Jan. 17, 2026, 7:29 a.m. MT

With the divisional round of the playoffs beginning Saturday and only seven games remaining in the 2025 NFL season, the Arizona Cardinals are involved in another head coaching search that includes 13 names, with all but two on a team that qualified for the playoffs.

Those two are former Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris. The Falcons actually tied the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers for first place in the NFC South, but the Panthers won on a tiebreaker, while the Ravens would have won the division had kicker Tyler Loop hit a last-second field-goal attempt in the NFL’s final game of the regular season.

The strategy is entirely predictable, and the Cardinals certainly aren’t alone with that plan.

However, the analysis about to come is especially intriguing when injuries are factored in when understanding the reality of what does or doesn’t happen to teams during the course of a 17-game season.

The oft-repeated mantra that “all teams have injuries” is absolutely true. What is also true is that the actual numbers vary widely from team to team.

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It should be known by now that the Cardinals ended the season with 26 players on injured reserve or reserve/non-football injury with 22 placed on the list since the cut to 53 in late August. Including players eventually activated or released, there were 32 on one of the reserve lists this year.

How does that compare to the eight teams playing this weekend?

The four NFC teams currently have a total of only 35 on reserve with 25 since the cut to 53:

Chicago: 10 total, eight since cut to 53L.A. Rams: 4 total, three since cut to 53San Francisco: 14 total, 9 since cut to 53 with two now practicingSeattle: 7 total, 5 since cut to 53 with two practicing.

The AFC teams have 50 total and 36 since the cut to 53:

Buffalo: 15 total, 14 since cut to 53 with three practicingDenver: 11 total, 7 since cut to 53 with three practicingHouston: 13 total, 11 since cut to 53New England: 11 total, 4 since cut to 53 with 1 practicing

Even accounting for the higher numbers in the AFC, the eight teams average 10.6 on reserve compared to the Cardinals 26 and 7.6 since the cut to 53 compared to the Cardinals’ 22.

Get the picture?

For the Cardinals, it’s important to break down the injuries by position on offense and defense and examine games missed. What is below does not include two players (linebacker J.J. Russell) and offensive lineman Valentin Senn) that were placed on injured reserve in training camp and who were borderline guys that at best were practice-squad guys. To assign missed games to them would be misleading.

Bear in mind that missed games also include players who didn’t spend any time on reserve.

The numbers below also break down the total missed games for the season and for the final nine games after the record improved to 3-5 following the Monday night win over the Dallas Cowboys. The 208 misses by 39 players in the final nine games accounted for 63.0 percent of the 41 players who missed 330 during the entire season.

Ten players missed all nine games and another three missed eight. For the season, 16 players missed 10 or more games.

Another factor as the injuries built was how game preparation was affected. In the first nine games of the season, there were only 41 practices where players did not participate. During the next seven weeks, there were 136. Those accounted for 73.5 percent of the 185 season-long missed practices. In several of those weeks, there were walkthroughs on Wednesdays because of the roster attrition. For the season, there were 260 limited days of practice.

Of course, the missed-practice numbers don’t include players on reserve unless they had been designated for return or practicing while on physically unable to perform. They do include players with illness or a personal designation, but not rest days.

While it has often been claimed that the defense wasn’t hit as hard as the offense, the facts below belie that line of thinking.

Here is the breakdown:

Arizona Cardinals’ missed games by position: Offense

A total of 19 players missed 157 games.

QB (1/12): Kyler Murray 12WR (6/33): Zay Jones 9, ST Simi Fehoko 8, Marvin Harrison Jr. 5, RS Greg Dortch 5, Xavier Weaver 3, ST Andre Baccellia 3TE (2/24): Tip Reiman 13, Travis Vokolek 11RB (4/34): James Conner 14, Trey Benson 13, Emari Demercado 4, Bam Knight 3OL (6/54): T Christian Jones 13, C/G Hayden Conner 12, G Will Hernandez 10, T Jonah Williams 8, G Evan Brown 6, T Paris Johnson Jr. 5Arizona Cardinals’ missed games by position: Defense

A total of 21 players missed 161 games.

DL (5/53): Justin Jones 14, L.J. Collier 13, Bilal Nichols 13, Walter Nolen III 11, Darius Robinson 2LB (4/21): Mack Wilson Sr. 9, BJ Ojulari 9, Baron Browning 2, Cody Simon 1DB (12/82): CB Sean Murphy-Bunting 17, CB Star Thomas V 17, S/ST Joey Blount 16, CB Garrett Williams 7, CB Max Melton 7, CB Will Johnson 5, S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson 5, S Jalen Thompson 2, CB Kei’Trel Clark 2, S Kitan Crawford 2, S Budda Baker 1, CB Darren Hall 1Arizona Cardinals’ missed games by position: SpecialistsFinal 9 games: Offense

A total of nine players missed 114 games.

QB (1/9): Kyler Murray 9WR (6/32): Zay Jones 8, ST Simi Fehoko 8, Marvin Harrison Jr. 5, RS Greg Dortch 5, Xavier Weaver 3, ST Andre Baccellia 3TE (2/18): Tip Reiman 9, Travis Vokolek 9RB (4/24): James Conner 9, Trey Benson 9, Emari Demercado 3, Bam Knight 3OL (6/31): T Jonah Williams 8, G Will Hernandez 6, G Evan Brown 5, T Christian Jones 5, T Paris Johnson Jr. 4, C/G Hayden Conner 3Final 9 games: Defense

A total of 19 players missed 82 games.

DL (4/21): L.J. Collier 7, Justin Jones 6, Walter Nolen III 4, Bilal Nichols 4LB (3/11): Mack Wilson Sr. 9, Baron Browning 2, BJ Ojulari 1DB (12/50): CB Sean Murphy-Bunting 9, CB Star Thomas V 9, S/ST Joey Blount 9, CB Max Melton 6, S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson 5, CB Will Johnson 3, CB Garrett Williams 2, S Jalen Thompson 2, CB Kei’Trel Clark 2, S Kitan Crawford 1, S Budda Baker 1, CB Darren Hall 1Final 9 games: Specialists

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