INJURY OVERLOAD: Arizona Cardinals Injuries Continue To Pile Up To Compound Lost 2025 Season

INJURY OVERLOAD: Arizona Cardinals Injuries Continue To Pile Up To Compound Lost 2025 Season

It’s finally time. We’ve just got to have a flatout injury intervention. Let’s discuss. [Music] You are Locked On Cardinals. Your daily Arizona Cardinals podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Cardinal Salis Clancy here. Thanks for making Locked On Cardinal your first listen. Free wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube. now the number one sports podcast platform on the planet. I It’s time, man. Like, I’ve been pushing it away and pushing it away and pushing against it and pushing against it, but the injuries continue to pile up in a way and magnitude that I haven’t seen in 15 years in the valley. This isn’t just, oh, the Cardinal have injury, so does everybody else. We just we just got to talk about it. Like, full segment, we got to talk about it. like, yeah, this is the reason, a large reason why things are happening. Um, it’s just enough is enough. Uh, I’m going to justify Jacobe Brassette. Um, and also at the end of the segment, I’m going to question if justifying him for this year is enough to bring him back for 2026 as a starter. And I’ve said it is. And I’ve also done some thinking and it’s like obviously it’s not cut and dry. Obviously, it’s not clear. None of this is, but there’s one quarterback that I have in my mind that’s like, well, would somebody like this be a better option? I’ll discuss it. And then the Texans this week could be the toughest battle yet for the Cardinals. Let me explain what I mean. It’s definitely grading on a curve, but it also could 100% be the case. Again, thank you for making Lock Cardinals your first listen. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanol.com and plays your NFL live bets all season long. So, injury intervention. Trey Benson first on the list. The window for him practicing closes tomorrow. So, either he’s going to be placed on the active roster or they need to shut him down for the rest of the or they’re going to have to shut him down for the rest of the year by rule. Paris Johnson Jr. doubtful at this point. week to week with an MCL sprain against the Texans, you’re already out. You were out Will Hernandez. You’re out Jonah Williams and you’re out a laundry list of players. Let’s just do this quickly and then we can discuss. Okay, starting on August 28th. This will only take a second. Justin Jones, injury reserve. Joey Blunt, injury reserve. James Connor, injury reserve. Tip Ryman, injury reserve. Blake Gilligan, starting punter, October 11th, injury reserve. Travis Vocal, October 15th, injury reserve. Zay Jones, Sydney Fokco, November 12th, injury reserve. Uh, injured reserve. M. Wilson, November 15th, injured reserve. Um, Jonah Williams, then Will Hernandez, injured reserve. Trey Benson, IR, LJ Collier, Christian Jones, Greg Dorch, Kyler Murray, uh, and then there’s a bunch of questionables including Paris, well, on top of Paris Johnson Jr. being doubtful for Sunday. Amari questionable. Marv questionable. Max Mountain questionable. Walter Nolan questionable. Dron Emerson questionable. The Cardinals could be looking at a practice squad roster for the last month of the season. So, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. This is what teams do when they’re losing a bunch of games and you want to not tank for draft capital because I teams don’t do that in my opinion. in the NBA, things like that where you have to have a percentage. I don’t know. But with this, nobody in the NFL is tanking because that position that’s drafted in the top five or top seven or top eight could be supplanting you as a starter or could be taking your roster spot away. So, it just doesn’t happen. The thing for me is, and this is just in the back of your head, you don’t wish injury upon anybody. all of those things that I’ve talked about and you know most rational people would agree we’re getting into affecting next year territory if you rush somebody back in a loss season. That’s the you know the the unmentionable at this time of the year. That’s the unmentionable going into week 15. nothing to play for outside of Pride and maybe, you know, getting some sort of momentum for either players that’ll, you know, put themselves in a better position to make the roster next season, which seems farfetched at this point, giving the rookies some run, which is very, very important, and seeing what you got, what you reset every week, which we’ll talk about in the next segment. Like, those are real tangible things that need to happen. Plus, Michael Wilson’s like less than 300 yards away from a thousand yard receiving season. And all of this pretty much happened after week five, which is bonkers. Trey McBride can break tight end records this year. He can break the all-time Arizona Cardinal single season receiver number this year, uh, receptions number this year, which he most likely will. So, there