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Arizona Cardinals News & Rumors

Injury Notes: Bears, Walker, Murray, Bosa

September 11th, 2024 at 9:17pm CST by Ben Levine

The Bears got good news surrounding the knee injury that knocked Rome Odunze out of Sunday’s season opener. Per Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz, the rookie wide receiver suffered a Grade 1 knee sprain, the “best-case scenario” for the team and player.

Odunze suffered his MCL injury while blocking for Velus Jones Jr. during a fourth-quarter screen pass. The rookie stayed in the game for one additional play before exiting for good. The wideout is officially considered week-to-week, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, and there’s been no indication that the ninth-overall pick will have a stay on injured reserve. Coach Matt Eberflus said the Bears were “lucky” to avoid a serious injury, and he even kept the door open to Odunze playing in Week 2.

Wednesday’s injury report also showed that fellow receiver Keenan Allen didn’t practice while nursing a heel injury. Eberflus later clarified that the wideout was considered day-to-day, and there’s hope the offseason acquisition can hit the practice field on Thursday and Friday following his day off.

In the unlikely event that both Odunze and Allen are sidelined, the Bears’ deep wide receiver grouping will be down to just D.J. Moore. Rookie QB Caleb Williams is certainly hoping for his full arsenal of wideouts following an NFL debut where he completed only 14 of 29 pass attempts for 93 yards.

More injury notes from around the NFL…

  • Kenneth Walker left Sunday’s game with an oblique injury and didn’t practice on Wednesday, per the Seahawks‘ injury report. Mike Macdonald said the running back is day-to-day (via ESPN’s Brady Henderson), but another missed practice would obviously put the player’s Week 2 availability in doubt. Walker exited the season opener after compiling 103 rushing yards and one touchdown. Zach Charbonnet finished the game at running back, scoring a 30-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
  • Kyler Murray was a full participant at today’s practice, but the Cardinals QB still showed up on the injury report with a knee injury. Murray, of course, suffered an ACL injury during the 2022 campaign, and 2024 represented his first healthy offseason in a few years. Murray didn’t miss a snap on Sunday, and it seemed like his knee was in good shape after he ran for 57 yards. Clayton Tune is the only other QB currently on the active roster.
  • The Chargers announced that Joey Bosa was a limited participant at Wednesday’s practice while dealing with a back injury. The pass rusher appeared in 60 percent of his team’s defensive snaps in Week 1, collecting a sack and a forced fumble along the way. The long-time Charger has been snake bitten by injuries over the past few years, missing 20 total games.
  • NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport passes along a list of other notable players who didn’t practice on Wednesday, including Bengals receiver Tee Higgins (hamstring), Chiefs receiver Marquise Brown (shoulder), Browns tight end David Njoku (ankle), Packers quarterback Jordan Love (MCL), and Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore (hip/hamstring).

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/11/24

September 11th, 2024 at 8:02pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s practice squad transactions:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

Denver Broncos

  • Signed: WR Kaden Davis

Detroit Lions

Indianapolis Colts

Los Angeles Chargers

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

  • Signed: LB Jackson Sirmon

Philadelphia Eagles

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/11/24

September 11th, 2024 at 7:54pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Detroit Lions

Tennessee Titans

A former third-round pick by the Lions, Julian Okwara ultimately spent four seasons in Detroit. The linebacker saw time in 38 games (four starts) during his Lions tenure, compiling 54 tackles and nine sacks. This included a five-sack performance in 2021, although he struggled to match those counting stats over the past two years. The 26-year-old spent the preseason with the Eagles before joining Arizona’s practice squad prior to the regular season.

Cardinals Place RT Jonah Williams On IR

September 11th, 2024 at 12:06pm CST by Sam Robinson

12:06pm: The Cardinals are transferring Williams to IR, Gannon announced. This is not too surprising given the initial report. The sixth-year blocker will be sidelined until at least Week 6. Gannon is not sure if Williams will require surgery on his unspecified knee injury.

10:29am: Jonah Williams‘ Cardinals debut involved only 22 snaps, as an injury took the free agency addition off the field. The Cardinals will need to make an early-season adjustment as a result.

