A new challenge for Archuleta
By Bill Coats
Of the Post-Dispatch
08/05/2005

The switch to free safety from strong safety requires Adam Archuleta to call the defensive signals, a responsibility that Martz believes is advancing Archuleta's understanding of the game.

"We've challenged him with that," Martz said. "It's not enough to know what you do; now you've got to have a grasp on everything going around you. That's the next level for Adam. . . . . I think it's fun for him, the mental part of it. He's up to the challenge. He's never studied in the past the way he needed to. Now he's all over that stuff."

Martz also said that Archuleta could fill the leadership hole in the secondary that opened when safety Aeneas Williams' contract was not renewed.

"He's gotten to be very verbal, which in the past he wasn't," Martz said. "I think that comes with his confidence level and the fact that he's in a position now that's challenging for him."