Cardinals’ Austrian TE hopes to see field in fourth year
And this offseason, Seikovits will wait again, as his application for a green card is processed. Once it’s approved, it will take four to six months for all the paperwork to be administered. There’s a catch, however: He can’t leave the country unless it’s for an emergency.
So Seikovits, whom the Cardinals signed to a future contract the day after the regular season ended, has plans to take advantage of his new travel restrictions by exploring the United States. He’s eager to drive the Pacific Coast Highway in California with his girlfriend, who spends as much time in the U.S. as her visa allows.
• What scoring a TD in the SB means
• Lamar Jackson’s journey to 2nd MVP
• Panthers’ new GM seeking dawgs
• Boyd’s days with Bengals over?
• What to expect from Morris, Falcons
Seikovits has been approaching football day-to-day with an open mind for the last three years, all of which he has spent on the practice squad. At the onset of the offseason program, that has been relatively simple to do. As training camp turns into the regular season, and as the season progress, it gets harder.
“Then the longer the season goes, sometimes it’s tough, sometimes it’s not,” Seikovits said. “It’s also depending on how you do every week. It’s not like, at least for me, that I’m like, ‘OK, well after training camp, now I’m on this international spot, I’m just gonna lay back.’
“So, I put a lot of pressure on myself too. So, I think it’s OK if I don’t feel that good from time to time.”
That’s how tight ends coach Ben Steele wants it.
“I told him this in the offseason, I’m like, ‘You can’t come in here and just think I’m just the international guy. You gotta come in here and try to make the team and make yourself better for the future and for us,'” Steele said. “And he’s done that.”
Steele, who recently completed his first season working with Seikovits, said he saw Seikovits’ sense of urgency improve. Even though Seikovits was on the Cardinals’ roster as a practice squad exemption as part of the IPPP, Steele stressed to Seikovits throughout the season that he was being coached to play regular-season snaps.
Steele has been impressed with how well Seikovits catches and runs, with Steele saying that Seikovits has “progressed.”
He has grown so much from the start of offseason practices last season that head coach Jonathan Gannon believes Seikovits may be able to play actual snaps in 2024.
“I think his role can increase,” Gannon said. “I really do. From where he was at when we got here at OTAs to where he is at now, completely different football player in my mind.
“That’s a credit to him wanting to get better every day.”
“That’s a credit to him wanting to get better every day.” A rule change in September will make it easier for Seikovits to play his first NFL snap.
This past season, Seikovits knew after Week 14 that he wouldn’t be getting his first NFL snaps. Under the old rules, he needed to be promoted to the regular practice squad for a minimum of three weeks before he could be added to the 53-man roster.
Starting next season, practice squads will expand to 17 players for each team — not just the teams allocated an IPPP player — only if one of their players qualifies as an international player, meaning their citizenship and principal place of residence is outside the U.S. and Canada.
Once the international player is added to the practice squad, they are allowed to be elevated to the 53-man roster a maximum of three times during the season.
Getting to the point where he may have a jersey on game day hasn’t been easy for Seikovits.
He has leaned heavily on his girlfriend through it all.
“At this point, she already understands a lot that is going on behind the scenes and it’s just good to have someone to talk about really without the phone,” Seikovits said. “So, that’s been huge for me.”
Last season was the year that Seikovits was hoping to get a chance to prove himself. Alas, that opportunity never arose.
He spent a third season part of a practice squad — however, he was one of three practice squad receivers who helped prepare quarterback Kyler Murray for his return from ACL surgery — and in the Cardinals’ locker room engrained in the fabric of the team. He gave a presentation to the tight ends on Austria a couple weeks before Thanksgiving and made them schnitzel.
Yet, as close as he was to his teammates, and as much a part of the team as he felt, he didn’t feel like he was exactly on the team.
“Yeah, it’s weird,” Seikovits said. “It’s just weird and you’re in here, but on the other side, you’re not, like, really, you’re not on the field every week and stuff like that.
“Sometimes it feels far away, but you are literally right here, so it’s just a matter of doing the right thing every day, I think.”