The former first-round pick will miss time due to the knee injury he sustained in Buffalo, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler tweets. While the team is still evaluating how long it will need to play without its highest-paid blocker, it does appear a multi-week absence is on the table.

Although Williams missed his entire rookie season due to a shoulder injury, he has played at least 16 games in each of the past three seasons. However, the 2019 first-round pick’s Bengals tenure also included a 2020 IR placement due to a knee malady. Williams missed six missed games that season. It is premature to suggest Williams’ next injury hiatus will rival that, but if he is placed on IR, no activation can commence until at least Week 6.

Williams agreed to a two-year, $30MM deal with the Cardinals in free agency. While Williams protested a switch to right tackle by requesting a trade out of Cincinnati last year, he ended up doing as the team asked and switching positions (to accommodate the Bengals’ Orlando Brown Jr. signing). Williams’ initial hesitancy about an RT move made it interesting he would sign with a team planning to use him on the right side. Arizona soon switched Paris Johnson Jr. from right to left tackle.

The five-year Bengal is the only Cards O-lineman tied to a contract north of $6MM per year. Pairing with Johnson’s rookie contract, Williams was to step in as veteran help in Jonathan Gannon‘s second season. That plan is on hold, but a Steve Keim-era pickup is plenty qualified to man the fort in the meantime.

Kelvin Beachum came in to relieve Williams against the Bills. Despite the Cardinals demoting the veteran last year by drafting Johnson sixth overall, he has remained as an experienced swingman under Gannon and OC Drew Petzing. Beachum, 35, has been with the Cardinals since 2020. He worked as the team’s full-time right tackle from 2020-22, making this a rather easy transition compared to the transitions teams often have to make when a starting O-lineman goes down. Granted, Beachum did struggle against Von Miller, but he still provides the Cardinals with a proven option rather than a career backup or spot starter being asked to come in.

With D.J. Humphries off the roster, Beachum is Arizona’s longest-tenured O-lineman. He has 149 NFL starts on his resume. The former Steelers and Jets left tackle starter is tied to a two-year, $5.15MM contract.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/10/24

September 10th, 2024 at 6:49pm CST by Ely Allen

Today’s practice squad transactions from around the NFL:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

Cleveland Browns

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Giants

  • Signed: G Cade Mays
  • Released: T Marcellus Johnson

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Commanders

  • Signed: T Anim Dankwah

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/5/24

September 5th, 2024 at 8:47pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Thursday’s practice squad moves:

Arizona Cardinals

  • Signed: DL Tyler Manoa

Carolina Panthers

  • Signed: RB Dillon Johnson

New York Giants

  • Signed: LB Carter Coughlin

Coughlin also appeared in today’s Minor NFL Transactions installment, but as a vested veteran, he does not need to clear waivers in order to join a team’s practice squad. Coughlin, who has been a core Giants special-teamer since 2020, re-signed with the team in March.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/5/24

September 5th, 2024 at 5:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

As the 2024 season kicks off, here are the day’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

  • Removed from IR via injury settlement: LB Cam Gill

Chicago Bears

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

  • Removed from IR via injury settlement: OL Ryan Hayes

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

  • Signed off Cardinals’ practice squad: DL Ben Stille
  • Placed on IR: DL Earnest Brown
  • Removed from IR via injury settlement: LB Shaun Peterson, DL Lwal Uguak

Tennessee Titans

  • Removed from IR via injury settlement: LB JoJo Domann

Washington Commanders

The Ravens drafted Ali in this year’s fifth round. He entered the week joining Derrick Henry and Justice Hill as running backs on Baltimore’s 53-man roster. Kelly has since replaced him as Baltimore’s RB3. He will now join Keaton Mitchell as being on an injured list; the latter remains on the Ravens’ reserve/PUP list, sidelining him for at least four games. This designation shelves Ali for that period as well. The Ravens could use one of their injury activations to bring Ali back to the roster at that point.

