Cardinals Opening Practice Windows For Garrett Williams, BJ Ojulari
The Cardinals’ defense could welcome a pair of reinforcements in the coming weeks. Head coach Jonathan Gannon announced that the Cardinals opened cornerback Garrett Williams‘ 21-day practice window on Tuesday. Gannon added that the team will open outside linebacker BJ Ojulari‘s practice window on Thursday.
Now 2-5 after suffering five straight one-score losses, the Cardinals are coming off their bye and will face the Cowboys on Monday. While it’s unclear if Williams will be ready for that game, it would be ideal to have him back against a high-flying Cowboys attack.
Williams, who played both slot and outside corner early this season, was in on almost every Cardinals defensive snap before going on IR with a knee injury after Week 2. The Cardinals began 2-0 with Williams in the fold. The third-year man broke out last season with 58 tackles, nine passes defensed, and two interceptions over 16 games (11 starts). Pro Football Focus ranked Williams as the third-best corner in the NFL in 2024.
In Williams’ absence this season, the Cardinals have used safeties Jalen Thompson and Dadrion Taylor-Demerson in nickel situations. Second-round rookie Will Johnson has received increased playing time on the outside. The Cardinals’ defense has fared respectably without Williams. The unit ranks seventh in passer rating against and 13th in points per game allowed, and it should get even stronger once Williams rejoins the fray.
Arizona hasn’t gotten anything from Ojulari since 2023, his rookie season. The former second-rounder from LSU appeared in all 17 games in his first year and picked up 40 tackles and four sacks. He tore his ACL during the ensuing summer and hasn’t played since. Ojulari, who opened this season on the reserve/PUP list, will give the Cardinals extra pass-rushing depth at OLB behind Josh Sweat and Baron Browning if he’s healthy enough to return in the next three weeks. Sweat and Browning have combined for seven of the Cardinals’ 12 sacks.
Arizona also made a few minor moves on Tuesday, per Josh Weinfuss of ESPN.com. After the Cardinals released running back Michael Carter and cornerback Darren Hall on Monday, they re-signed the pair to their practice squad. At the same time, they released two receivers – Bryson Green and D’Ernest Johnson – and tight end Nick Muse from the P-squad.
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/27/25
Here are Monday’s minor moves from around the NFL:
Arizona Cardinals
- Released: RB Michael Carter, CB Darren Hall
Cleveland Browns
- Claimed off waivers (from Texans): TE Brenden Bates
- Waived: CB Jarrick Bernard-Converse
Kansas City Chiefs
- Elevated: OL C.J. Hanson, DT Marlon Tuipulotu
Las Vegas Raiders
- Practice window opened: S Lonnie Johnson
- Waived: WR Justin Shorter
Minnesota Vikings
- Claimed off waivers (from Packers): TE Ben Sims
Philadelphia Eagles
- Released: DB Parry Nickerson
Seattle Seahawks
- Designated for return: FB Robbie Ouzts
With James Conner done for the year after suffering a season-ending ankle injury in Week 3 and Trey Benson on IR with a knee malady since Oct. 1, Carter leads the Cardinals with 35 carries. He has rushed for an inefficient 97 yards (2.8 per attempt), though, and could only muster 11 on seven carries in a Week 7 loss to the Packers.
The Cardinals, who will come off their bye in Week 9 to face the Cowboys, are now down to two RBs in Emari Demercado and Zonovan Knight. They also have D’Ernest Johnson and Jermar Jefferson on their practice squad. Benson will be eligible to return in Week 10.
Cardinals Plan To Start Jacoby Brissett In Week 7; Team Aiming For Post-Bye Kyler Murray Return
Kyler Murray missed the Cardinals’ Week 6 game while dealing with a mid-foot sprain. The injury is not completely healed, so Arizona’s starting quarterback is set to remain sidelined. 
The Cardinals plan to start Jacoby Brissett once again on Sunday, as first reported by Ian Rapoport, Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. The 10th-year veteran made his first start for Arizona last Sunday, completing 27 of 44 passes for 320 yards. Brissett threw a pair of touchdown passes while adding one interception in the Cardinals’ most recent close defeat.
