After a long list of players on the November 10 injury report, the Arizona Cardinals are getting back an important offensive player.
On November 11, the Cardinals activated wide receiver A.J. Green from the Reserve/COVID list prior to Thursday’s practice. The three-time Pro Bowler missed Week 9’s matchup with the San Francisco 49ers after testing positive for COVID.
In his first year as a member of the Cardinals, Green has 29 catches for 456 yards and three touchdowns in eight games. His yards per reception average (15.7) is the most since his rookie year.
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Adding Green gives Colt McCoy or Kyler Murray one more option in an offense that didn’t have DeAndre Hopkins last week due to an ankle injury. Hopkins remains day-to-day. Rondale Moore also appeared on the lengthy injury with a concussion and neck injury.
It’s still a question as to who will be under center. Murray was optimistic on November 10 about his injury status.
“I think it’s day by day,” Murray told the media on Wednesday. “I think we’ve got a great plan. I feel way better than I did when I talked to you last time, so, I think that’s a plus and I’m excited.”
The team also placed long snapper Aaron Brewer and tight end David Wells to the injured reserve, clearing two spots. Brewer broke his arm against the 49ers and Wells has a hand injury.
But at the moment, it’s looking like a guarantee that at least Christian Kirk and Green will be able to play against the Carolina Panthers in Week 10.
Latest Practice Updates
We talking about practice? Yes Allen Iverson, we are.
Longtime Cardinals reporter Darren Urban revealed that Murray, Hopkins, Chase Edmonds, Moore, James Wiggins, Justin Pugh and Max Garcia were not visible during their open part of practice.
Of course, Edmonds suffered a high-ankle sprain in the first place last Sunday and is expected to miss a couple of games.
The Cardinals will be sure to take it easy on the players as opposed to previous seasons. There’s an extra game to the season now and Kliff Kingsbury will not ramp it up on the injured players.
“We’ll continue to be smarter as we monitor who’s up, who’s not and really try to get to the bye week with that in mind,” said Kingsbury on November 10. “After the bye week and once we’re refreshed, reenergized, we’ll take it from there. But as we have a bunch of injuries mounting and head towards that point, we’re going to be smart.”
Let’s dive into two key players that were still unavailable for practice.
Murray & Hopkins Situations
The two Elephants in the room have to be Murray and Hopkins. This makes it five straight practices that Murray has missed and provides doubt that he’ll play Sunday’s game against the Panthers.
The same uneasiness goes for Hopkins, who missed the third regular-season game of his eight-plus years in the NFL. While Hopkins is known historically to not need full practice reps, it still must be serious enough to warrant missed practice time, given the fact he missed a regular season.
If you want to feel good about his chances of suiting up on Sunday, getting him back on the field on November 12 would be a good sign.
Nonetheless, the team responded beautifully without their top wideout and quarterback against the 49ers. Arizona would do a similar approach of making life easy for McCoy by running the football and finding creative ways to get guys open.
At the same time, the Panthers currently have the number two overall defense in the league. Due to an anemic offense, the Cardinals are favored by more than ten points according to the Arizona Republic.
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