Cardinals want rookie Phillip Sims to test out corrective lenses

Arizona Cardinals rookie quarterback Phillip Sims has worn glasses since high school, but it wasn't until a recent team physical that he realized just how bad his vision is.

In one eye, Sims has 20/50 vision, meaning he can see something 20 feet away that those with perfect vision can see clearly from 50 feet. In his other eye, his vision is 20/100.

"The doctor actually said, 'It's amazing that you're here, with your eyesight that bad and playing quarterback on top of it,'" Sims told Darren Urban of the team's website.

Sims, who went undrafted out of Alabama, is battling Logan Thomas and Chandler Harnish for the Cardinals' third quarterback job behind Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton. Thomas is the favorite, but Sims saw plenty of reps during offseason practices as well.

Improving his vision will help Sims in his quest to make the Cardinals' final roster, though he said it hasn't been a big issue during his football career so far.

"I mean, I can see people, I can see colors," Sims said. "It's just stuff that's real far off, like if I was looking at the scoreboard at the other end of the field. Sometimes it gets a little blurry. Other than that, I haven't really thought about it - maybe because I've been dealing with it for a long time so I don't really pay attention to it."

Regardless, the Cardinals would like to see how Sims responds to corrective lenses.

"The doctor was like, 'Two things can happen: You can do the corrective lenses and it can make you that much better, or it can freak you out because you're not used to seeing so much stuff,'" Sims said. "They want to test me out to see how I respond to it."