Comments from Jonathan Gannon and the injury situation a the position suggest Ojulari could be on the field Sunday.
Will Arizona Cardinals outside linebacker BJ Ojulari be activated for Sunday’s game against the 49ers?
It seems possible after Ojulari, although being limited in each day of practice this week, was listed as questionable on Friday’s injury report.
That might be significant because after returning to practice two weeks ago on Oct. 30, he was listed as out for the games against the Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks. It’s not out of the question that he could be activated from reserve/PUP on Saturday. If not, his 21-day practice window expires next week.
A clue also could be that he broke things down at the end of practice Thursday.
When asked Friday how Ojulari is progressing, head coach Jonathan Gannon said, “Good. Really good. You see him getting a little bit better every day, honestly. Especially when we’re going in drill work and then it correlates to the team work. He’s doing a really good job and what I really appreciate; he broke the team down yesterday and the team was juiced up and it goes to show you, they know how long of a road that was for him.
“Football players want to play football. When you can’t play football, there’s no way to say that it doesn’t suck. And it’s hard. It’s mentally and physically taxing and emotionally taxing. So to have him back out there with a smile on his face competing, whether he’s playing with the scouts or playing with the ones, doesn’t really matter. He’s out there, giving it his all. But he’s improving.”
Ojulari suffered a known torn ACL early in 2024 training camp on Aug. 2. But unknown to many, there was much more. So much more.
“It’s been a journey, it’s been hell, for real,” he said when talking to the media when he returned to practice. He then explained the truth about the specifics.
“A lot of people think I just tore my ACL, but I tore two more ligaments in my knee,” he said. “My process was very different. Towards camp when I wasn’t back up, I realized that it’s going to take longer than usual just to get back and feel confident to get back on the field.
“At times it did get dark, it did get depressing. But I knew at some point I’d be back on the field.”
Ojulari later told ESPN’s Josh Weinfuss that the other two ligaments were the MCL and lateral meniscus. He also revealed that in June around the time of the mandatory minicamp, he had arthroscopic surgery on the knee for a subluxation of the kneecap that became a problem during rehab and was traced back to a knee issue he had while at LSU.
Now, he’s getting very close. And with outside linebacker Baron Browning (concussion) out Sunday and with a possible knee issue for outside linebacker Josh Sweat, if healthy enough to be cleared to play, Ojulari might be on the field Sunday.
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