championship appearances. The Cardinals have struggled in recent years, making the playoffs only once in the last decade.