are some things, some, you know, cosmetic things that can be reached this year in a season where the Cardinal may not win another game, but it’s far enough along now. and the amount of players who are on injured reserve now the most in the league to say you know what let’s talk about the percentage of which this impacted the entire season and it was a buildup sure you know James Connor September week two Garrett Williams IR came back you thought you lost Max Melton Garrett Williams and Will Johnson all in the same game for extended periods of time all in the second half I think Maxton got hurt early in that game and then they all got hurt after Carolina started coming back. You lose Trey Benson in week five. So, your run game is toast outside of that Mari de Marcato run that where he dropped the ball even though that was touchdown. Like it doesn’t matter anymore, but that was touchdown. And then Bam Knight against San Francisco where he ripped off that 50 yard that got called back with a you know questionable holding call in Frell Brown. I believe this run game has been non-existent. The defense hasn’t had their full secondary for the majority of the season. Hurt here, hurt here, hurt here. The Dallas game, I think they were fully healthy, but what percentage of this like say 60% of this happened, 50% of this happened, 50% of games were missed, James Connor or Trey Benson are healthy right now. And it’s not like they went on IR and then they came back. James Connor broke his foot and that was it. Trey Benson has been on IR since week five and they have until tomorrow to activate him or he’s going to be out for the rest of the year. How much of this, and this is the tough question to ask to get some sort of rational response to this point, and I understand as to why you need to look at this truly singularly outside of, oh, they always lose, oh, the last two years, how many excuses are you going to make? All those things cuz I completely understand. I understand grouping it all together, of course, because it’s body of work for coaches and players. It’s not just one year. I get it all. But if you’re looking singularly and you’re looking at mediocre shifts in this in this organization roster-wise and you’d expect to be some sort of coaching wise, how much of it can be chocked up to, man, everybody got hurt in a year where they couldn’t have anybody get hurt? Because what did I say all offseason? This locomotive can’t stop. There’s no excuse. This is what the buildup has been for. roll with the punches and go. And then you see everybody get hurt outside of Trey McBride. Knock on wood. Michael Wilson knock on wood. Anybody else knock on wood. And then it’s like, well, you know, you got to talk about it somehow. It’s not an outlier anymore. It’s not just one person got Kyler Murray got hurt. It’s not Everybody got hurt. They haven’t had a semblance of a run game since like week six. I know I go back to that a lot, but the top three running backs have been hurt and Amari D Marcato is not an RB1 and I know jury’s still out on Trey Benson and I know all those things. I get it all and I know James Conor James Conor’s older. You could break your foot as a 22-year-old. Okay, that has nothing to do with age. I think I’m at a point now where if you told me they brought back Jonathan Ganon because they chocked this season up to an injury riddled and lost season enough of a percentage-wise to where it impacted his ability to coach a team. I would understand. Do I think it’s the right thing? I don’t know. If they fire him, I get it. If they bring him back for that reason, they’re like, “Everybody got hurt. What are you supposed to do?” I would understand that, too. It’s polarizing, but you can’t. And I’ve waited as long as I possibly could, but with the Paris Johnson Jr. news and Trey Benson, you would think, not getting activated tomorrow. What are they supposed to do at this point? It’s not an excuse for why the Cardinals are losing. It’s a big bopper reason to why they’re losing. So, had to have a little injury intervention with myself with you and man, you hope that the rest of the guys can just hold on for the rest of the year and put everything on ice for a while. Lockdown Cardinals, your team every day. I’m justifying Jacobe Brassette. It’s not exactly what you think it’s going to be. It’s just another angle that needs to be discussed. We’ll talk about it next. This episode of Lockdown Cardinals is brought to you by FanDuel. NFL Sundays move fast, man. One big play and suddenly everything feels different. And that’s what’s make that’s what makes live betting with FanDuel so exciting. You’re not just watching the game, you’re reacting to it in real time. With FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds, every drive, every momentum swing, every highlight moment. And live betting is best when the game starts to shift. A receiver gets hot. defensive a defense tightens up or or a momentum flip after a turnover like what like last night’s game