After winning by one score in Weeks 1 and 2, Arizona has dropped four straight games by a combined margin of nine points. Remaining shorthanded on offense will of course be an unwanted development for tomorrow, but Brissett’s showing against the Colts suggests he will be able to keep the team competitive on Sunday versus the Packers. As for Murray, a return could be in store for the Cardinals’ next contest.
The two-time Pro Bowler is expected to suit up after Arizona’s Week 8 bye, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. That would set Murray up for a game against the Cowboys once the Cardinals resume their schedule. Waiting until after the bye would give him additional time to heal and help reduce the chances of his ankle being aggravated. Things could of course change regarding that timeline, but given today’s update a move to injured reserve should certainly not be expected.
Brissett inked a two-year, $12.5MM pact in free agency this spring to take over QB2 duties. The 32-year-old has made 54 starts in his career, and that figure is now set to increase. Meanwhile, Murray’s progress in recovery will be worth watching closely through the Cardinals’ bye.
Most of Murray’s guaranteed money for next season has already been locked in, and he is under contract through 2028. A cautious approach will be understandable on the team’s part, and it will be interesting to see if he is back to full strength by Week 9. In the meantime, Brissett will be tasked with guiding the offense for at least one more week.
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/18/25
Here are today’s minor moves and practice squad elevations as we head to the seventh Sunday of the regular season:
Arizona Cardinals
- Elevated: RB D’Ernest Johnson
Atlanta Falcons
- Activated from IR: DL Ta’Quon Graham
- Placed on IR: CB Clark Phillips
Chicago Bears
- Activated from IR: RB Travis Homer
- Elevated: DT Jonathan Ford, K Jake Moody
Green Bay Packers
- Activated from IR: G Jacob Monk
- Elevated: DE Arron Mosby, RB Pierre Strong
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Elevated: LB Branson Combs
Las Vegas Raiders
- Elevated: WR Shedrick Jackson
Los Angeles Rams
- Elevated: RB Ronnie Rivers
Miami Dolphins
- Elevated: LB Quinton Bell, CB Kendall Sheffield
New England Patriots
- Elevated: CB Miles Battle, RB Terrell Jennings
New Orleans Saints
- Elevated: LB Nephi Sewell
New York Giants
- Activated from reserve/PUP list: OLB Victor Dimukeje
- Waived: DL Elijah Garcia
- Elevated: WR Lil’Jordan Humphrey, LB Zaire Barnes
New York Jets
- Activated from IR: LB Ja’Markis Weston
- Signed from practice squad: WR Isaiah Williams
- Elevated: CB Korie Black, LB Jackson Sirmon
- Waived: LB Mark Robinson
Philadelphia Eagles
- Elevated: TE E.J. Jenkins
San Francisco 49ers
- Released (with injury settlement): WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling
Tennessee Titans
- Elevated: LB Curtis Jacobs, WR Mason Kinsey
As injured reserve activations start to dominate the headlines, a couple teams are making minor additions off their injured lists. In Homer, the Bears are getting a veteran special teamer and some running back depth. Monk adds depth to Green Bay’s offensive line. And Weston will do the same for a linebacking corps in New York that has seen rookie fifth-round pick Francisco Mauigoa starting in place of an injured Quincy Williams.
Ford in Chicago, Sewell in New Orleans, and Jacobs in Tennessee are all being called up as standard gameday practice squad elevations for the third time this year. In order to appear in any more games after this weekend, their respective teams will need to sign them to the 53-man roster.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/15/25
Here are Wednesday’s practice squad transactions:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: TE Pharaoh Brown, WR Bryson Green
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: LB Jimmy Ciarlo
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: T Thayer Munford
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: T Kilian Zierer
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: CB Jason Brownlee
Los Angeles Chargers
- Signed: WR Dalevon Campbell, CB Myles Purchase
- Released: C Josh Kaltenberger
Philadelphia Eagles
- Signed: TE Jaheim Bell, DE Titus Leo
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: T Isaac Alarcón
Seattle Seahawks
- Signed: WR Tyler Scott
- Released: WR Tyrone Broden
Both Jacksonville and San Francisco had their practice squads filled up with 16 players apiece, but Zierer and Alarcón were both able to be added as players in the league’s International Player Pathway Program. Zierer is a German-born lineman, and Alarcón was born in Mexico.