2024 Offseason In Review Series

September 4th, 2024 at 9:43pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are PFR’s examinations of the 32 NFL teams’ 2024 offseasons:

AFC East

AFC North

AFC South

AFC West

NFC East

NFC North

NFC South

NFC West

Cardinals OC Drew Petzing Expected To Draw 2025 HC Interest

September 2nd, 2024 at 9:30pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Cardinals finished 4-13 last season. While the showing in Jonathan Gannon‘s first season locked down the No. 4 spot in the draft, Arizona obviously has a long way to go in GM Monti Ossenfort‘s rebuild. But some more attention is coming the organization’s way ahead of this regime’s second season.

Particularly, many around the league are studying the work of the Cardinals’ offensive coordinator. The scheme Drew Petzing has implemented is drawing praise, and The Athletic’s Jeff Howe indicates a widespread belief exists the second-year coordinator will be summoned for HC interviews in 2025 (subscription required). With Gannon a defense-oriented coach, Petzing is going into his second season as an NFL play-caller.

[RELATED: Offseason In Review: Arizona Cardinals]

This would be a rare development for the Cardinals, who have not seen an OC land a top job since the Kurt Warner–Larry Fitzgerald combination powered Todd Haley to the Chiefs’ gig in 2009. (Before that, it had been since Rod Dowhower‘s 1985 Colts arrival.) The Cardinals will probably need to show significant improvement for Petzing to have a true opportunity to become a finalist for a position, but Ejiro Evero‘s recent rise — after being tied to 5-12 and 2-15 teams — does remind that clubs have been more willing to look for promising assistants on non-playoff teams.

Coming from a role as the Browns’ quarterbacks coach, Petzing helped Jacoby Brissett to a bounce-back season — during Deshaun Watson‘s 11-game suspension — and coached under or alongside Kevin Stefanski for nine years. Working with the Vikings’ wide receivers for most of the Adam Thielen–Stefon Diggs pairing’s duration, Petzing followed Stefanski to Cleveland and spent two years as the Browns’ tight ends coach. Stefanski moved him to QBs coach in 2022. While Petzing could not coax Watson to anything especially close to his Texans-level form, that appears to a bigger-picture issue involving the quarterback.

Petzing, 37, only coached Kyler Murray for eight games last season, doing so after late-summer acquisition Josh Dobbs and 2023 fifth-round pick Clayton Tune combined for nine starts as the Pro Bowler finished ACL rehab. Petzing’s offense ranked 24th in scoring and 19th in yards, with DVOA placing the unit 21st. Considering the Cards only had their starting QB for eight games, that is not exactly a discouraging finish.

After helping Trey McBride to an Arizona-years franchise tight end record, with 825 receiving yards, Petzing will have No. 4 overall pick Marvin Harrison Jr. at his disposal this season. A Cardinals ascent would appear to specifically boost their OC’s stock, as the NFL perpetually searches for up-and-coming offensive minds. Harrison elevating this unit, with Murray now nearly two years removed from his knee injury, could help determine if Petzing will be the rare Cardinals OC to jump onto the coaching carousel.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/2/24

September 2nd, 2024 at 6:25pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Labor Day’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

  • Removed from IR via injury settlement: CB Dee Delaney

Carolina Panthers

Dallas Cowboys

  • Removed from IR via injury settlement: WR David Durden

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

  • Removed from IR via injury settlement: TE Trey Knox

New Orleans Saints

  • Removed from IR via injury settlement: TE Kevin Rader

San Francisco 49ers

Washington Commanders

Stromberg sustained a knee injury that will require surgery. The 2023 third-round pick, one of five 2023 draftees that did not make Washington’s 53-man roster last week, will only need an arthroscopic procedure, per ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler. Stromberg is aiming to catch on somewhere else around the midseason point. He only played 26 rookie-year snaps on offense. The Arkansas product would technically have a chance to land back with the Commanders, depending on the terms of the settlement, but the team moving on so early may well point to the Adam Peters regime deeming the Ron Rivera– and Martin Mayhew-overseen move a mistake.

Davis figures to land elsewhere and play this season. The 28-year-old linebacker sustained a foot sprain and will be out for a few weeks, according to NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero. Davis played in 16 games, split evenly between the Saints and Panthers, last season.

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