with the Eagles and Chargers all the turnovers all that stuff like it would have been great to put some live cheese down with all of the swings back and forth ending in the game ending interception by Jayen Herz. Unbelievable. Um, live spreads, think those didn’t fluctuate last night on FanDuel. Player, player props, turnovers, interceptions thrown by quarterback, up and down, up and down. FanDuel’s got you covered for all of it. So, if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. FanDuel, the game moves fast and so can you. Please go to the YouTube channel, search lockdown Arizona Cardinal, hit that subscribe button, man. We’re rolling something out as the number one sports podcast platform. You already live your team every day. Now take it up a level and go ad free. Join the Everyday Club today and get locked on Cardinals with no interruptions. Members only Discord access and more. All for just five bucks a month or $50 a year. The link is in the description and check out. We’re we rolled it out starting yesterday. Um yeah, man. I mean, this is going to be awesome. This is going to be awesome. Another way to interact, have conversations. I’ll do some polls. We’ll do more content. everything like that. Um, so yeah, if you want to join the Everyday Club, it’s live and the link is in the description for uh YouTube and wherever you get your podcast. Uh, Jacobe Brassette. Um, the tough part is kind of the chicken or the egg situation. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s like, was the offense catered to Kyler Murray? Was Drew Petting unable to cater an offense to Kyler Murray or is Jacobe Brassette more equipped to run this offense with his skill set being 63 and able to throw across the middle and take hits? I’m not it’s not rhetorical. I don’t know. But that’s the first question which was, you know, which has been asked pretty much since the by-week when the offense immediately looked different. Looked different regardless of if you’re on Kyler or Set, whatever it is, that’s not what this conversation is about. More than likely, Kyler Murray will not play for the Arizona Cardinals again. More than likely seen crazier things happen. This would be pretty crazy. Um, I think this is just kind of irreconcilable differences. We’ll high five. We’ll hug it out. Best of luck. Um, and this isn’t blaming Kyler for the struggles. This isn’t anything. It’s just exactly what we’re dealing with existentially here looking at this team and the rest of the year. Jacob Brousette’s going to be under a microscope. We’ve seen what this offense could be at times with Jacobe Brassette. Uh, Kyle Odigard put out a a um a tweet. I think it said that the Cardinals are negative 75 point differential since Jakobet’s taken over his quarterback and that’s jarring for sure. Um for me the justification of Jacobe Brassette and he’s doing the best he can with one arm tied behind his back. I talk about this every show. I guess not having a run game is kind of a big deal. If somebody has a counterpoint to that, drop it in the comments. Like, I’d love to have the conversation. Always, always, always. If I’m overlooking something, please enlighten me. And again, not being sarcastic. It’s just if you in this day and age, if you can’t roll the ball for 100 yards a game, you’re not going to win. If everybody knows you’re going to throw the ball 40 to 50 times a game and drop back 45 to 55, you’re not going to win. And the numbers are goddy. The Trey McBride and Michael Wilson numbers are matted on easy numbers, mostly Michael Wilson. So justifying Jacobe Brassette to have his hat in the ring for next season, I think is already justified. Yeah, they’re losing all the games. Yeah, they’re getting blown out for sure. see the last segment with the injuries, with everything that has gone into it, maybe coaching gaffs, things like that, all the stuff thrown into the blame pie cauldron. At least Jacobe Brassette has kept them in most games outside of those three against the NFC West after the pie. And I’m not saying, oh, that’s enough to get him the starting job next year. That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that, believe it or not, it could be a whole hell of a lot worse if you had Kadan Slovis or Andy Dalton or other guys, you know, quarterbacking this team. So when you go into next season, I know we’re still a month away and then you know the onslaught of the playoffs and everything like that where I’ll be with you every day. Would you rather have Baker Mayfield? That’s the name that I’m thinking. It’s like, well, listen, he’s in under contract through 2026 and then he’s going to want a whole bunch of cheese. They lose a lot of games down the stretch and that’s a really bad division that they’ve been in for ever since he’s gone over there. Would you rather have a guy like that? Not rhetorical. Is that enough to bring in and then pay a whole bunch of money? I think drafting a quarterback in the top 10 would be asinine in this year’s draft. I think