PHX Reporter

To see Max Melton without a smile on his face is to probably be mistaken that you are looking at Max Melton.

The rookie cornerback couldn't help but grin as he started his first training camp with the Cardinals, rolling up in his McLaren 570S, wearing a Kevin Kolb Cardinals jersey and a giant silver medallion emblazoned with "Mad Max" and his jersey No. 16.

"You really just have to be yourself," Melton said. "I always wanted a nice car, nice big chain, know what I'm saying? That's me. If you're not like that, don't do that.

"(But) you pick good stuff from other people – you'll hear me talk about (Rutgers coach) Greg Schiano all the time – I pick a lot of my game from him. Be yourself, but don't be afraid to take (advice) from other people. You might still be a good player, but you're never going to maximize your growth."

The second-round pick is the guy the Cardinals are counting on to – at least at some point, if not to start the season – fill a starting role. That still must be proven given the Cardinals' cornucopia of young cornerback choices on the roster.

But, coach Jonathan Gannon said, "he was drafted where he was drafted for a reason."

Melton shined Senior Bowl week; he went head-to-head with new teammate Marvin Harrison Jr. a couple of times in college; and he has the confidence and mentality to balance that personality with a learning curve.

"I don't think it's too much," veteran cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting said. "I think it's in a way where he is just being himself and it doesn't distract anyone.

"It's just a fun personality."

Caitlyn Epes/Arizona Cardinals

Max Melton arrives at training camp in a Kevin Kolb jersey: "You really just have to be yourself. I always wanted a nice car, nice big chain, know what I’m saying?"

That was on display this week as Melton talked about the Kolb jersey. He had hoped to find a throwback jersey to wear to open camp and happened to be thrift shopping at Goodwill when he found it. He didn't know who Kolb was at the time and chuckled at the "backlash" he got after wearing it.

Melton also revealed that during the players' downtime he got a chest tattoo, a sleeve of tattoos on his right arm and finished a sleeve of tattoos on his left arm – and he was put under anesthesia for eight hours (with five different tattoo artists) to get it done.

The anecdotes are fun, and Melton loves telling them. But Murphy-Bunting said it isn't about ego; Gannon noted that when they first met with Melton at the Scouting combine, "his self-awareness oozed" out in conversation.

"It's like, do we want that in our building? Do we want that guy in our building? And when it's a resounding yes, well then you take him," Gannon said. "That's all of our rookies, not just Max. But I love that everybody's a little bit different. You know what I mean? I want those guys to be authentic. I want them to be who they are."

For someone who had never been put under for any surgery before, the tattoo event was memorable. And the tattoos aren't the only thing he wears on his sleeve; Melton said the Cardinals wanted a "dog" at cornerback, and he is that guy.

"I'm a corner, but I can hit," he stated matter-of-factly.

He is hyper-aware of his need to show it however understanding he cannot get complacent subscribing to the idea "you get better or worse every day." One of Schiano’s ideals – which Schiano attributed as Michael Jordan's method – is approaching everything with a beginner's mentality: even if one knows something cold approaching it as if one doesn’t opens one's mind up for possible improvement.

It isn't just football either: "I take that as life lesson."

Don't let his smile betray intent: while Melton may embrace life he's smart with football.

"I know where I am now," Melton concluded reflectively adding “This is league I'm not taking for granted at all I'm having fun with it blessed here.”