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/15/25
Here are today’s midweek minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed from practice squad: TE Josiah Deguara
Detroit Lions
- Signed off Chiefs’ practice squad: S Jammie Robinson
Indianapolis Colts
- Released (with injury settlement): LB Joe Bachie
New York Giants
- Designated to return from reserve/PUP: OLB Victor Dimukeje
As injuries and suspensions thin out the Lions’ secondary, Detroit is bringing in Robinson, who signed to the Chiefs’ taxi squad in the days leading up to the regular season and has yet to see any gametime this year.
With Arizona losing tight end Travis Vokolek for the rest of the season with a neck injury, Deguara gets the call to fill out the room off the practice squad.
Dimukeje has been working his way back from a torn pectoral muscle suffered in offseason workouts back in May, shortly after joining the team. He’ll have 21 days to get activated off the PUP list and debut in New York.
Cardinals Open DL Walter Nolen’s Practice Window
After moving defensive tackle Walter Nolen to the reserve/PUP list in late August, the Cardinals haven’t gotten any contributions from the first-round rookie this season. That could change soon, though, as head coach Jonathan Gannon said the team will open Nolen’s practice window on Wednesday (via Darren Urban of AZCardinals.com). Arizona will have 21 days to activate him.
Thanks to a calf injury, Nolen will have a delayed start to his NFL career after going 16th overall in the draft. Nolen spent his first two seasons in college with Texas A&M before transferring to Mississippi ahead of the 2024 campaign. The 300-pounder earned All-America and first-team All-SEC honors during his only year with Ole Miss, leading the Cardinals to identify him as a potential long-term cornerstone.
The addition of Nolen was part of an offseason front seven makeover for Arizona, which has gotten off to a 2-4 start. The team also signed former Eagle Josh Sweat to a four-year, $76.4MM deal, handed Dalvin Tomlinson a two-year, $29MM pact, and reunited with Calais Campbell on a one-year, $5.5MM accord. While Sweat and Campbell have combined for eight sacks, the rest of the defense has only picked up three. The unit ranks an underwhelming 24th in yards per game, but it’s a more respectable 13th against the run and 14th in points surrendered.
Tomlinson and Campbell have started in all six games this year, while 2024 first-rounder Darius Robinson, Dante Stills, and PJ Mustipher have also accrued significant playing time along the interior. A pectoral injury has held Robinson out since Week 4, but he’ll join Nolen in returning to practice on Wednesday (via Urban). Those two and Bilal Nichols, who has played just one game this year, should replenish the Cardinals’ depth along the line when they’re all in the lineup.
While Nolen and Robinson are on their way back, the Cardinals will go the rest of 2025 without tight end Travis Vokolek. Gannon announced Vokolek’s season-ending IR placement on Wednesday. Before succumbing to a neck injury, Vokolek appeared in five games this year and didn’t catch a pass in 32 offensive snaps. He played 45 snaps on special teams. He’s the second Trey McBride backup to land on IR over the past week and a half, joining Tip Reiman.
Cardinals To Start QB Jacoby Brissett In Week 6
OCT. 12: Brissett will start on Sunday. Murray is inactive, the team announced.
OCT. 11: The door is open to Kyler Murray handling quarterback duties for the Cardinals this week. As things stand, however, it is unlikely that will be the case.
Jacoby Brissett is expected to get the nod on Sunday, as first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jeremy Fowler. Brissett has made a pair of appearances this season, his debut campaign in Arizona. He has yet to make a start for his latest team, though.
[MAILBAG: Looking Into Possible Cardinals Offseason Moves]
Barring an unforeseen development, that will change tomorrow. Murray is still a possibility in terms of suiting up, but he was limited in practice on Friday after missing the previous two days. The former No. 1 pick’s foot ailment is a version of a Lisfranc injury, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports. As a result, Murray’s absence may not be limited to one game. His status will certainly be one to watch closely.
As of yesterday, the Cardinals were uncertain of their Week 6 starter; that left the team to craft plans for both Murray and Brissett. The latter is now in position to take on QB1 responsibilities for at least one week, however. Brissett has 53 starts and 83 appearances to his name. That includes a four-year spell with the Colts; Arizona will play Indianapolis in Week 6.