the best tackle, eat your vegetables, you roll with Jacobe. Maybe you bring in another veteran backup and you run the ball. So many things are going to change, but you know, coaching staff, all that stuff. So, there’s so many things in flux, but watching Jacobe Brassette, the respect he has in the locker room. I know these sound like cliched things. I think he’s shown well enough, and he’s under contract next year. I think he’s shown well enough to be the starter next year until somebody usurps him and supplants him. I think it could be far worse. And I know it’s difficult looking at the win loss, looking at, you know, efficiency numbers in some respects, looking at the scooping the two scooping scores against Seattle, the bad pick that he threw this past week. The dude’s thrown the ball between 40 and 50 times a game. He’s been pretty damn efficient with the ball, throwing the ball that much, even in the blowouts, even when it’s one-core games, which the majority of them have been outside of those three. I think he’s been all right. So, justifying Jacobe Brassette without a run game, without any sort of real semblance of a solid offensive line, Marv being out, the defense giving up 40 burgers. I we’ll take the Seattle one away because two of those were on him. Let’s we can agree that it could be a lot worse. And I think there you’re going to need as much stability as you can find going into 2026. And I think having Jacobe Brassette being in the quarterback room, whether he’s starting or otherwise, is going to be very, very important. And if he does start and it’s a new offense and things look different and maybe it’s not equipped for him, don’t know. Whoever they bring in the OC is not going to be tailored to the quarterback. It’s going to be tailored to an offense that anybody can run. I would assume the injuries plus Jacobe Brassette doing the best he can with a hand tied behind his back. I mean, it’s obvious to me that he’s been good enough to show that he’s going to be an integral part in the quarterback room next year starting. I mean, know he’s on the roster obviously, but it’s going to be difficult to find somebody at that price with that skill level and competency to start for the quarterback position with the Cardinals in 2026. It seems gloomy, but it’s not. It’s not. It’s difficult to justify anything that’s happened this year. But I think Jacobe Brouset has done a pretty good job with the hand he’s been dealt since taking over. Lock on Cardinals, your team every day. The Texans. Is this the toughest battle yet for the Cardinals in 2025? I can I can say yes. It is graded on a curve. I’ll explain why next. This episode of Lockdown Cardinals is brought to you by our friends at Mint Mobile. So, here’s the thing. Mint Mobile is flipping wireless on its head. There’s no reason to let big wireless drain your wallet, especially during the holidays. And right now, Mint Mobile’s running their best deal of the year. All of their unlimited plans are 50% off. That means you can lock in three, six, or even 12 months off unlimited premium wireless for just 15 bucks a month. It’s the easiest way to take your overpriced phone bill and give it the full Scrooge treatment. And what make this even better is how simple Mint makes the switch. No contracts, no nonsense, just real savings and real quality service. Switching to Mint lets you keep your same coverage for a lower price. Setup takes only a few minutes. You can bring your own phone and number without any issues. The service is fast and super reliable and, you know, even on the go. Turn your expensive uh wireless present into a huge wireless saving future by switching to Mint. Shop Mint unlimited plans at mintmobile.com/lockton NFL. That’s mintmobile.com/lockton NFL. Limited time offer. Upfront payments of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for 12 months plan required. $15 a month uh equivalent. Tax and fees. Initial plan term only. More than 35 gigabytes may slow when network is busy. A capable device required. Availability speed and coverage varies. C mintmobile.com. [Music] Hope everybody’s hanging in there. It’s been a tough year. It’s been a tough year. It’s funny. I was before getting into the Texans being the toughest uh battle yet potentially this year. I was going over like all the content, not all of it, but I was going over reminiscing on the content from this off seasonason after the draft. Oh, Stole Welder. Oh, stole Johnson. Oh, the defense is going to be good. Oh, man. The offensive line is better than it’s been in in in a while. Oh, blah. Oh, Kyler Murray, this is the year. All this stuff. Then it’s like, what happened? You know what happened? So many things went the opposite of what rational and conventional thought would lend you to think would happen. You’re at 3 and 10 staring at three and 14, man. And of course, the funniest thing is going to be when the Cardinals beat Atlanta, which allows the Rams, who have their pick, to leaprog the Cardinals in the standings for the draft. It’s just so poetic. But here we are. Um, I think the Texans is going to be the toughest battle for the Cardinals in 2025 because of all the injuries. Paris Johnson out against this pass rush. You got Isaiah Adams starting. Yeah. Kelvin Bechum on the right side. We’ll see if Evan Brown plays or if it’s it’s going to be the rookie. Like this is the best defense in the NFL. And when I said this, I meant it. And I and I mean this, you know, I I hope it doesn’t happen, but Jacob Bruss could 100% get sacked 10 times on Sunday. I mean that without any sort of hyperbolic nature, platitude, anything. He could 100% get sacked between seven and 10 times on Sunday. They are going to blitz every single down and they’ve got blood in the water now after beating Kansas City. It’s like, oh, tea off time. So, you hope that that doesn’t happen naturally. You hope that the Cardinals can, you know, get in the mud and the muck with Houston, whose offense isn’t very good. It’s not really on the same page, but I just this is going to be a nightmare. At least with the Rams, you know, the Rams had given up a lot of points to many teams. They gave a 30 burger to Carolina the week before. They have had a proclivity to be leaky on defense. The 49ers also weeks before Jacksonville, they were in that game. They should have won that game. But this one on the road with Paris Johnson Jr. doubtful. Everybody hurt. We’ll see if Marv comes back. They can’t run the ball. That is nightmare fuel. That is nightmare fuel. I’ll be doing my crossover Thursday with John Hickman from Locked on Texans tomorrow, which is going to be super fun. A great dude, really talented. Um, super excited to do that. Um, the injury intervention thing was was fascinating. I I wasn’t going to like I and then I just realized, you know, what are we holding back here for? What does it matter? injuries are now it’s just Paris Johnson and then Trey Benson before tomorrow like I’ll I’m having uh Donnie Duan from Sports Illustrated on tomorrow. Um but I am recording it today so we’ll see what happens. Um we’ll be kind of TBD on that with Trey Benson. Let’s just assume that he’s on the shelf the rest of the year. I’d be surprised if they brought him back, but you know, we’ll see. Um the injuries are just like when you see Paris on top of everybody else, it’s just like man fielding an NFL level roster 1 to 22 is it’s going to be challenging the rest of the year. It’s going to be challenging. Um Jacobe Brassette, the justification isn’t that he’s an incredibly great option at quarterback in 2026. It’s more so he’s shown enough proof of concept wise that if you have a run game and an offensive line they can protect and he only has to throw the ball 30 times instead of 50 it could be a lot worse. He’s an efficient quarterback and then the Texans man Will Anderson Denil Hunter those DBs could be rough sledding. Alex Nancy locked on Cardinal Donnie Duin from Sports Illustrated joins me tomorrow. Remember, without you there is no me. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

Get ready for a deep dive into the Arizona Cardinals’ turbulent season on this episode of Locked On Cardinals with Alex Clancy! This show opens with an urgent conversation about the team’s devastating injury situation—one so unprecedented that it’s reshaping the very fabric of the roster. Alex Clancy recounts a “laundry list” of starters and key contributors who’ve landed on injured reserve, leaving the Cardinals to scrape together lineups from the practice squad just to finish out the year. But this isn’t just a pity party—it’s an honest assessment of how injuries have impacted coaching decisions, player development, and team morale.

With these setbacks as the backdrop, Alex Clancy makes the case for Jacoby Brissette’s value. Is he a stopgap quarterback, or could he actually be the starter in 2026? The show offers thoughtful justification for Brissette, highlighting his stability, efficiency, and the way he’s soldiered through impossible circumstances without a run game or reliable offensive line.

You’ll also hear Alex Clancy preview the upcoming matchup against the Texans, calling it potentially the toughest battle of the year. With Paris Johnson Jr. and Trey Benson likely sidelined, and the Houston defense ramping up after a big win, Alex Clancy warns this could be “nightmare fuel” for the battered Cards.

Throughout, he sprinkles in updates about FanDuel and Mint Mobile, invites listeners to join the Everydayer Club on YouTube for exclusive content, and teases an interview with Donnie Druin from Sports Illustrated.

This episode is a candid, heartfelt look at the realities of life for a team in freefall from injuries, while still searching for the silver linings and roadmap to a competitive future. If you want raw honesty, inside perspective, and a community-first feel, this episode is essential listening for Cardinals fans and NFL diehards alike. Let’s discuss.

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