That Indy tenure included starting duties for two seasons. Brissett has also seen a multi-game run atop the depth chart with the Browns in 2022 while filling in for the suspended Deshaun Watson and at the start of last year before the Patriots handed the reins over to Drake Maye. The 32-year-old has not managed to post a winning record during any of his QB1 runs, but he will be counted on to keep Arizona’s offense afloat for at least one contest.
The Cardinals opened the season with two straight one-score wins, but they have lost three straight contests on game-ending field goals. Murray will be counted on to continue playing a central role in the efforts to reach the postseason when healthy, but his recovery process will determine the point at which he is back to full strength. It would come as little surprise if the Cardinals proceeded with caution in terms of his return to action given Murray’s status as their franchise passer (something all-but confirmed past the current campaign through his contract structure).
The 4-1 Colts have started out N0. 3 in the league in terms of points allowed this season. However, new DC Lou Anarumo‘s unit sits just 19th against the pass and injuries in the secondary remain a concern. That group will look to improve beginning tomorrow against a shorthanded Cardinals offense.
Cardinals Place P Blake Gillikin On IR, Promote Third QB
Cardinals punter Blake Gillikin avoided missing any time after a brief appearance on the team’s injury report in Week 2, but the back injury that ailed him then appears to have returned with a vengeance. The injury forced him to reappear on the injury report as a limited practice participant on Thursday, and yesterday Gillikin didn’t practice at all. Now, he’ll miss the next four games, at least, after being placed on injured reserve today. 
Arizona addressed Gillikin’s potential absence yesterday by signing veteran punter Pat O’Donnell. O’Donnell punted for the Bears for eight years after Chicago drafted him in the sixth-round in 2014. He spent one year after Chicago with the Packers but remained a free agent throughout the 2023 season. Last year, he got a similar call from the 49ers, who held on to him for eight games after Mitch Wishnowsky was sidelined for the second half of the season with a back injury of his own.
It now makes sense that the Cardinals signed O’Donnell directly to the 53-man roster instead of stashing him on the practice squad first. Practice squad players can only be called up three times on a single practice squad contract, and with Gillikin forced to miss four games, at least, Arizona would’ve needed to add O’Donnell to the active roster at some point.
Taking Gillikin’s slot on the 53-man roster will be practice squad quarterback Kedon Slovis. Teams are allowed to have a third quarterback suit up as an emergency option but only if all three passers are on the active roster. Starter Kyler Murray is questionable to play tomorrow after missing nearly all of practice this week with a foot injury. If Slovis had just been called up as a standard gameday practice squad elevation, then Murray would likely have been ruled out, since only two quarterbacks could’ve been active. But with Slovis on the active roster, Murray still could start with Jacoby Brissett serving as the primary backup and Slovis suited up as an emergency third option.
With both gameday elevations available, the Cardinals will call up defensive linemen Zachary Carter and Anthony Goodlow from the practice squad.
Minor NFL Transactions: 10/10/25
Today’s minor moves as we head into the sixth weekend of the regular season:
Arizona Cardinals
- Signed: P Pat O’Donnell
Carolina Panthers
- Waived (with injury settlement): WR Dalevon Campbell
Miami Dolphins
- Released (with injury settlement): CB Cornell Armstrong
New England Patriots
- Placed on IR: RB Antonio Gibson (story)
Tennessee Titans
- Signed from practice squad: S Kendell Brooks
Cardinals punter Blake Gillikin appeared on the injury report with a back injury in Week 2 but has been otherwise healthy without missing any game time throughout the season so far. Gillikin showed back up on Arizona’s injury report yesterday with his back ailing him once again. He didn’t participate in practice at all today, and it doesn’t look good for his chances on Sunday that the team signed O’Donnell.
Following the Colts’ signing of Michael Badgley on Tuesday, O’Donnell becomes the second veteran specialist out of Miami (FL) to get signed out of free agency this week. O’Donnell punted for the Bears for eight years after Chicago drafted him in the sixth-round in 2014. He spent one year after Chicago with the Packers but remained a free agent throughout the 2023 season. Last year, he got a similar call from the 49ers, who held on to him for eight games after Mitch Wishnowsky was sidelined for the second half of the season with a back injury.
O’Donnell won out in a punting competition with fellow free agents Jack Browning and Matt Haack.